Program Overview

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program

The Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program offers a comprehensive curriculum that explores the complexities of gender and sexuality.

About the Program

• The program provides students with a deep understanding of the social, cultural, and historical contexts that shape gender and sexuality.
• It emphasizes the importance of intersectionality, recognizing that gender and sexuality are intertwined with other social categories such as race, class, and ethnicity.

Academics

• The program offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as certificate programs and internships.
• Students can choose from a variety of courses that cover topics such as feminist theory, gender and sexuality studies, and women's history.
• The program also offers a BA/M.A. program, which allows students to earn both a bachelor's and master's degree in a shorter amount of time.

Undergraduate Program

• The undergraduate program provides students with a solid foundation in women's, gender, and sexuality studies.
• Students can choose to major or minor in the program, and can also pursue a certificate in gender and media or other related fields.
• The program offers a variety of courses, including introductory courses, electives, and seminars.

Honors Program

• The honors program is designed for students who want to pursue advanced research in women's, gender, and sexuality studies.
• To be eligible for the honors program, students must have an overall cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or better and a 3.4 average or better in women's and gender studies courses at the end of their junior year.
• Students in the honors program must write an honors thesis of 75-100 pages on a topic related to women's and gender studies, participate in a six-credit year-long honors research seminar, and orally present the completed thesis to the Rutgers community at the end of the year.

Thesis

• The thesis should be based on the student's original research and should be grounded in a discussion of what other scholars have written about the topic in question.
• Each student will work with at least two faculty advisors in developing their project: a primary advisor with expertise in the student's particular field of research and the instructor of the honors research seminar, who will serve as a second advisor.

Seminar

• The purpose of the honors research seminar is to establish a feminist learning community that will support each student's project.
• In seminar meetings, students will explore issues in the production of feminist knowledge production as well as read and critique each other's work.

Presentation

• Students will give an oral presentation of their honors thesis before students, faculty, and staff in women's and gender studies and other invited guests in mid- to late April.