6. Gender Studies

The Current Program

The interdisciplinary minor in gender studies examines the relationship between biological differences and social inequality, explores the construction of social identity, and analyzes the variations in gender systems that have occurred across cultures and over time. Courses take gender as a subject of focus and investigate how gender interacts with race, class, and culture. The minor requires a minimum of 24 semester-hours of course work, including four courses (16 credit hours) in a core that has been specifically designed for the minor. The catalog lists 27 sponsoring faculty of the minor.

The Future

The Gender Studies minor is an exemplar of a well-crafted interdisciplinary program. Its four core courses have been created specifically for the minor, giving the minor a degree of coherence and focus not always found in interdisciplinary programs. Although the program is well supported in the faculty, it has had perennial difficulty providing stable staffing for its core. This is mainly because key faculty participants who normally would staff the core have been pulled away by a variety of administrative and teaching duties. The College should strive to ensure stable staffing for the core through judicious assignment of existing resources, perhaps releasing those who have chief responsibility for the core from other assignments.