Requirements for the Women's Studies Major

The following discussion of requirements for the Women's Studies
major at different institutions took place on WMST-L in September
2003.  For additional WMST-L files available on the Web, see the
WMST-L File Collection.

At Indiana University South Bend we have had a major in Women's
Studies since May 1999.  We are presently undertaking a curriculum
revision because of a new hire and a new director.  My question is:
Are there any courses that are considered absolutely essential for a
Women's Studies major?  I would like to see a discussion on this
topic.  pmcneal  AT  iusb.edu

At Gettysburg College there are four courses that every WS major must
take - Intro to WS, Feminist Theories, a Practicum (where a student puts
her theory into practice by working at a community facility that serves
women and children or underrepresented populations), and a Senior
Seminar. --Temma Berg



---------------------------
Temma Berg
Gettysburg College
tberg  AT  gettysburg.edu

I too would welcome this discussion, especially as it relates to the
earlier one on achieving departmental status. At our institution, the
two overlap in that, to become a department, we must take over the
organization/administration of our majors from Liberal Studies and
institutionalize the major, including the required and recommended
curriculum, in our own hands.

We require two classes: feminist theory and a course (from a list or
4-6) on transnational/multicultural feminism.

--
Kathy E. Ferguson
Professor and Director
Women's Studies Program
Professor
Department of Political Science
University of Hawai`i
640 Saunders Hall
Honolulu, Hawai`i  96822

  "I sit astride life like a bad rider on a horse.
       I only owe it to the horse's good nature that I am not thrown
                         off at this very moment."

                                   -Ludwig Wittgenstein

Hi everyone,

I'm the new WS undergrad program coordinator at BGSU, and I've been
giving a lot of thought to the composition of our major.

At this time, our required courses are:
Intro WS
History of Feminist Thought and Action
Women of Color in the U.S.
and an internship experience/capstone.
Also, all WS majors are expected to take at least one 400-level
course on gender, women, or sexuality, plus eight other "elective"
courses.

We are fortunate to have here very strong Ethnic Studies and Culture
Studies programs that contribute courses to our majors.

I have been thinking seriously about proposing that we expand our
"History of Feminist Thought and Action" course into two semesters,
in order to cover more effectively the breadth of information that is
now available to us.  I'd be interested to hear what others think
about this, too.

Also, are there programs/depts. that designate a particular body of
knowledge or set of concepts that "should" or "must" be covered in
Intro WS?  Although we haven't set up such a designation yet, we have
talked about trying to do so.

Thanks,
Jeannie

Hi all, 

At the College of New Jersey our newly revised major consists of five
core (ie. required) courses: an Intro course we renamed,
Women, Culture and Society; a Gender in Global
Perspectives course that can be fulfilled through taking
one of a wide selection of courses; Feminist Theory; Field
Study in Women' Studies and, finally, Senior Seminar. 

Good luck, 
John

--
John C. Landreau
Modern Languages &
Women's and Gender Studies
The College of New Jersey
e-mail: landreau  AT  tcnj.edu

A question regarding practicums in women's studies:

Would a student's working at a community facility that, say, opposes
abortion be acceptable for the pracdticum part of a women's studies major?
I.e., is "serving women and children" understood in the broadest possible
way or in some narrower way, and, if the latter, how is that specified to
students in the program?  I would think this might be a problem for an
academic program.

DP

---------------------------------
daphne.patai  AT  spanport.umass.edu

Bloomfield College has a minor in Women's Studies which requires an intro
course called "Changing Women's Lives" and an upper-level seminar on
"Feminism: Theories and Practices." The other courses are electives that are
cross-listed with women's studies--the only stipulation is that the courses
be from at least three different disciplines.

At Penn State, the core to our major (15 credits) includes:
--Introduction to Women's Studies OR Introduction to Women in the
Arts & Humanities
--Introduction to Feminist Thought
--Feminist Perspectives on Teaching and Research OR Feminist Theory
(a 2nd theory class after Intro to Feminist Thought)
--Senior capstone course (taken in the final year), similar to a
"thesis course," in students work on individual projects and present
them at the end of the semester
--Independent experience: students work with their adviser to
identify this; most will choose from among research, independent
study, internship, or working with a faculty mentor as an
undergraduate teaching assistant on a WS course.

