Message From the Department Chair

Welcome to the Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

We believe that choosing to major or minor in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies will change your life. Our professors harness the power of education to transform the world; our students work together to create a vibrant learning community. Together we build campus and community relationships that help people address some of the most challenging contemporary social problems—economic inequality, intimate partner violence, education inequities, health disparities, and lace of access to legal resources. Students graduate from our program with a clear sense of purpose, with a strong sense of commitment to social justice. By exploring gender and its intersections with sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, nationality, disability, and age, across regional and global contexts, the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department empowers students individually and collectively.

We do not shy away from controversial issues or from contemporary political debates. Instead, we encourage students to engage with the world around them by honing their critical thinking skills, deepening their commitment to social justice, and affirming their abilities to craft solutions to social problems. Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies professors work closely with students to develop their scholarly interests, their artistic passions, and their political attachments. Outside the classroom, faculty build strong mentoring relationships with students. Faculty work alongside students on research and community action projects. Many of our graduates go on to graduate school in social work, counseling, political science, history, sociology, women’s studies, and law. Our graduates work in a variety of social justice organizations and in professions that allow them to stay true to their passion for gender equality.

To be sure, choosing Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies is not an easy path. At first, your friends and family may ask you to explain the content of the major or how the field of study will help you get a job. Class content will challenge you to rethink what society has told you about gender. But we promise that this discomfort is temporary and worth it. Our graduates say that their Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies education helped them to become confident, brave, self-reliant, and driven.

Join us and make Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies your home!

Sincerely, 

Dr. Kathryn Forbes