Upcoming Course Descriptions

Spring 2025 undergraduate classes
Spring 2025 graduate classes

Spring 2025 undergraduate classes

WS 2013 - Gender and Social Change
Multiple Sections
Introduction to multicultural-women's studies as an interdisciplinary field and how gender, "race," class, nationality, sexuality, disability, and other identity categories shape human experiences. Examination of social institutions, norms, and practices for their impact on the status and roles of women; visions and strategies for social transformation.

WS 2033 - Womanist Spiritual Activism
Multiple Sections
Introduction to interrelated roles of spiritual practice, imagination, and creativity in personal well-being and struggles for social justice. Multicultural, indigenous, and womanist approaches to wellness and social change.

WS 2053 - Women & Min in Eng, Math, Sci
100% online asynchronous
Examines reasons why women and minorities are traditionally underrepresented in the areas of engineering, mathematics, and science and includes strategies for increasing their representation. Introduction to problem-solving strategies, useful for any discipline, which emphasize solutions incorporating both current and emerging technologies.

WS 2383 - Gendered Images in Dance
100% Online asynchronous
Internet Instruction Days to be Announced, Times to be Announced, Room to be Announced
Survey of the development of gendered images in various dance genres and events embedded in U.S. culture and how movement expression inscribes markers of identity such as gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality in their inscription on the body in performance.

WS 2393 - Intro to Literature by Women
Hybrid Tuesday 9:30-10:50 a.m., ASB, Room 305
Introduction to important works of literature by women. May be organized by theme, topic, genre, ethnic group, or nationality.

WS 2703 - Gender and Education
Multiple Sections
An interdisciplinary examination of the relationship between gender and education in the U.S. Explores how gender relationships are created, maintained, enacted, and transformed through educational structures, practices, and institutions.

WS 3023 - U.S. Women of Colors
100% online, asynchronous
Multidisciplinary, relational explorations of the histories, theories, cultures, and lives of U.S. women from a wide variety of ethnic/cultural backgrounds. Themes of agency, survival, resistance, and transformation. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

WS 3213 - Women’s Roles
100% online, asynchronous
Women's roles are examined in the context of social institutions such as the family, the economy, and the government. Implications of sexual inequality, changing gender roles, and diversity by race, ethnicity, class, and age.

WS 3223 - Women, Crime, & Justice
100% Online, asynchronous
Introduction to gender, crime, and justice. Focus on women as offenders, as crime victims, and as employees in criminal justice. Feminist and critical perspectives on women, girls, and crime. Issues of gender inequality in criminal justice policy and practice. Prerequisite: SOCI 1013, SOCI 3213, WS 3213, WS 2013, or WS 3023.

WS 3343 - Women in the Visual Arts
Lecture Tuesday 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m., ART, Room 101
A survey of women visual artists of the Western world and how their roles relate to those of women visual artists worldwide. An analysis, from a traditional and a feminist point of view, of the recording of the female artist's place in history.

WS 3393 - Gender, Identity, and the Law
Hybrid Tuesday 1-2:20 p.m., MCL, Room 714
Impact of gender, identity, race, and class on legal status; evolution of the current legal environment, with an emphasis on parallels between gender discrimination and discrimination based on racial, ethnic, and sexual identity; substantive law regarding working conditions, compensation, education, the family, reproductive rights, and criminal law; feminist perspectives on legal reforms to improve the professional lives of individuals of all genders.

WS 3703 - Women in Music
Multiple Sections
An examination of music from the historical, cultural, and contemporary perspectives of women. Topics will include women as composers and performers, and the cultural values that have affected women's participation in musical life.

WS 3733 - Psychology of Women
Multiple Sections
Issues in the development and behavior of women, including theoretical perspectives, male-female differences, achievement, motivation, stereotype, androgyny, sexuality, career choices, mental health and disorders, psychotherapy, life-span, and special sub-groups.

WS 3793 - Feminist Research Methods
100% online, asynchronous
Introduction to strategies, concepts, and methods for conducting feminist research.

WS 4013 - Asian American Feminisms and Solidarities: Texts, Trends, and Issues in WS (course flyer)
100% online, synchronous meetings
Emphasizes the importance of finding solutions that simultaneously address the health of the planet and the well-being of all people. Through critical analysis and practical engagement, students will explore the interconnectedness of social and environmental justice issues such as environmental racism, climate displacement, natural disasters and vulnerable populations, urbanization and habitat loss, gender and environmentalism, and anthropocentrism as the centering and superiorization of humankind. Students will develop a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in building a more inclusive and environmentally responsible future.

WS 4203 - Family Violence & Sex Assault
100% online, asynchronous
Practice implications of various forms of family violence and sexual assault with an emphasis on women as victims and survivors. Theoretical explanations, research literature, policies, treatment issues, and prevention strategies in relation to child abuse, battering, incest, and intimate sexual violence.

WS 4493 - Feminist Theory
100% online, asynchronous
Explores the diversity of feminist theories and their applications to the social, political, and intellectual contexts of women's lives. Includes consideration of historical context for the development of the theoretical perspectives and critiques their analytical strengths and weaknesses. Attention also given to particular theorists.

WS 4903 - Latin Amer. Women Writers
Seminars Tuesday/Thursday 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m., CFO, Room 129
Seminars on topics related to womanist/feminist theories or current areas of inquiry in Multicultural Women's and Gender Studies.

Spring 2025 graduate classes

WS 5043 - Art, Activism, Social Justice (course flyer)
100% online with synchronous meetings Tuesdays 6-8:50 p.m.
Investigation of history and contemporary examples of the use of artistic works by activists and social movements. Focus on feminist art, art activism, and artists who create art for political purposes. Exploration of theoretical frameworks to analyze art, aesthetics, performance, and visual culture.

WS 5843 - Feminist/Womanist Theories
Seminar Thursday 6-8:50 p.m., in-person section meets in ASB, Room 305; online section meets via Zoom
Exploration of feminist/womanist critical inquiry, focusing on particular theoretical issues, historical writings, and/or disciplinary contexts within the diverse body of scholarship of feminist/womanist theories.

WS 6303 - Transdisciplinary Research (course flyer)
Seminar Thursday 6-8:50 p.m., ASB, Room 305
Relational exploration of feminist, womanist, and multicultural research methods from a variety of disciplines including those in the social sciences and humanities, focusing especially on Women's and Gender Studies' impact on research methods. Overview of research tools and techniques, including qualitative, quantitative, historical, and literary research methods.

WS 6403 - Politics of Publications & Writing (course flyer)
100% online, synchronous meetings every other Wednesday 6-8:50 p.m. starting Jan. 15
Issues related to academic writing and publishing, especially focusing on the fields of Women's and Gender Studies and multicultural-feminist scholarship. Submission of at least one article to a peer-review journal and one abstract for a conference presentation.

Page last updated 9:20 AM, December 2, 2024