Graduate Certificate

Graduate Elective Guide, Fall 2009

The Graduate Certificate Program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is designed to provide students with a focused program of study of women and gender, and to provide certification of the completion of the program on a graduate transcript.  Students may enroll in the Program either as a stand alone program or in combination with a graduate degree program in another department.  A graduate certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies may be particularly appealing to students in the humanities, social sciences, or science who seek academic employment in interdisciplinary women’s studies programs, perhaps in addition to a main appointment in their home discipline.  It would also be useful for those who currently work with or hope to work with women’s organizations or in supervisory capacities in business or government.

The KU Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Graduate Certificate requires 12 hours of coursework including: WS 801: Women and Gender Studies: Theory and methods (3 hours); two three-hour electives chosen from the list at the end of this document, from two different disciplines; and WS 898: Research Colloquium (3 hours).  All students in the Graduate Certificate program will be assigned an advisor to assist the student in selecting from among the electives and to serve as an outside reader of the capstone paper required in WS 898.  Below is a brief description of the required Women’s Studies courses.

WS 801: Women and Gender Studies: Theory and methods (3 hours)
This course will be an intensive interdisciplinary overview of the major theories and research approaches in literature on women and gender.  The topics covered will include the following: 1. An overview of feminist theories; 2. An overview of how feminist theories can be integrated with research methods in various disciplines; 3. Examples of applications of feminist theories and methods to specific content areas.  The course will be taught every Fall semester beginning in 2002, and will be open only to graduate students.

WS 898: Research colloquium (3 hours)
This course is the capstone to the Graduate Certificate program.  In this colloquium the members of the seminar will produce a major paper and will share their research.  During the first part of the term a small number of visitors (Professors at KU and/or visiting speakers from other universities) will be invited to assign readings and subsequently present their work on women and gender.  This course will be coordinated by a member of the Women’s Studies faculty.  Students will be expected to attend the Gender Seminar of the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the instructor of WS 898 will coordinate with the Director of the Gender Seminar to make optimal use of the Gender Seminar.
Prerequisite: WS 801 and at least 3 hours of other graduate work in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies graduate certificate program, or by special permission.

Admissions Procedure

There are two ways to be admitted to the WGSS Graduate Certificate Program.

Students must be accepted into the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, whether as a student in a specific department (graduate program) or as a non-degree seeking student.

Students who are already enrolled in a graduate program at KU, or who have just been accepted into a graduate program at KU, and who wish to be admitted also to the WGSS Graduate Certificate Program should write a letter to the WGSS Graduate Director stating their interest in the WGSS Graduate Certificate Program; and with that letter they should submit a current ARTS form. A graduate GPA of 3.0 or higher is required, but provisional admittance can be granted for one semester to new graduate students.

Students accepted into the Office of Research and Graduate Studies as a non-degree seeking student (i.e., not enrolled in a specific graduate program) should send a letter to the WGSS Graduate Director stating their interest in the WGSS Graduate Certificate Program, a copy of their current ARTS form, and two letters of recommendation from persons familiar with their academic work or potential for graduate school. Minimum requirements will be a bachelor's degree with a GPA of 3.0 or higher is normally required for admission, but the GPA requirement may be waived at the discretion of the Graduate Director.

All letters to the WGSS Graduate Director should be addressed to:

Professor John G. Younger
Director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
213E Bailey Hall
1440 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
(785) 864-2311
jyounger@ku.edu

Faculty contributing to Certificate Program

Currently there are seven 0.5 FTE permanent faculty, each with a joint appointment in another department of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and a 1.0 FTE permanent faculty appointment. Their names, ranks, and other departments are as follows:

Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka, Associate Professor, Theatre and Film
Hannah Britton, Associate Professor, Political Science
Tanya Hart, Assistant Professor, American Studies
Charlene Muehlenhard, Professor, Psychology
Ayu Saraswati, Assistant Professor, WGSS
Ann Schofield, Professor, American Studies
Akiko Takeyama, Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Marta Vicente, Associate Professor, History
John Younger, Professor of Classics, Director of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies

Additionally, there is a Graduate Faculty composed of faculty members from related disciplines. These faculty teach the courses that carry graduate credit toward the Graduate Certificate, and may serve as advisors to students in the Program.

