The Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies offers three distinct minors that complement a wide range of majors, such as health sciences, nursing, psychology, communication, marketing, political science, education, history, and English, among others. For questions, please reach out to Ali Alkhalifa. To add a minor to your career, please reach out to Meg Downing.
Program Overview
The Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies minor provides students with the flexibility to explore the areas of WGSS that are of most interest to them. Along the way, students learn to use an intersectional lens to critique and analyze social, cultural, political, economic and scientific assumptions and practices that produce and maintain relations of inequality.
- 15 total credit hours, including prerequisite
- 1 prerequisite
- 4 electives
- 1 of these electives must be either a Women of Color or Global and Transnational Feminisms course
Prerequisite (1 course, 3 credit hours)
- WGSST 1110: Gender, Sex and Power | Offered every semester; GE
Electives (4 courses, 12 credit hours)
- Take any 4 courses in WGSS with some checkboxes along the way:
- 1 elective course must come from the list of approved Women of Color or Global and Transnational Feminisms courses
- 1 course must be at the 3000-level or above
- 1 course must be at the at 4000-level or above
Additional Information
- A maximum of 1 approved-related course may count towards the minor
- All cross-listed courses, regardless of department of offering, are automatically approved to count towards the minor.
- Minors may overlap up to 6 credit hours of GEs in addition to WGSST 1110
- No more than 3 credit hours of WGSS internship credit (WGSST 3191 and 3385) may be used toward to fulfill minor requirements
- No more than 3 credit hours of research credit (WGSST 5998) may be used to fulfill minor requirements.
- No more than one half (6 credits) of the credit hours in the minor can be transfer credit.
- Minimum C- required in all minor classes.
- No more than 3 credit hours of courses graded S/U.
- Unique circumstances may warrant a petition to the WGSS Undergraduate Studies Committee to alter requirements.
- Students may petition the WGSS Undergraduate Studies Committee to seek approved-related status for courses in other departments they feel are closely related to the curriculum goals of WGSS.
Program Overview
The LGBTQ+ Studies minor offers perspectives for students interested in examining the broad array of how people embody and express gender and sexuality. Courses allow students to explore how heterosexuality and binary gender became dominantly constructed, and how LGBTQ+ people organize social justice movements to expand expressions of gender and sexuality. The minor also explores the ways that gender and sexual identities are always formed and experienced through meanings of race, ethnicity, and colonialism.
- 4 courses, 12 credit hours
- 1 required course
- 1 foundational course
- 2 electives
Required Course (1 course, 3 credit hours)
- English/WGSST 2282: Introduction to Queer Studies
Foundational Course (1 course, 3 credit hours)
Select one course from the following:
- WGSST 2260: Queer Ecologies
- WGSST 3280: Trans Studies
- WGSST 4405: Race and Sexuality
- English 4580: Special Topics in LGBTQ Literatures and Cultures
- History 3620: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in the United States, 1940-Present
Electives (2 courses, 6 credit hours)
Select two courses from the following:
- African American & African Studies/Comparative Studies/WGSST 4921: Intersections: Approaches to Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality
- Arts Administration, Education and Policy 5835: Visual Representations of LGBT Subjects
- City and Regional Planning 3610: Sex and the City
- Classics/History 3215: Sex and Gender in the Ancient World
- English 4580: Special Topics in LGBTQ Literatures and Cultures
- German 2256: Fan Fiction: From Homer to Harry Potter
- History 2630: History of Modern Sexualities
- History 3620: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in the United States, 1940-Present
- History 3630: Same-Sex Sexuality in a Global Context
- History of Art 3010H: Gender and Sexuality in Western Art
- Kinesiology: Sport Industry, Sport Management 5614: Sport and Sexuality
- MEDCOLL/BMEA 4126: LGBTQ+ Health
- Religious Studies 4875: Gender, Sexuality, and Religion
- Slavic 3320: Queer Comrades - Sexual Citizenship and LGBTQ Lives in Eastern Europe
- Social Work 5002: AIDS Survey: Facts and Issues
- Social Work 5016: Clinical Social Work Practice with GLBTQ Individuals, Couples, and Families
- Sociology 5605: Sociology of Sexuality
- WGSST 2260: Queer Ecologies
- WGSST 2367.03: Reading Lesbian Writers
- WGSST 3280: Trans Studies
- WGSST 4405: Race and Sexuality
The following courses are approved with review per offering (variable topics)
- History 4010: Readings in Modern U.S. History
- Philosophy 3430: The Philosophy of Sex and Love
- Sexuality Studies 5620: Sexuality and Violence
Program Overview
Offered in partnership with the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, the Women, Gender and Public Policy minor provides students a unique opportunity to study public policy impacting women and to situate feminist perspectives for creating and implementing public policies aimed at improving their lives. A core aspect of the minor is to illustrate to students that the gender category of “women” is intersectional with race-ethnicity, class, sexuality, dis/ability, and geographic location.
