Women's and Gender Studies

Rose Rock 2010A major, minor or certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies gives students a deep critical understanding of sex/gender systems as ever-changing products of social negotiation, contestation and power. Our courses examine prevailing assumptions about gender, their contradictions in practice, and how they constitute and legitimize social arrangements that shape our public institutions, policies, and politics. WGS courses explore a range of feminisms, women's rights and reform movements, and the varied experiences of women in history and across different cultures, while probing the intersections of gender with other social subjectivities such as race, class, sexual orientation, age, and disability that contribute to oppression.


Women’s and Gender Studies majors are increasingly in demand in workplaces concerned with diversity issues. The major provides a broad-based liberal arts education with emphasis on critical thinking which can be applied to a multitude of careers in government, non-profit organizations, business, education, the arts, politics and other fields. Students of demonstrated competence are also desirable candidates for graduate study in many fields including law, sociology, literatures, history, political science, and philosophy.  


Activities

The Women's and Gender Studies program offers an active schedule of events for students, the campus community, and the community-at-large. A typical semester might include:

• The Women's and Gender Studies Film Series, which addresses gender in a variety of forms.

• The Women's and Gender Studies Brown Bag Lunch Series, which examines women's issues, such as health, financial planning, and domestic violence, through dialogue.

• The prestigious Women's Studies Lecture Series, which has featured notable speakers Susan Bordo, Mary Daly, Susan Gubar, Catharine Stimpson, and Charlotte Bunch.

• Exhibitions of student work in Women's and Gender Studies through the presentation of the annual Women's and Gender Studies symposiums and awards.

• Service-learning opportunities for students to work in community organizations, enabling them to understand the immediacy of women's issues.

Program Director
Jenise DePinto, History & Political Science
5 Moran Hall, 518.337-2344

Executive Steering Committee
Angela Ledford, Political Science
Catherine Cavanaugh, English
May Caroline Chan, English
Laura Weed, Philosophy
Bridgett Williams-Searle, History
K.A. Laity, English
Janet Spitz, Business

The College of Saint Rose
432 Western Avenue | Albany, New York 12203 | 1-800-637-8556
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