Welcome to Women's Studies

In the late 1960s, the very first classes with Women's Studies content were taught at California State University, Long Beach. The classes were Sociology of Women, taught by Dr. Audrey Fuss, and Psychology of Women, taught by Dr. Doris DeHardt. The popularity of those initial courses led to the first " official" Women's Studies class in 1970, a Research Seminar on Women, team-taught by Dr. Karen Johnson from Political Science and Dr. Sharon Sievers from History. The Program in Women's Studies was established about the same time, with a faculty from diverse disciplines holding joint appointments in Women's Studies and their home departments. It was an exciting time, both on our campus and on others, as bodies of knowledge about women in established disciplines were expanded by feminist scholars and merged into the core of what grew into an entirely new scholarly discipline.

The Program weathered the critiques and attacks of the conservative early 1980s and continued to grow. There were students asking for a major even before we were able to offer a degree in Women's Studies, and there were those who insisted on a specialized B. A. so that they could put Women's Studies on their degree. All this changed in 1995, when CSULB agreed to have a major in Women's Studies. By this time, there were permanent members of the faculty whose appointments were entirely housed in the Program. In 1997, our first two official majors graduated.

The Program itself has graduated and become an official department. Presently, there are 60 majors, and 17 students participated in graduation in Spring 2003. The numbers increase every year. But the Department serves more than our own majors and minors. Last year, 1350 students took one or more of the 35 courses we offer each semester in Women's Studies. Clearly, students find our classes important and exciting.

The faculty in the Department is among the most diverse and the largest in the United States. In addition to regular scholarly publishing, they take pride in working closely with our students.This is one of the reasons that so many of them feel they get the benefit of a private school education for the cost of a large state university.

For students seeking a career that makes a difference in the world through social justice, political activism or in any other arena, the Women's Studies program is a critical step to teaching the skills needed to create change.
-- Genelle Buchert, Class of 1993, independent political fundraiser.

Member: National Women's Studies Association