150 Parkmill Building (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.
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 101 | Introduction to Women's Studies | 4 |
| WS 301 | Gender and Critical Inquiry | 4 |
| WS 305 | Women of Color Feminist Theory | 4 |
| WS 307 | Women, Activism and Social Change | 4 |
| WS 315 | Feminist Analysis | 4 |
| WS 412 | Feminist Methodologies | 4 |
| WS 415 | Senior Seminar | 4 |
Experiential learning (8 credits)
Electives (20 credits; with a minimum of 16 upper-division credits)
| WS 306U | Global Gender Issues | 4 |
| WS 308U | Topics in Gender, Literature, and Popular Culture | 4 |
| WS 310U | Psychology of Women | 4 |
| WS 312U | Feminist Philosophy | 4 |
| WS 317U | Writing as Activism | 4 |
| WS 320U | Introduction to Girls' Studies | 4 |
| WS 330U | Women of Color in the United States | 4 |
| WS 331U/Intl 331U | Women in the Middle East | 4 |
| WS 332U | Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the United States | 4 |
| WS 337U | Communication and Gender | 4 |
| WS 340U | Women and Gender in America to 1848 | 4 |
| WS 341U | Women and Gender in America 1848-1920 | 4 |
| WS 342U | Women and Gender in the U.S. 1920 to the Present | 4 |
| WS 343U | American Family History | 4 |
| WS 346U/Bi 346U | Genes & Society | 4 |
| WS 347U/Sci 347U | Science, Gender, and Social Context | 4 |
| WS 348U/Sci 348U | Science, Gender, and Social Context | 4 |
| WS 351U | Gender and Education | 4 |
| WS 360U | Introduction to Queer Studies | 4 |
| WS 365U/Sci 365U | The Science of Women's Bodies | 4 |
| WS 367U | War, Sexual Violence and Healing | 4 |
| WS 369U | Global Reproductive Justice | 4 |
| WS 370U | History of Sexualities | 4 |
| WS 375U | Topics in Sexuality Studies | 4 |
| WS 372U/Eng 372U | Topics in Literature, Gender, and Sexuality | 4 |
| WS 377U | Topics in Feminist Spirituality | 4 |
| WS 380U | Women and Politics | 4 |
| WS 387 | Feminist Organizations: Theory and Practice | 4 |
| WS 410 | Selected Topics | 1-6 |
| WS 417 | Women in the Economy | 4 |
| WS 424/PS 425 | Women and the Law | 4 |
| WS 425/Soc 425 | Sociology of Gender | 4 |
| WS 426/Soc 426 | Gender & Mental Health | 4 |
| WS 428 | Lesbian History | 4 |
| WS 431U/ArH 431U | Women in the Visual Arts | 4 |
| WS 444 | British Women Writers | 4 |
| WS 445 | American Women Writers | 4 |
| WS 451 | Interrupting Oppression | 4 |
| WS 452/Comm 452 | Gender and Race in the Media | 4 |
| WS 453 | Feminism and Women?s Health | 4 |
| WS 467 | Work and Family | 4 |
| WS 470U | Asian American Women's Studies | 4 |
| WS 471 | Global Feminisms | 4 |
| WS 479 | Women and Organizational Psychology | 4 |
| WS 480 | Introduction to Critical Disability Studies | 4 |
| WS 481 | Disability and Intersectionality | 4 |
| Intl 360U | Bollywood: Communicating Contemporary South Asia through Cinema | 4 |
| JSt 335U | Sex, Love, and Gender in Israel | 4 |
Total Credit Hours: 56