Designing the Right Curriculum For You

The WGSS program has been designed to offer maximum flexibility for students to tailor their majors and minors to their own interests and post-graduation plans. All students must take WGSS 200, the introductory course. Majors must also take WGSS 489 and 490 in the senior year. Beyond that, students are free to design their own program of study.

The key word, however, is design. Students must select a set of elective courses that clearly provide depth in a particular area or areas of Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, and/or Sexualities Studies. A random collection of cross-listed courses is not a WGSS major or minor. Before students can get approval from the WGSS coordinator to declare a major or minor, a WGSS curriculum plan must be approved by the WGSS coordinator and filed in the WGSS office. This document is a guide to help students develop such a plan.

Step One:

Think about what aspects of the field most interest you. What parts of WGSS 200 did you find most stimulating? If you have already declared another major or minor or intend to do so, what field is it in?

For example, did you enjoy the WGSS 200 unit on Gay and Lesbian political movements through the twentieth century? If so, perhaps you would like to focus your major or minor program in the areas of Sexualities Studies and History. Or maybe your other major is Communication Studies and you are interested in how gender affects interpersonal communication. You might like to focus your studies in that area with courses in Psychology and Sociology as well as Communication Studies. Or maybe you want to go to Law School. If so, maybe you would like to create a major that focuses on ways in which law and public policy shape our perceptions and experiences of gender and sexuality. The important thing is: What most interests you? What do you want to know and understand by the time you graduate?

Step Two:

Check the list of cross-listed courses on the WGSS web site. Which courses are relevant to your interests? Make a list of six to twelve courses that fit your interests, and discuss that list with the WGSS coordinator. Do you need more information about these courses’ content? The WGSS coordinator has access to old syllabi that may answer your questions. If not, talk with the WGSS affiliate faculty members who teach those courses.

Step Three:

Consider whether you need courses that are not on the WGSS cross-list. Discuss this with the WGSS coordinator to see whether arrangements can be made to develop a new course or to cross-list a course in the future that has not been cross-listed in the past.

Step Four:

If you plan to study abroad (and we hope you do), talk with the WGSS coordinator about where you might study and what you hope to gain from the experience that will supplement your WGSS major or minor.

Step Five:

Write up a brief description of the focus you want your major or minor program to have. Include a list of courses you want to take. You are not obligated to take these and only these courses; plans can evolve. But if you stray from this plan significantly, you will need to make a new plan. So take this list very seriously.

Step Six:

Make an appointment with the WGSS coordinator to go over your written plan. If the WGSS coordinator approves the plan, she/he will sign your major or minor declaration form at this meeting, so be sure to bring it with you.