Women and Gender Studies Program

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Varner Hall, Room 217
371 Varner Drive
Rochester, MI 48309-4485
(248) 370-2154

Program Website

Director: Ami Harbin (Philosophy)

Assistant Director: Erin A. Meyers (Communication and Journalism)

Women and Gender Studies Executive Committee:  Amy DeBaets (OUWB Biomedical Sciences), Angineh Djavadghazaryans (Modern Languages and Literatures), Erin Dwyer (History), Rebecca Mercado Jones (Communication and Journalism), Sanela Martic (Chemistry), Michele Parkhill Purdie (Psychology)

Chief adviser: Ami Harbin (Philosophy)

Women and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary field devoted to the study of the dynamics of gender, sex and power. Particular attention is given to differences among women in various social and cultural contexts, the representation of women in literature, art and the media, and the conditions that promote and impede women’s progress. In addition, women and gender studies puts gender, what it means to be feminine or masculine, a man or a woman, at the center of the analysis. This includes questioning how gender shapes societal participation, privileges, statuses, and experiences. Women and gender studies uses feminist methodologies and theories to describe and analyze the impact of social movements, historical events, public policy and other social forces on women and men. Specific attention is given to how gender intersects with race-ethnicity, class, sex, sexual identity, national identity and religion.

Program honors

To be a candidate for honors in women and gender studies, students must be graduating seniors who have taken a minimum of 20 credits of their women and gender studies major course work at Oakland University and have earned a minimum GPA of 3.60 in that coursework with an overall minimum GPA of 3.0.

Additional information

PA 5500 and PA 6500 are graduate level courses open to undergraduate students with instructor, and women and gender studies director permission.

Programs

• LGBTQ Studies Minor
• Women and Gender Studies Minor
• Women and Gender Studies, B.A.

Courses

• WGS 1000 - Introduction to Women and Gender Studies
• WGS 3010 - Introduction to LGBTQ Studies
• WGS 3020 - Feminist Theory
• WGS 3030 - Methods of Feminist Analysis
• WGS 3810 - Global Women, Global Issues
• WGS 3811 - Family and Community Processes
• WGS 3812 - Women, Crime and Justice
• WGS 3813 - Sociology of Family
• WGS 3814 - Sociology of Gender
• WGS 3815 - Women’s Lives in Cross-Cultural Perspective
• WGS 3816 - Women in Early Modern Europe
• WGS 3817 - Gender Discrimination and the Supreme Court
• WGS 3818 - Women in Art
• WGS 3819 - Gender and Work
• WGS 3821 - History of American Families
• WGS 3822 - History of African-American Women
• WGS 3823 - Gender and Int’l Relations
• WGS 3824 - Psychology of Gender
• WGS 3825 - Women in China: Past and Present
• WGS 3826 - Historical Archaeology
• WGS 3827 - Media, Gender and Sexuality
• WGS 3830 - Human Sexuality
• WGS 3840 - The Life Course in Anthropological Perspectives
• WGS 3850 - Philosophy of Gender
• WGS 3860 - Population and Society
• WGS 3870 - Women and Politics
• WGS 3880 - Women in Modern America
• WGS 3890 - Issues in Women’s Health
• WGS 3900 - Special Topics in Women and Gender Studies
• WGS 4010 - Queer Social Theory
• WGS 4020 - Women and Gender Studies Capstone Course
• WGS 4810 - Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Education
• WGS 4900 - Advanced Topics in Women and Gender Studies
• WGS 4930 - Field Experience in Women and Gender Studies
• WGS 4931 - Field Experience in LGBTQ Studies
• WGS 4995 - Directed Research in Women and Gender Studies

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