2025-2026 Academic Catalog

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Women's and Gender Studies (WGS)

WGS 1114 - Intro to LGBTQ+ Lives (3 credits) 
Introduction to LGBTQ+ Identities and Activism. Analysis of art, history, politics, and media in relation to LGBTQ+ identities. Emphasis on identifying and interpreting intercultural human experiences related to sexuality and gender by examining how contexts change across time, through social practices, and in intersections with other identity categories.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
WGS 1824 - Introduction to Womens and Gender Studies (3 credits) 
Describes feminism and the field of Womens and Gender Studies. Explains basic theories of social inequality, privilege, oppression and intersectionality. Discusses feminist perspectives on science and culture. Outlines womens and mens relative positions in and contributions to such institutions as family, work and the state.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
WGS 2114 - Feminist Theory (3 credits) 
Examination of diverse theoretical perspectives on women and gender, including their historical origins and political implications. Special emphasis on integrative perspectives that also address race, class, and other dimensions of inequality.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
WGS 2204 - Race and Gender in Religion and Culture (3 credits) 
Influence of race and gender on religion and culture. Overview of approaches to categories of diversity, particularly race and gender, in religious and cultural traditions. Utilization of humanistic and social scientific approaches to investigate geographically variable historical and/or contemporary case studies.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: AFST 2204, RLCL 2204 
WGS 2224 - Creativity, Power, & Politics (3 credits) 
Creativity, Power, & Politics analyzes the dimensions of creativity and the arts in the context of gender, sexuality, race, and class. Emphasis on identifying and interpreting intercultural human experiences related to the use of art in feminist social movements by examining how contexts change across time and in intersections with other identity categories.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
WGS 2254 - Feminist Activism (3 credits) 
Explores the history of individual and collective action geared toward gaining womens rights and improving womens positions in society. Course covers tensions and shifts in feminist movements, as well as the perspectives, agendas, and actions of specific subgroups of women whose perspectives sometimes conflict. Service-learning is a required component of the course.
Prerequisite(s): WGS 1824 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
WGS 2264 - Race, Class, Gender, and Sexualities (3 credits) 
Focuses on how race, class, gender, and sexualities form interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at individual and institutional levels. Emphasizes race, class, gender, and sexualities as changing social constructions and interactive systems that shape social institutions and organizations, meanings, and identities.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: AFST 2264, SOC 2264 
WGS 2284 - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Issues (3 credits) 
Introduces students to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Studies. Focuses on sexuality and gender as historical and cultural constructs. Examines the experiences of individuals who do not conform to binary sex-gender systems and the development of diverse identities and LGBTQ communities. Introduces feminist and queer theories that address LGBTQ issues within social, political, legal, and cultural institutions. Examines the institutional oppression of sexual minorities and implications of the intersectionalities of such systems of inequality as gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, and (dis)ability.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
WGS 2974 - Independent Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
WGS 2984 - Special Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
WGS 3004 - Topics in Feminism (3 credits) 
A variable topics course that addresses how the social construction of gender shapes social, cultural, political, economic, and institutional structures as well as individual experiences and perceptions. The course stresses interdisciplinary approaches to topics of emerging interest in feminist scholarship. Can be taken up to three times for credit with varying topic. In addition to WS 1824, must have taken a 2000-level Womens Studies course, or have instructors consent.
Prerequisite(s): WGS 1824 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Repeatability: up to 9 credit hours 
WGS 3014 - Women and Gender in Islam (3 credits) 
An examination of women and gender in Islam from a variety of perspectives including Muslim women in Islamic history, normative constructions of the roles of women in Islam, and womens role in contemporary Muslim societies. Understanding of women in classical Islam; feminist and reformist approaches; and Western constructions of the rights of women in Islam.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: RLCL 3014 
WGS 3134 - Gender and Linguistics (3 credits) 
Exploration of differences--real and imagined--in the speech of men and women, and the relationship between these differences to culture. Exploration of how language can reflect and reinforce gender inequality. Linguistic phenomena covered: pitch, vocabulary, sound change, language ideologies, and discourse strategies and types.
Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1106 or ENGL 1204H or COMM 1016 
Pathway Concept Area(s): 1A Discourse Advanced, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: ENGL 3134 
WGS 3214 - Global Feminisms (3 credits) 
An introduction to the gendered analysis of global womens issues with a special focus on women of color. Examines the multiple and diverse sites of feminist struggle within the third world, and between first and third worlds both in the U.S. and internationally. Studies the impact on women of political movements such as nationalism, colonialism, revolution, authoritarianism and democracy. Compares theories originating with women of color in the U.S. with those from international third worlds.
Prerequisite(s): WGS 2264 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
WGS 3984 - Special Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
WGS 4214 - Gender, Environment, and International Development (3 credits) 
Key concepts and critiques related to the intersection of gender, environment, and international development. Development institutions and organizations with relationship to gender and environment. Theoretical and applied perspectives on eco-feminism; bio-diversity; climate change; feminist political ecology; agriculture and natural resources; participatory methods and empowerment. Case studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Pre: Junior Standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: GEOG 4214, UAP 4214 
WGS 4224 - Women's Studies Seminar (3 credits) 
This multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural course examines a significant topic in Womens Studies, utilizing the perspectives of history, biology, psychology, political science, sociology, and the arts. Variable topics.
Prerequisite(s): WGS 1824 or WGS 1114 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
WGS 4334 - Sexual Medicine (3 credits) 
Discusses sex and medicine in contemporary U.S. society. Explores how notions of sexual behavior and normality are defined and structured by medical discourse. Examines cultural institutions that play significant roles in formulating ideas about and definitions of deviance, perversity, and tolerated marginality. Critiques medical responses to sexual variations. Examines experiences of people who have sought out, or been the unwilling victims of, sexual medicine. Junior standing required.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: STS 4334 
WGS 4704 - Gender and Science (3 credits) 
Investigates the gender dimensions of science in both historical and contemporary perspectives. Discusses feminist studies of science, exploring strengths and limitations. Assess implications of cultural assumptions about gender for practicing scientists.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: STS 4704 
WGS 4754 - Internship (1-6 credits) 
Qualified students will be placed with a community agency or on-campus office which addresses contemporary issues of gender, class, and/or race, and will meet periodically with an appropriate faculty member to discuss assigned readings that will provide a context for the work experience. Students will also be expected to keep a journal and to write up a final evaluation of the experience. Variable credit: may be taken for up to 6 elective credits in the Womens Studies concentration. Junior standing, screening interviews with Tech faculty and with the service agency and consent required.
Prerequisite(s): WGS 1824 
Instructional Contact Hours: (1-6 Lec, 1-6 Crd) 
Repeatability: up to 6 credit hours 
WGS 4954 - Study Abroad (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
WGS 4964 - Field Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
WGS 4974 - Independent Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
WGS 4984 - Special Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
WGS 4994 - Undergraduate Research (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
WGS 4994H - Undergraduate Research (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course