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Duluth Campus

Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies B.A.

Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies
College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Program Type: Baccalaureate
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2015
  • Required credits to graduate with this degree: 120
  • Required credits within the major: 39
  • Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary field that includes the study of: 1) the experiences, conditions and social realities of women of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, classes, abilities, and sexual orientations in a global context; 2) the ways in which gender distinctions and the construction and intersection of gender, sexuality, race, and class have affected human lives, and 3) feminist scholarship. Academically, the department seeks to provide students with a solid background in knowledge about gender, sexuality, race, class, and international issues; feminist analysis; critical thinking; and oral and written communication; and actively engage students in the generation of new knowledge and areas of inquiry. The department aims to prepare students for meaningful participation and contribution in an inclusive and diverse society, to be local, national, and global citizens, and to participate effectively and contribute meaningfully in a diverse workplace. Finally, the department intends to provide a nurturing environment for the whole person - to help each student find her or his own strengths, gifts, and path, as well as to raise awareness about the way that path concerns and connects with others in local and global contexts. Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies majors find meaningful work in a variety of fields, including work with non-profits, international agencies, peace and justice organizations, LGBTQ rights organizations, medicine and midwifery, public health, social work, education, law, business, and the arts.
Program Delivery
This program is available:
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Admission Requirements
For information about University of Minnesota admission requirements, visit the Office of Admissions website.
Required prerequisites
Introductory Requirement (1 cr)
Transfer students with 24 or more credits and current UMD students who change colleges to CLA are exempt from this requirement. New first-year students with 24 or more PSEO credits may request to be waived from this requirement.
UST 1000 - Learning in Community (1.0-2.0 cr)
General Requirements
  1. Students must meet all course and credit requirements of the departments and colleges or schools in which they are enrolled including an advanced writing course. Students seeking two degrees must fulfill the requirements of both degrees. However, two degrees cannot be awarded for the same major.
  2. Students must complete all requirements of the Liberal Education Program or its approved equivalent.
  3. Students must complete a minimum of 120 semester credits completed in compliance with University of Minnesota Duluth academic policies with credit limits (e.g., Satisfactory/Non-Satisfactory Grading Policy, Credit for Prior Learning, etc).
  4. At least 30 semester credits must be earned through UMD, and 15 of the last 30 credits earned immediately before graduation must be awarded by UMD.
  5. At least half of upper-division (3xxx-level or higher) credits that satisfy major requirements (major requirements includes all courses required for the major, including courses in a subplan) through UMD.
  6. If a minor is required, students must take at least three upper division credits in their minor field from UMD.
  7. For certificate programs, at least 3 upper-division credits that satisfy requirements for the certificate must be taken through UMD. If the program does not require upper division credits students must take at least one course from the certificate program from UMD.
  8. The minimum cumulative University of Minnesota (UMN) GPA required for graduation is 2.00 and includes only University of Minnesota coursework. A minimum UMN GPA of 2.00 is required in each UMD undergraduate major, minor, and certificate. No academic unit may impose a higher GPA standard to graduate.
  9. Diploma, transcripts, licensure, and certification will be withheld until all financial obligations to the University have been met.
Program Requirements
1. A second field of study (either a minor or another major). Students majoring in WGSS and minoring in LGBTQ Studies must declare a third field of study (either another major or minor). This addresses the overlapping of courses across programs. 2. Advanced writing requirement: WRIT 31xx must be completed before taking WS 4000. 3. Only 3 credits from WS 3891 may be counted towards the major. Only 6 credits from WS 3897 may be counted towards the major. Students may apply no more than 9 credits total toward the major from the following courses: WS 3891, 3896, 3897, 5897, and 5991.
Core Courses (17 cr)
WS 1000 - Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies [LE CAT, LECD C, CULT D, SOC SCI, CDIVERSITY] (3.0 cr)
WS 2101 - Women, Race, and Class [LE CAT8, LECD CAT08, SOC SCI, CDIVERSITY] (3.0 cr)
WS 3100 - Feminist Thought [HUMANITIES, CDIVERSITY] (4.0 cr)
WS 4000 - Seminar (4.0 cr)
WS 3000 - Transnational Perspectives on Feminism [SOC SCI, GLOBAL PER] (3.0 cr)
or WS 3001 - Gender Relations in the Global South [GLOBAL PER] (3.0 cr)
Electives (18 cr)
Students must take at least 12 credits from WS within the 18 electives. Students may apply two courses from the 'Related Courses (optional)' area towards this requirement.
