College: College of Letters and Science
Designation: Department
Major: Women's Studies/Gender Studies
Degrees Offered: M.A.
Other: Certificate in Women's Studies at the graduate level; Ph.d. Minor in Women's Studies
Faculty: Julie D'Acci (chair); Professors Marianne Bloch, Jeanne Boydston, Laurie Beth Clark, Jane Collins, Susan Cook, Myra Marx Ferree, Susan Friedman, Janet Hyde, Nancy Kaiser, Judith Leavitt, Maria Lepowsky, Anne McClintock, Lynn Nyhart, Cyrena Pondrom, Jane Schulenburg, Freida High W. Tesfagiorgis, Aili Tripp, Mariamne Whatley, Nancy Worcester; Associate Professors Anne Enke, Judith Houck, Lynet Uttal; Assistant Professors Christina Ewig, Ellen Samuels
Gender and women's studies is a well-established field of scholarship--a multidiscipline with its own body of theory, its array of accepted methods, and a history of scholarly contributions focused on the place of gender and women in society. Its research and teaching seek to expand the understanding and appreciation of gendered lives and experiences, both historically and in contemporary societies. In building this understanding, scholarship encompasses the arts and humanities and the social and natural sciences.
Scholarship and teaching in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies interact actively with studies of other dimensions of inequality and difference. For example, gender and women's studies scholars explore how gender is intrinsic to global processes, how these processes intersect with local, regional and national identities, and how gender itself is shaped by race, ethnicity, dis/ability, nationality, sexuality, class, caste, age, and religion. Gender and women's studies scholars make contributions both by re-evaluating past knowledge and by developing new interdisciplinary research methods and theories. Many academic disciplines, in fact, have undergone paradigm shifts that have been directly influenced by the theoretical and research approaches developed in the field of gender and women's studies.
Department faculty members represent 17 different departments in the humanities and social sciences across five colleges and schools; they bring together a broad range of interests, research agendas, and teaching styles. The curriculum reflects this interdisciplinarity and offers students an opportunity to apply gender analysis in fields such as African American studies, American Indian studies, anthropology, the arts, Asian American studies, Chicana/o and Latina/o studies, disability studies, education, health sciences, history, literature, law, media, philosophy, political science, psychology, sociology, and sexuality studies. Faculty members have national and international reputations both as disciplinary scholars and as gender and women's studies scholars. In publications, leadership and awards, the department is among the most visible gender and women's studies departments in the country.
During a period of activism and debate that extended across the University of Wisconsin System, the Women's Studies Program was established in 1975. It has grown steadily from a small program offering three courses a year to one of the largest and most well-respected programs in the United States. An undergraduate major serves more than 100 students each year; an undergraduate certificate serves approximately 150 students; a master's program admits approximately five students each year; and a Ph.D. minor and certificate at the graduate level are also offered. The department is the administrative home of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies certificate, which serves approximately 50 students per year. In 2008, the program achieved department status and changed the name to the Department of Gender and Women's Studies.
The department lists approximately 90 courses, both crosslisted and specific to the department. Many courses are available to both advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Some enroll only graduate students. The department offers 20-24 courses each year, augmented by crosslisted courses from other departments. Selected courses are also offered in the summer.
The master's degree in women's studies/gender studies provides advanced feminist training in gender analysis for students with a variety of academic backgrounds and career plans. Incorporating local, cross-cultural and transnational emphases, the curriculum encourages students and faculty from the humanities, arts, social sciences and natural sciences to develop innovative ways of expanding knowledge about gender in global, local, and historical contexts. As the name "Women's Studies/Gender Studies" indicates, the M.A. retains the emphasis on women's lives and situations that has historically informed the field of women's studies, while also emphasizing the incisive import of gender as a category of analysis transforming knowledge about, for example, masculinity and men's lives, transgendered lives, as well as other complex topics. The degree engages the wide-ranging and multidisciplinary perspectives associated with women's studies/gender studies: queer studies, transgender studies, sexuality studies, race and ethnicity studies, disability studies, area and global studies, cultural studies, postcolonial and transnational studies.