- 5 courses, 15 credit hours (including 1 prerequisite course)
- 1 prerequisite
- 1 foundational course
- 3 electives
Prerequisite (1 course, 3 credit hours)
- WGSST 1110: Gender, Sex and Power (3 credit hours)
Foundational Course (1 course, 3 credit hours)
- PUBAFRS 2110: Introduction to Public Affairs OR
- WGSST 2550: History of Feminist Thought
Electives (3 courses, 9 credit hours)
- Select at least one of the following:
- WGSST 2325: Health and Inequality
- WGSST 2350: Feminist Perspectives on Women and Violence
- WGSST 3200: Breaking the Law - An Introduction to Gender Justice
- WGSST 3300.01S: Feminist Perspectives of Incarceration in the US
- WGSST 3302: Gender, War and Peacebuilding
- WGSST 3370: Sexualities and Citizenship
- WGSST 4189.01S: Reproductive Rights and Justice (service learning)
- WGSST 4402: Black Women - Representations, Politics and Power
- WGSST 4404: Regulating Bodies - Global Sexual Economies
- WGSST 4524: Women and Work
- WGSST 4525: Feminist Critiques of Markets - Profiting from Inequality
- WGSST/AFAMAST/COMPSTD 4921: Intersections - Approaches to Race, Gender, Class, and Sexuality
- PUBAFRS/AFAMAST/COMPSTD 5240: Race and Public Policy in the United States
- PUBAFRS 5250: Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy (ECON 2001)
- WGSST/SLAVIC 5450: Global Human Trafficking - Realities and Representations
- Additional Electives
- PUBAFRS 2120: Public Service and Civic Engagement
- PUBAFRS 2130: Leadership in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors
- PUBAFRS 2150: Introduction to Nonprofit Organizations
- WGSST 2326(S): Feminist Perspectives on Addiction (regular or service learning)
- WGSST 2550 History of Feminist Thought*
- PUBAFRS 3000: Public Policy Analysis
- PUBAFRS 3140: Nonprofit Management and Governance
- WGSST 3385: Women in Political Leadership Internship
- PUBAFRS 3500: Public Management
- PUBAFRS 4010: Public Affairs Decision-Making
- PUBAFRS 4020: Contemporary Issues in Governance - Washington D.C.
- POLITSC 4138: Women and the Law+
- PUBAFRS 4191: Public Affairs Internship OR WGSST 3191 Internship
- PUBAFRS 5591: Lobbying and Government Relations
Program Overview
The Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies minor provides students with the flexibility to explore the areas of WGSS that are of most interest to them. Along the way, students learn to use an intersectional lens to critique and analyze social, cultural, political, economic and scientific assumptions and practices that produce and maintain relations of inequality.
- 15 total credit hours, including prerequisite
- 1 prerequisite
- 1 course course
- 3 electives
Prerequisite (1 course, 3 credit hours)
- WGSST 1110: Gender, Sex and Power
Core Course (1 course, 3 credit hours)
Select at least one Women of Color course from the following list. This course does not count toward the nine credit hours of elective coursework.
- WGSST 2340 Latina Experience in the U.S.
- WGSST 2367.02 U.S. Latina Writers: Text and Context
- WGSST 2367.04 Black Women Writers: Text and Context
- WGSST 2702/2702H Modern Arabic Literature in Translation
- WGSST 2750(H) Natives and Newcomers: U.S. Immigration and Migration
- WGSST 3505 Feminist Perspectives on Globalization
- WGSST 4189.01S Reproductive Rights and Justice
- WGSST 4401 Asian American Women: Race, Sex and Representations
- WGSST 4402 Black Women: Representation, Politics and Power
- WGSST 4404 Regulating Bodies: Global Sexual Economies
- WGSST 4405 Race and Sexuality
- WGSST 4520 Women of Color & Social Activism
- WGSST 4540 Women of Color: Art, Literature and Culture
- WGSST 4560 Chicana Feminism
- WGSST 4576 Women and Visual Cultures in Latin America
- WGSST 4921 Intersections: Approaches to Race, Class and Sexuality
- WGSST 5623 African Women: History & Socioeconomic Change
- WGSST 5624 Women and Social Change in Latin America
Electives (3 courses, 9 credit hours)
The remaining 9 credit hours are selected from courses in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and/or approved-related courses. No more than 3 credit hours of approved-related courses can be chosen outside of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Note: "Topics in" and "Studies in" courses vary by semester and are not listed as approve-related courses. Students may petition the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies undergraduate advisor for permission to apply an unlisted course to their minor program. Students must obtain written approval from the department before enrolling in the course.
Additional Information
- 3 credit hours must be at the 3000 level or above
- 3 credit hours must be at the 4000 level or above
- A minimum grade of C- in all courses used to fulfill minor requirements and a GPA of at least 2.0 for all minor courses must be maintained;
- No more than 3 credit hours of combined Special Topics (WGSST 2194, WGSST 3320, WGSST 4194), internship credit (WGSST 3191 and WGSST 3385), and/or Individual Studies (WGSS 5193) may be used to fulfill minor requirements.
- Minor courses may be used to meet curricular requirements, as specified in the General Education Curriculum (GE). Courses used in the minor CANNOT count towards the major.