The Program & Goals

The goal of the Department of Women's Studies is to provide for students, the University, and the community an intellectual context from which it is possible to study the experience of women.

By definition, this enterprise crosses disciplinary and cultural lines; it means that we are in the University not only to fill in gaps and to facilitate the development of coherent bodies of knowledge about women in established disciplines, but that we represent a core of emerging knowledge that is growing into a new discipline. Women's Studies seeks to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and perception necessary to their realization of the fullest range of options available to them as human beings. We want to provide and encourage contexts conducive to academic excellence and sensitive to academic freedom that will assist students in

• the reexamination of traditional ideas about women and men in cultures characterized by patterns of gender role stereotyping;

• the acquisition of an understanding of the history and contributions of women of varying social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds;

• developing the analytical tools required to understand and appreciate the implications of the last three decades of feminist theory and research; and

• preparing for a variety of vocations which increasingly demand knowledge about women's experience.

The Department of Women's Studies offers the University the intellectual excitement inherent in the development of a new discipline, and a humanistic perspective from which to view the accumulated knowledge of other disciplines, particularly their assumptions about women, both as actors and subjects. Women's Studies encourages the development of research and curriculum related to women in other disciplines and departments throughout the University. We also provide information and advising for students and other members of the University community on the subject of women and women's studies.