Women’s and Gender Studies Program

At-a-Glance

Contact the Program Director, Patricia Stoddard Dare, at 216-687-4568 for further information.

As an interdisciplinary field of inquiry, Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) focuses on the ways in which gender is socially constructed and questions the role of gender in society, and the ways in which other identity categories such as sex, race, class, and sexual orientation shape identity and people’s experiences with privilege, agency, and oppression in the American and global contexts.

By addressing past and present social disparities, WGS promotes intellectual and practical problem-solving, on both the individual and societal levels. WGS helps students to develop written and oral communication skills and the analytical and critical thinking skills needed to prepare them for leadership and a variety of careers in an increasingly diverse economic and political environment. WGS students will develop these skills while receiving a well-rounded liberal-arts education. These skills will prepare graduates for graduate work in WGS and related fields, pre-professional graduate programs, or for career opportunities in the changing work force and for the competitive economic and social realities of the 21st century. Students can apply these skills in a WGS internship.

Note: Most WGS courses are applicable to, or augment, many major fields, and do fulfill some university General Education Requirements as indicated in course listings. Courses are open to all students. Descriptions are listed in the Course Description section of this catalog. Requirements for the major and minor in WGS are listed under the Programs A-Z page.

Faculty with Joint Appointment in Women’s and Gender Studies

Professors: Patricia Stoddard Dare (Director), Rachel Carnell, Sonya Charles, Jennifer Jeffers, Miyuki Tedor, Marian Bleeke; Associate Professors: Adrienne Gosselin, Shelley Rose, Wenqing Kang, Julie Burrel; Assistant Professors: Rachel Lovell; Lecturers: Ramune Braziunaite, Marnie Rodriguez; Adjunct Faculty: Elizabeth Bly, Shawn Diamond, Evie DuVernay; Emeriti: Eileen Berlin Ray, Elizabeth Cagan, Tama Engelking, Delia Galvan, Mareyjoyce Green, Barbara Hoffman, Sarah Matthews, Diane Steinberg, Mary Ellen Waithe, Robert Wheeler.

Programs

Major

Women’s and Gender Studies, B.A.

Minor

Women’s and Gender Studies Minor