The College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Women's and Gender Studies

The Women's and Gender Studies Department aims to help students gain knowledge about the complex ways that gender ideas and practices shape the world around them. Gender affects the way in which we live our lives in a personal way---it affects families, children, reproduction, and the organization of work in the home---but it also affects the formation and limitations of every major social institution and cultural practice. Our goal is to help students see the ways in which gender is being thought about and practiced, as well as to help them develop their own analytical skills to evaluate, assess, and imagine differently.

Transnational Education Certificate of Advanced Study Women's and Gender Studies has a dual emphasis on "interdisciplinarity" and "intersectionality." The Certificate of Advanced Study exemplifies the department's commitment to multiracial, transnational education.

2011-12 Ray Smith Symposium: Sex and Power The Department of Women's and Gender Studies is among the sponsors of this year's Ray Smith Symposium. Titled "Sex and Power from the Middle Ages to the Enlitghtenment," the symposium is a scholarly look at the history of Queer sexuality and its impact on modern conceptions of gender. The next guest speaker is John Kitchen, associate professor of history and classics at the University of Alberta (Jan. 19-20, 2012). Read more