Women’s and Gender Studies, BA

Department of Women’s and Gender Studies

208 Bowne Hall
315-443-3560 Fax: 315-443-9221

Administrative Specialist:

Susann DeMocker-Shedd,
208 Bowne Hall,
315-443-3560;
Fax 315-443-9221.

Faculty

Kal Alston, Himika Bhattacharya, Pedro DiPietro, Vivian M. May, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Dana M. Olwan, Gwendolyn D. Pough, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Robin Riley

Women’s and Gender Studies integrates theory and practice with the aim of transforming social relations, representations, knowledges, institutions, and policies. Through interdisciplinary and comparative approaches, students engage in the study of gender intersectionally and transnationally as a means of understanding the complex ways that ideas and practices about gender, past and present, shape the world around us. Issues of justice, social and economic transformation, and women’s agency are central and at each level of study the curriculum emphasizes race, ethnicity, nationality, class, age, sexuality, and different abilities as categories of analysis.

Major Requirements

The B.A. in women’s and gender studies requires a minimum of 33 credits (at least 18 in courses numbered 300 and above) selected from courses listed below. Although the major is granted and administered under the auspices of the College of Arts and Sciences, students are able, and in some cases encouraged, to take elective courses in the professional schools. Requirements for the major include five core courses, three courses from the course grouping Power, Privilege, and Exclusion in Feminist Thought; and three electives, two core electives and one general elective selected from a list of approved cross-listed courses. In the senior year, majors may create a synthesis of their studies in the field and deepen their skills in women’s and gender studies research, culminating in an independent project that can be a research project, creative work, or activism project. Note: Students seeking Academic Distinction in Women’s and Gender Studies must register for WGS 498 - Senior Project in Women’s & Gender Studies .

Study Abroad

Women’s and Gender Studies Focus Abroad is coordinated through the Syracuse University Abroad office in more than five countries. All of these international centers offer a number of interdisciplinary courses in women’s and gender studies, cross-listed with the humanities and social sciences. Summer Studies Abroad courses are also available. For specific information on course offerings abroad, contact the SU Abroad office at 315-443-3471.

B.A. Degree Requirements

Required Core Courses (15 credits)

Required Core Cluster Power, Privilege, and Exclusion in Feminist Thought (9 credits)

One course must be selected from each of the following three areas: Sexuality; Class; and Race, Nationality, and/or Ethnicity.

Sexuality (3 credits)

Class (3 credits)

Race, Nationality, and/or Ethnicity (3 credits)

Core Electives (6 credits):

Students must complete two core elective courses from the following:

General Electives (3 credits)

Students must complete one elective course. They may choose from any WGS course.

Note:

*Course content varies each semester or by section. These courses may be counted toward women’s and gender studies only when the content of the courses is within the field of feminist studies. Selected topics (400/500) courses may apply when appropriate.