Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

150 Parkmill (PKM)

1633 SW Park Ave.

503-725-3516

www.pdx.edu/ws/

  • B.A., B.S.—Women's Studies
  • B.A., B.S.—Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies
  • Minor in Women's Studies
  • Minor in Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies
  • Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Women's Studies

In the School of Gender, Race and Nations, the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies offers an interdisciplinary program designed to foster students’ personal and intellectual development and to prepare them for socially responsible citizenship as well as a broad range of careers. Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies advisers work closely with each student to craft a course of study appropriate to the student’s academic interests and post-graduate goals.

An expanding field of scholarship, women, gender, and sexuality studies is on the cutting edge of educational and intellectual innovation. The department offers two different majors: the Women's Studies major, and the Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies major. The Women's Studies major encourages students to develop critical thinking skills and an appreciation for the range of theoretical frameworks and methodologies present in contemporary feminist scholarship. Courses incorporate the diversity of women’s experience with attention to race, class, and sexual orientation as well as gender. Core courses also encourage students’ active participation through discussion, informal as well as formal writing, and collaborative learning in the classroom.

The major in Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies (SGQS) is designed to provide an in-depth study of sexual desire, sexual behavior and identity, gendered behavior, gender identity, and the sexed body as socially, culturally, and historically produced. The core curriculum emphasizes queer and trans of color theorizing and critiques including queer indigenous, Two-Spirit, and transnational perspectives; critical analysis of the relationships between sexuality and other power formations such as gender, race, class, nation, ability, nature, citizenship, age, and size; historical contexts and contemporary connections among rigorous theoretical, activist, political, and practice-oriented approaches; and an interdisciplinary, queer, and decolonial approach to analyses of the creative arts, humanities, and health and social sciences.

Experiential learning plays an important role in a student’s progress through the women, gender, and sexuality studies curriculum. The program’s extensive and long-established ties with organizations in the Metro area provide wide-ranging opportunities for students to apply their classroom knowledge in a community setting. Many students discover a life’s vocation through these experiences, and all develop new skills. Guidelines for women, gender, and sexuality studies practica and independent study are flexible in order to meet individual needs. Degrees in Women's Studies and Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies provide the foundations for life-long learning as well as background and experience for careers in teaching, counseling and social work, business, law, health sciences, public administration, public relations, and academia.


Degree Maps and Learning Outcomes

Admission requirements

Women’s Studies B.A./B.S.

Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies B.A./B.S.

Women's Studies Minor

Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies Minor

Women’s Studies Post-Baccalaureate Certificate

Women Gender Sexuality Courses

Women’s Studies B.A./B.S.

In addition to meeting the general University degree requirements, the student majoring in Women's Studies must complete a required core program of 36 credits and 20 credits of WS electives (with a minimum of 16 upper-division credits) for a total of 56 credits to complete the major.

Each student pursuing a Women's Studies major will select or be assigned an adviser who is knowledgeable in the student’s area(s) of academic interest.

Courses taken under the undifferentiated grading option (pass/no pass) are not acceptable toward fulfilling major requirements with the following exceptions: one Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies elective course, WS 404 Cooperative Education/Internship, or WS 409 Practicum. The minimum grade allowed to pass major requirements will be 1.7 C-.

Requirements

Core courses (28 credits)

WS 101Introduction to Women's Studies

4

WS 301Gender and Critical Inquiry

4

WS 305Women of Color Feminist Theory

4

WS 307Women, Activism and Social Change

4

WS 315Feminist Analysis

4

WS 412Feminist Methodologies

4

WS 415Senior Seminar

4

Experiential learning (8 credits)

WS 409Practicum

6

WS 411Experiential Learning Seminar

2

Electives (20 credits; with a minimum of 16 upper-division credits)

WS 306UGlobal Gender Issues

4

WS 308UTopics in Gender, Literature, and Popular Culture

4

WS 310UPsychology of Women

4

WS 312UFeminist Philosophy

4

WS 317UWriting as Activism

4

WS 320UIntroduction to Girls' Studies

4

WS 330UWomen of Color in the United States

4

WS 331U/Intl 331UWomen in the Middle East

4

WS 332URace, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the United States

4

WS 337UCommunication and Gender

4

WS 340UWomen and Gender in America to 1848

4

WS 341UWomen and Gender in America 1848-1920

4

WS 342UWomen and Gender in the U.S. 1920 to the Present

4

WS 343UAmerican Family History

4

WS 346U/Bi 346UGenes & Society

4

WS 347U/Sci 347UScience, Gender, and Social Context

4

WS 348U/Sci 348UScience, Gender, and Social Context

4

WS 351UGender and Education

4

WS 360UIntroduction to Queer Studies

4

WS 365U/Sci 365UThe Science of Women's Bodies

4

WS 367UWar, Sexual Violence and Healing

4

WS 369UGlobal Reproductive Justice

4

WS 370UHistory of Sexualities

4

WS 372U/Eng 372UTopics in Literature, Gender, and Sexuality

4

WS 375UTopics in Sexuality Studies

4

WS 377UTopics in Feminist Spirituality

4

WS 380UWomen and Politics

4

WS 387Feminist Organizations: Theory and Practice

4

WS 410Selected Topics

1-6

WS 417Women in the Economy

4

WS 424/PS 425Women and the Law

4

WS 425/Soc 425Sociology of Gender

4

WS 426/Soc 426Gender & Mental Health

4

WS 428Lesbian History

4

WS 431U/ArH 431UWomen in the Visual Arts

4

WS 444British Women Writers

4

WS 445American Women Writers

4

WS 451Interrupting Oppression

4

WS 452/Comm 452Gender and Race in the Media

4

WS 453Feminism and Women?s Health

4

WS 467Work and Family

4

WS 470UAsian American Women's Studies

4

WS 471Global Feminisms

4

WS 479Women and Organizational Psychology

4

WS 480Introduction to Critical Disability Studies

4

WS 481Disability and Intersectionality

4

Intl 360UBollywood: Communicating Contemporary South Asia through Cinema

4

JSt 335USex, Love, and Gender in Israel

4

Total Credit Hours: 56