Women's Studies

WOST 110 Introduction to Women's Studies - 5 hrs.
This course provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of women's studies.  It offers grounding in how to study the experiences of women themselves and how to understand gender as a powerful, socially constructed system.  Students will have an opportunity to explore and apply these new ideas and methods by working intensively on a particular issue in women's studies through the lenses of spedific academic disciplines.

WOST 200 Special Topics in Women's and Gender Studies - 1-5 hrs.
This course provides an in-depth exploration of a critical issue in the study of women and gender.  Past topics have included feminist theatre and performance; the writings of Jeannette Winterson; sex, gender, and deviance; and feminist and queer theory.  Topics will be approached from both disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives.  Prereq: WOST 110 or permission of instructor.  May be repeated for a maximum of 10 hours credit when offered with a different topic.

WOST 300  Feminist Theories  - 3-5 hrs.
This course offers an exploration of feminist theory. By reading a variety of feminist theoretical works, we will examine the different ways in which these writers have explained the status of women in patriarchal societies and imagined avenues for social change. We will consider key concepts, themes, tensions, and problems in feminist thought. This will include discussion of such issues as multiple definitions of feminism, the social construction of identity, and systems of privilege and oppression. Acquainting ourselves with theorists from different historical eras, we will use their ideas as intellectual tools to examine contemporary social and cultural gender issues.  Prerequisite: WOST 110 or permission of instructor

WOST 390 Independent Study - 1-5 hrs
Independent study. Opportunity for work in topics of special interest. Prereq: Permission of instructor and Women's Studies coordinator.

WOST 490 Internship - 1-15 hrs
Internships are individually arranged and available to qualified students upon submission of a written proposal. Application to the Women's Studies coordinator must be made during the term preceding the one in which the internship would begin.