Take 12 or more credit(s) from the following:
· WS 3xxx
· WS 4xxx
· WS 5xxx
· FORS 3574 - WS 3896 International Fieldwork in Women's Studies (1.0-6.0 cr)
· Related Courses (optional)
Take no more than 2 course(s) from the following:
· AMIN 3450 - American Indian Women [CDIVERSITY] (3.0 cr)
· ANTH 3080 - Cultural Constructions of the Body (4.0 cr)
· ANTH 3628 - Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective (3.0 cr)
· ARTH 2815 {Inactive} [LE CAT9, LECD CAT09, FINE ARTS] (3.0 cr)
· ARTH 3140 - Women in Art/Visual Culture in Latin America (3.0 cr)
· BIOL 2763 {Inactive} [LE CAT5, LECD CAT05, NAT SCI, CDIVERSITY] (2.0 cr)
· CRIM 4323 - Women and Justice (3.0 cr)
· ENGL 2581 {Inactive} [LE CAT, LECD C, HUMANITIES] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 3728 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· HLTH 3118 - Women's Health Issues (3.0 cr)
· LGBT 3xxx
· POL 3040 - Women and Politics (3.0 cr)
· PSY 3215 - Topics in Human Sexuality (3.0 cr)
· SOC 4925 - Sociology of Rape (3.0 cr)
· SOC 4947 - Sociology of Gender (3.0 cr)
Advanced Writing Requirement (3 cr)
Advanced writing requirement must be completed before taking WS 4000.
WRIT 31xx - Adv Writing (3 cr)
 
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· Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies B.A.

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UST 1000 - Learning in Community
Credits: 1.0 -2.0 [max 2.0]
Course Equivalencies: EHS 1000/UST 1000/ ES 1000
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Facilitates the successful transition into college learning and student life at UMD. Credit will not be granted if already received for EHS 1000.
WS 1000 - Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (LE CAT, LECD C, CULT D, SOC SCI, CDIVERSITY)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Introduction to discipline of Women's Studies - key concept, issues, and debates. Examination of the interaction of gender with class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability, and geographic location; and the way each of these is socialized. Examination of historical and current national and transnational issues as they relate to women and gender, and of the institutions that shape and impact women and gender roles and relations, including academia. Critical analysis skills.
WS 2101 - Women, Race, and Class (LE CAT8, LECD CAT08, SOC SCI, CDIVERSITY)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Racism, sexism, and classism are major factors which have influenced human relations from past to present. This course examines how the social-historical construction of race, class and gender continues to affect the experience of all people in particular people of color. This course seeks to enable students to understand the processes through which these social oppressions are created, normalized, internalized, maintained and perpetuated. A core element to this course is provoking students to recognize their own contribution in perpetuating oppressive systems, and their responsibility creatively to develop individual and collective acts of resistance to all of the "isms" and to societal transformation towards the just society.
WS 3100 - Feminist Thought (HUMANITIES, CDIVERSITY)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
Examination and analysis of central ideas and concepts within diverse feminist theories - liberal, socialist, radical, multicultural, postcolonial, ecofeminist, lesbian, maternalist, and others - historical and contemporary. Theoretical debates surrounding issues of the bases of women's liberation and oppression; the nature and construction of gender, sexuality, and the body; feminist epistemologies; and ethical issues within feminism. prereq: 1000 or 2101, 45 cr or instructor consent
WS 4000 - Seminar
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Senior capstone project, as well as examination and application of feminist inquiry and research methodologies. Seminar topic varies, to be determined by students in seminar and/or instructor. prereq: 1000, 2101, 3100, 15 cr WS or WS-related courses, WS major or minor, or instructor consent
WS 3000 - Transnational Perspectives on Feminism (SOC SCI, GLOBAL PER)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of feminist movements worldwide. Focuses on feminist theories and research, and feminist non-governmental organization in a transnational perspective, and specifically on the effects of and resistance to such realities as racism, neo-colonialism, nationalism, imperialism, militarization, globalization, poverty, war, reproductive control, and violence against women in its many manifestations. prereq: 1000 or 2101 or instructor consent
WS 3001 - Gender Relations in the Global South (GLOBAL PER)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Using comparative historical, political, socioeconomic and feminist perspectives this course critically examines how factors such as colonialism, imperialism, and globalization continue to impact, construct, and reconstruct gender relations in post-colonial cultures with adverse consequences for women in Third World countries. It also examines how conditions in Third World countries are shaped by global economic systems, which lead to massive migrations of Third World women into the United States. It critically evaluate the concepts of universal subordination, particularly, a consciousness which categories women in the Global South as "overall victims," the other, or exotic.
