The integration of knowledge is one of the goals of the liberal arts. For many scholars in the last 20 years, the study of women’s experiences and gender has provided one such integrative principle.

The women and gender studies program allows male and female students to take a number of courses in a variety of disciplines that deal with the experiences of women and/or focus on gender.

Besides acquainting themselves with scholarship done on gender, students will be asked to reflect upon the kinds of questions such scholarship asks and the implications of such scholarship for their fields of study and social interaction.

Goals of WGST:

The WGST program seeks to foster critical analyses of gender. Through courses that investigate the intersections of sex, gender, sexuality, race, age, ability, and class across the disciplines, Women and Gender Studies prepares students to be critical advocates, activists, scholars, and educators for social justice in a variety of professions.

1. To teach students how gender is fundamental to the construction of identity and the organization of human relations.
2. To provide a critical understanding of the origins and historical development of feminist thought and gender theory, including the ways systems of dominance such as sexism and racism function and have changed.
3. To develop student’s ability to use WGST lenses to challenge historical and cultural assumptions and claims of knowledge, and work towards influencing greater social justice in their day-to-day experiences.
4. To provide students a familiarity with the diverse and multidisciplinary scholarship about women and gender.
5. To ensure students’ ability to conduct effective research and critique scholarly sources through written work that demonstrates an aptitude to synthesize multi-disciplinary approaches to women gender studies.