The WS electives for the major (21 credits) include [these overlap
each other, i.e. double- and triple-count]:
--6 credits at the 400-level
--6 credits in WS arts & humanities courses
--6 credits in WS natural & social science courses
--3 credits focusing on women of color in the U.S.
--3 credits focusing on non-Western women

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   BRIAN R. JARA
   Lecturer in Women's Studies
   The Pennsylvania State University
   122A Willard Building
   University Park, PA 16802
   e-mail: bjara  AT  psu.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Responding to Daphne Patai]

While I would have to admit that deciding which community programs we
want to include is difficult, I would also have to admit that I don't
know what would be the "broadest possible" definition. How do we decide
when a definition is too narrow? And why would this be a problem for an
academic program? How many courses define exactly what they teach? As a
member of an English department I know that we give broad definitions
but by necessity teach narrowly. For example, I have a colleague
teaching a course in U.S. literature of the 60s and he is including (at
least as far as he has described the course) one female (Angela Carter)
and no blacks either male or female. Thus I see his spectrum as rather
narrow. However, this would probably only be a problem for me and
perhaps for the academic world if he (and we) did not admit how small a
part of the whole any course covers. In my classes I spend time talking
about what we are not covering and clarifying how small a portion of the
whole any course can cover and how "partial" (in both senses of the
word) that makes my, and by implication, any course. --Temma
P.S. Obviously we try to choose community programs where there is real
work to be done (another difficult definition!) and where the student
will not just be doing busy work and serving as a gofer. These are not
easy decisions and we are in the process of thinking some of them
through.


------------------------------
Temma F. Berg
Professor of English
Coordinator of Women's Studies
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg PA 17325
tberg  AT  gettysburg.edu

Of course I understand the problem Temma Berg is  pointing to, regarding
courses in general.   My query was addressed to the practicum component
only, which is not a part of most academic programs or courses,  and which
seems to me a particularly thorny issue in women's studies.

  I assume that, for example, in a course on political organizinations or on
social work which have a practical component, students would (I expect) be
entirely free to choose whatever sort of organization they might wish to
work with.  My question, then, was: is there this same broad choice
available when a practicum is required  in women's studies? Or are there
some principles that supersede such openness, and if so, what are they and
who has defined them?  I wonder, for example, if women's studies faculty
would approve of, say, a conservative professor (in a secular university)
whose idea of a practicum was having students work for conservative causes.
Would that be considered legitimate? Or would it be viewed as contravening
some basic principle of a liberal education?  And, if (as I suspect), the
latter, how does women's studies avoid falling into the same abuse itself?

DP
 ---------------------------------
daphne.patai  AT  spanport.umass.edu

> Daphne Patai wrote:
>
>Would a student's working at a community facility that, say, opposes
>abortion be acceptable for the pracdticum part of a women's studies major?
>I.e., is "serving women and children" understood in the broadest possible
>way or in some narrower way, and, if the latter, how is that specified to
>students in the program?  I would think this might be a problem for an
>academic program.

Students who major in Women's Studies at Minnesota State University
are required to do a 3-credit internship (we don't call it a
practicum).  Students who minor (and others) may take the internship
as an elective.  All of these students have ample freedom to choose
internships that best fit their needs and interests.  As the
internship coordinator for my department, I would not discourage or
prevent a student from interning for a community organization that
considers itself politically conservative.  All interns keep a journal
in which they, among other things, draw connections between their
internship experience and their Women's Studies course work--theory,
research, and so on.  Would a student interning for, say, Concerned
Women for America, be unable to make such connections?  I don't think
so.  Our students have a lot to learn from a wide variety of
internship sites.

Maria Bevacqua, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Women's Studies
109 Morris Hall
Minnesota State University
Mankato, Minn.  56001 USA
maria.bevacqua  AT  mnsu.edu