Elective Courses, a selection (other courses may be approved by the Graduate Director)

WS 510/AMS 510/

History of American Women

HIST 530

Colonial Times to 1870

WS 511/AMS511

History of American Women

HIST 531

1870-Present

WS 512/AMS 512/HIST 532

History of Women and Work in Comparative Perspective

WS 520

Women and Violence

WS 549/HIST 649

History of Feminist Theory

WS 560/AAAS 560

Race, Gender, & Post-Colonial Discourse

WS 562/POLS 562

Women and Politics

WS 580/ANTH 580

Feminism & Anthropology

WS 583/ANTH 583

Love, Sex, and Globalization

WS 600/POLS 600

Contemporary Feminist Political Theory

WS 646/HIST 646

Witches in European History and Historiography

WS 651/POLS 651

Women and Politics in Latin America

WS 653/POLS 653

Gender, War, and Peace

WS 660/ANTH 660

Human Reproductions: Culture, Power & Politics

WS 665/ANTH 665/ LAAS 665

Women, Health & Healing in Latin America

WS 689/PSYCH 689

Conceptual Issues in Human Sexuality

WS 696

Conceptual Issues in Human Sexuality

WS 701

Graduate Seminar

WS 789/ANTH 789

Anthropology of Gender: Advanced Seminar in the Four Fields

WS 797

Directed Readings

WS 801

Women and Gender: Theory & Methods

WS 837

Comparative Colloquium in Women's History

WS 873

Research Seminar in U.S Women's History

WS 898

Research Colloquium

AAAS 520

Women & Islam

AAAS 520

Muslim Women's Autobiography

AAAS 520

Studies in: African Women Writers

AAAS 520

Studies in: Popular African Fiction: Gender, Sex, and Romance

AAAS 545

Unveiling the Veil

AAAS 598

Sexuality and Gender in African History

AAAS 657

Gender in Islam and Society

AMS 696

Studies in: American Women During World War II

COMS 552

Rhetoric of Women's Rights

COMS 559

Women as Political Communicators

COMS 930

Seminar in Speech: Gender Issues in Organization

COMS 930

Seminar in Speech: Women as Political Communicators

EALC 575

Love, Sexuality & Gender in Japanese Lit.

ENGL 572

Women and Literature

ENGL 572

Women and Literature: Feminist Criticism/Women's Texts

ENGL 572

Women's Autobiography & Bildungsroman

ENGL 620

Queen Elizabeth I

ENGL 709

Feminist Theory/Women's Texts

ENGL 970

Seminar in Comp. Theory, Feminism Comp. Studies

ENGL 970

Seminar in American Literature: Edith Wharton & Willa Cather

ENGL 970

Seminar in American Lit. 19th Cen. Women Writers

HA 505

Special Study: Women/Modern Art

HA 533

Europe 1789-1848: Gender and Revolution

HIST 510

Women in Latin America

HIST 532/AMS 512

History of Women and Work in Comparative Perspective

HIST 533

History of Women & Family in Europe: 1500 to Present

HIST 598

Sexuality & Gender in African History

HIST 608

History of Sexuality

HIST 609

History of Women and Reform in the U.S.

HIST 896

Colloquium in U.S. Women's History

HIST 973

Seminar in U.S. Women's History

HPM 850

Women and Health Care

HSCA 620

Issues in Women's Health Care & Health Care

PHIL 504

Philosophy of Sex and Love

PHIL 671

Feminist Theories in Ethics

PSYC 690

Studies in: Human Sexuality, Scientific and Cultural Perspectives

PSYC 993

Intergroup Relations

REL 602

Special Topics in Religion: Women in Islam

REL 602

Special Topics in Religion: Sex and Gender Roman Catholic Tradition

REL 672

Mother as Religious Metaphor

REL 677

Women in Christianity

REL 777

Seminar in Religion and Gender

REL 875

Women & Religion

REL 877

Seminar on Women and Religion

SOC 535

Gender in the Global Context

SOC 601

Introduction to Feminist Social Thought? or Theory?

SOC 617

Women & Health Care

SOC 623

Women & Work

SOC 682

Sociology of Family

SOC 722

Sociology of Gender

SOC 780

Women of the Third World

SOC 780

Adv. Topics: Gender and Social Policy

SOC 808

Feminist Theories

SOC 826

Gender and Social Policy

SOC 970

Ethnicity and Sexuality

SW 874

Social Work Practice with Women

Th & F 702

Representation of Race, Class, & Gender in Visual Culture

Th & F 702

As She Sees It: Women Filmmakers Since WWII

TH & F 702

International Women Filmmakers