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3570 Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Programs Offered:

  • Bachelor of Arts in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • Minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Institute for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
22nd Floor, 25 Park Place Building
P.O. Box 3969
Atlanta, GA 30302-3969

Phone: 404-413-6587
Fax: 404-413-6585
Email: wgss@gsu.edu
wgss.gsu.edu

Susan Talburt, Director
Julie Kubala, Director of Undergraduate Studies

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Georgia State University contributes to the University’s broader mission of encouraging critical thinking through a focus on feminist interdisciplinary scholarship, teaching, and community participation.  WGSS makes explicit the ways in which gender and sexuality, in connection with other categories such as race, class, ability, and age, construct our understandings and experiences of the world. Furthermore, WGSS analyzes the ways public discourse relies on gender and sexuality to conceptualize such issues as war and militarism, policy, the environment, education, healthcare, economics, the media, and popular culture.  In order to explore these issues, WGSS emphasizes the following areas of study: sexualities, race and globalization, and social change.

Program Admission

Students wishing to major or minor in WGSS must meet the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree as described earlier in this catalog. Students should come to the institute office to receive advisement.

Academic Advisement for Undergraduate Students

Academic advisement for undergraduate students is provided through the University Advisement Center (freshman through junior status/fewer than 90 hours) and the college’s Office of Academic Assistance (senior status/90 or more hours). See section 3040 for additional information.

Program Academic Regulations

To take WGSS 4930 Senior Seminar in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies-CTW or WGSS 4999 Directed Readings, students must first receive approval from the Institute for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Program Degree Requirements

Students wishing to major or minor in WGSS must meet the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree as described earlier in this catalog. Students should come to the Institute office to meet with the Undergraduate Director.

B.A. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Area F: Courses Appropriate to the Major (18)

  1. Required Courses (6)
    • World Language at the 1002 or higher level (3)
    • WGSS 2010 Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (3)
  2. Select additional elective courses from the following to complete 18 hours in Area F:

Area G: Major Courses (30)

  1. CTW Requirement (3)
    • WGSS 4930 Senior Seminar in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies-CTW (3)
  2. Required Courses in Major (6)
    Select two of the following:

  3. Remaining Courses in Major Field (21): Seven additional Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies courses with at least nine hours in a single strand; these strands reflect areas of specialization within the field. The major requirement (WGSS 3030 or WGSS 3040) can also fulfill three hours towards a required strand. Students may, if they wish, take nine hours in an additional strand, or they may choose additional WGSS electives to fulfill the remaining 12 hours. Only courses with the WGSS prefix count as Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies courses. The strands include Sexualities, Race and Globalization, and Social Change.

Sexualities:

Race and Globalization:

Social Change:

Additional Electives:

Area H: Minor and Additional Courses

  1. Students majoring in WGSS are required to complete a minor of at least 15 hours, at least 9 hours of which must be 3000 level or above. The minor may be taken through a department or institute, or it may be an interdisciplinary minor.
  2. Additional courses not in the major or the minor must be taken as electives to complete a minimum of 120 semester hours, exclusive of KH 1010.

Minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Students choosing to minor in WGSS should complete 15 hours as follows:

  • WGSS 2010 Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (3)
  • Select one course from the following (3):
  • Select nine additional hours of upper-division elective WGSS courses (9).
    • Only courses with the WGSS prefix count as Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies courses.

Graduation with Distinction in the Major

This unit offers undergraduate students with the opportunity to earn the designation of graduation with distinction in the major. Faculty can nominate students for graduation with distinction. They should meet minimum grade requirements and be recognized for outstanding research, leadership, and/or service.

Criteria for significant contributions to the field include the following. Additional possibilities may be approved at faculty discretion.

  1. Minimum GPA of 3.5 either overall or in the major
  2. Significant contribution to the field such as the following:
    • Presentation of a scholarly paper at a conference
    • Authorship (or significant co-authorship) on a manuscript submitted for publication
    • Exceptional service to the department
    • Leadership in a women’s/gender/sexuality studies organization, such as Faces of Feminism or BlackOUT
    • Outstanding community activism