FORS 3574 - WS 3896 International Fieldwork in Women's Studies
Credits: 1.0 -6.0 [max 6.0]
Course Equivalencies: FORS 3574/WS 3896
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
Travel abroad with an instructor. Live with local families and learn about local women's lives through field work involving community visits, presentations by grassroots women, community-service work, reading, and follow-up writing and discussion. Repeatable once, in two different geographical areas. prereq: Admission to an approved study abroad program requires consent from the International Education Office.
AMIN 3450 - American Indian Women (CDIVERSITY)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: AMIN 3450/WS 3455
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Native women are powerful and influential members of their communities both historically and in the present. By analyzing memoirs, autobiographies, documentaries, and a variety of secondary sources, students gain an understanding of the diverse experiences, contributions, and roles of Native women in both the past and the present. prereq: minimum 30 credits
ANTH 3080 - Cultural Constructions of the Body
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: ANTH 3080/WS 3080
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Contemporary cultural constructions of the human body. How biology and culture intersect in body building, menstruation, childbirth, and tattooing. Students gain skills in reading the body as social text and learn core theoretical approaches to cultural studies of the body. prereq: minimum 30 credits or instructor consent
ANTH 3628 - Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: ANTH 3628/WS 3628
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Cross-cultural survey of gender systems, focusing on contemporary women's lives around the world. prereq: minimum 30 credits
ARTH 3140 - Women in Art/Visual Culture in Latin America
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
This course focuses on representations of women and by women in the art and visual culture of Mexico and other Latin American countries, examining the many ways in which the image of female body in Latin America has been used to construct and typify regional understandings of gender, class, racial, and national identities. Distinguishing between women as subject matter and women as producers of art, we will also look to female artists in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries to investigate how they might be engaging with and/or critiquing traditional iconographical representations.
CRIM 4323 - Women and Justice
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CRIM 4323/WS 4323
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Women's involvement in the civil and criminal justice systems, both historic and contemporary, primarily in the United States. Attention given to women as criminal and civil defendants, issues of women's civil rights, and to women practitioners within each system. Intersection of social class, gender and race/ethnicities. prereq: ANTH 1604 or CRIM 1301 or SOC 1101 or WS 1000 and 60 credits, or instructor consent; no grad credit
HLTH 3118 - Women's Health Issues
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Survey of American women's health issues. Role of women as patients and as health care providers. Language, politics, and economics of women's health care. Comparison of American women's health status to that of women around the world. prereq: Minimum 30 credits
POL 3040 - Women and Politics
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Women's political status; implications of women's role in political process; women as political actors; feminist critique and vision of politics. prereq: 30 earned or in-progress credits or instructor consent
PSY 3215 - Topics in Human Sexuality
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Psy 3215/3216
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Biological and psychosocial factors relating to human sexuality, sexual functioning, gender, and related issues. Group discussion of societal factors, values, and attitudes and their impact on behavior. prereq: 1003 or instructor consent
SOC 4925 - Sociology of Rape
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Soc 4925/WS 4925
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Spring & Summer
Social, moral, and legal definitions and implications of rape. prereq: ANTH 1604 or CRIM 1301 or SOC 1101 or WS 1000 and 60 cr earned, or instructor consent
SOC 4947 - Sociology of Gender
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Soc 4947/WS 4947
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Status and experiences in society through the exploration of gender identities, systems, and social structures. Topics include politics, discrimination, family, education, workplace, popular culture, and changing definitions of gender. Emphasis on the expectations and performance of masculinity/femininity and the intersection of gender, race, and class. Some consideration given to global explorations and international comparisons. prereq: 1101 or CRIM 1301 or ANTH 1604 or WS 1000, min 60 cr or instructor consent