The M.A. curriculum draws from the strengths of current course offerings in the program, as well as from methodologies and course offerings in other fields and departments. Among the domains of inquiry explored within the curriculum are: work; family and education; social movements, the state and civil society; bodies, genders, health and sexualities; individual, collective and communal identities; communications, technology and culture industries; politics of representation, media and cultural practices; migration, immigration, labor and political economy; militarism, international relations and governmental processes. Some courses investigate these topics at the global level while others focus on the local, regional or national levels. The curriculum insures an over-arching transnational and cross-cultural framework. Courses use interdisciplinary methodologies and/or disciplinary approaches.
Students completing the M.A. take advanced disciplinary and interdisciplinary course work in areas of their choosing and also demonstrate competency in a language other than English. The thesis ensures that students are able to demonstrate critical thinking and to carry out interdisciplinary research on a graduate level.
Graduate students can pursue a Ph.D. minor in women's studies. First, it is necessary to choose a "home" discipline and be admitted as a graduate student in one of the many departments that offer graduate degrees. It is then possible to get substantial and systematic training in the field of gender and women's studies in numerous ways, as described below. Most graduate programs allow graduate students to receive graduate credit for courses numbered 300 and above in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies. The training is greatly aided by the presence of excellent library holdings and a women's studies librarian.
Graduate students who wish to pursue an Option A minor in women's studies should consult the associate chair of the Department of Gender and Women's Studies. Generally, the associate chair serves as the advisor. Students are expected to achieve a B or better in four courses at the 300 level or above in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies. One of the courses must be WS 900: Research in Gender and Women's Studies. Courses are chosen in conjunction with the student's advisor.
Graduate students who wish to pursue an Option B minor combine course work with a gender component from two or more departments outside the student's major department.
Graduate students can also pursue their interest in women's studies and gender analysis within their home discipline by taking courses involving gender, as well as doing research in gender and women's studies as it relates to their discipline (in papers, theses, dissertations and preliminary examinations).
Most faculty members in the department have joint appointments in other departments as well as in Gender and Women's Studies and serve as advisors on course work, committees, examinations and research. Other faculty members who are affiliated with the program support research and teaching in women's studies and gender analysis.
The department hires a number of graduate students each semester to serve as teaching assistants in its large lecture courses. This opportunity offers both classroom experience and background in the interdisciplinary aspects of gender and women's studies.
The Certificate in Women's Studies at the graduate level may be earned by students enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Advising is done within the department. Students must meet all of the following requirements in order to earn the Certificate at the Graduate Level:
• Enrollment in a graduate program at the University of Wisconsin.
• 15 credits of academic course work in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies at the 300-level or above.
• Students enrolled in courses at the 300-600 level should inform the instructor that they are taking the course for a graduate-level certificate and will complete additional readings/assignments consistent with expectations for a graduate student.
• 9 credits must be in residence at UW-Madison. A maximum of 6 credits may be transferred from other institutions.
• 3 credits must count as humanities courses (H, Z, or L).
• 3 credits must count as social studies courses (S or Z).
• 3 credits must count as natural or biological science (N, B, W, X, or Y). For the purpose of the WS certificate, WS 431: History of Childbirth in America (S) may be counted toward this requirement.
• With the approval of the certificate advisor, a course external to the Department of Gender and Women's Studies may still be counted toward the certificate, provided that women and/or gender are the core focus of the course.
• Directed study courses (WS 698, 699) may not be used toward the certificate.
• A 3.0 grade is the minimum for courses counting toward the certificate.
The Women's Studies Research Center was established to promote scholarly interactions among women and gender studies researchers on campus, as well as linkages with women's studies centers and scholars nationally and internationally.
The research center engages in different kinds of activities to stimulate gender and women's studies research, including organizing lectures, colloquia, workshops and conferences, featuring campus, national and international speakers and creative artists. The center promotes research collaboration and externally funded research projects, provides proposal writing support, sponsors an honorary fellow program, facilitates networking of women and gender studies scholars across campus, and fosters links with other gender/women's studies research centers around the country and the world.
These exchanges, as well as other events sponsored by the center, serve to draw together faculty, graduate students, and community members for mutual enrichment. Questions about the center should be sent to the director of the Women's Studies Research Center, 110 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706.
For more information: Associate Chair, Women's Studies Program, 110 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706; 608/263-4703; wsp@mhub.facstaff.wisc.edu; www.womenstudies.wisc.edu.