Women's Studies Courses

Offered: Typically every Spring Term.

An examination of the experiences of women and men to determine how gender roles have contributed to and been shaped by the religious, political, and social history of "the West." This course is arranged topically and chronologically from the Renaissance through the success of the parity movement in France at the beginning of the 21st century. Topics to be considered include: religious reform; scientific understandings of the body; national revolutions; industrialization and the sexual division of labor; widening political opportunities; socialism; feminism; empire-building, and warfare. Western History Perspective and African Americans', Appalachians', and Women's Perspective.

Offered: Typically alternate Spring Terms (next offered 2011-2012)

This class examines the biological, physiological, psychological, social, and ethical factors that affect human sexuality and interpersonal relationships. Through lecture, small and large-group discussions, debates, audiovisuals, guest speakers, and directed reading assignments, the focus will be on reality oriented sexual behavior and attitudes; needs and interests of college students; positive satisfaction, obligations, and responsibilities to self and others; sexual deviance; influence of society; and changing mores, roles, and lifestyles.

Offered: Typically Fall and Spring terms

What is Women's and Gender Studies? What is feminism? What have been the historic roles of women in the United States? In the World? How are women's experiences similar? How do they differ? How do class, race, and ethnicity shape gender development? Any student who has ever asked her/himself any of these questions can begin to explore answers in this introductory course in Women's and Gender Studies. The interdisciplinary field of Women's Studies draws from the often neglected experience of women in order to describe, analyze, and more fully understand the gendered world order. Students will read several primary-source selections from each of the different eras of the international feminist movement, as well as complementary texts in women's history and literature. This introduction to Women's and Gender Studies will engage students in a deeply personal and academic journey that involves classroom discussion of individual's perceptions and critiques, and journal responses to both discussion and reading. African Americans', Appalachians', and Women's Perspective.

Prerequisite: None
Offered: Typically offered in alternate years

This course will analyze the various "waves" of feminism, (First, Second, and Third) as the wave metaphor indicates each moment in feminism has flowed naturally into the next moment. The course will spend a significant amount of time analyzing the positions of women of color, especially African American women, in the Second Wave, which ushered in the contemporary feminist movement, and how the critiques of various women of color and women from other marginalized communities (lesbians, women of lower-socioeconomic classes) challenged mainstream, white, middle class feminism to recognize the different positionalities of all women.

Offered: Typically alternate years (next offered Spring 2012)

How have African-American women writers coped with invisibility? How have they emerged from silence and created visions of identity and culture? This course will examine the writings of African-American women as a separate and distinct cultural group and the ways in which their writing is an expression of the culture and a historical record of its development. African Americans¿, Appalachians¿, and Women¿s Perspective.

1 Course Credit

Prerequisite: GSTR 210

Offered: Typically alternate Fall Terms (next offered Fall 2010)

A study of the participation of women and African Americans in the American political process. Theories of representative democracy and an introduction to the historical struggles for equal rights provide a context for the investigation of contemporary electoral politics, governance, grassroots politics, and public policy. Students examine the progress of women and African American candidates, and of related public policy issues, throughout the current election and its immediate aftermath. African Americans¿, Appalachians¿, and Women¿s Perspective. African Americans¿, Appalachians¿, and Women¿s Perspective. NOTE: In order to receive African and African American Studies or Women¿s Studies major or minor credit, the student¿s major project must focus on African Americans or women, respectively.
1 Course Credit

Prerequisite: GSTR 110 (or waiver)

Offered: Typically Fall and Spring terms.

An introductory survey of the psycho-social aspects of family science, including an examination of functions and variations over the life cycle, diverse family forms, gender roles and power, family recourses, healthy intimate relations and personal communication, and issues of parenthood. This course balances theory and personal application. African Americans', Appalachians', and Women's Perspective and Social Science Perspective.

Prerequisite: HLT 215 OR a college course in Women¿s Studies OR permission of instructor

Offered: Typically alternate years (first offered Fall 2010)

This course will help students understand women¿s health from a personal perspective and then connect that understanding to the health of women in other parts of the world. Emphasis will be on reproductive health, including pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, but we will also study issues such as environmental health, violence against women, and AIDS as a global health problem.
1 Course Credit

Prerequisite: WGS 124 or ENG 110 or permission
Offered: Typically offered alternate years

An introduction to the discipline of Queer Theory, this course examines Western constructions of gender and sexuality focusing on traditional discourses surrounding Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transsexual/Queer (LGBTQ) and heterosexual identities. The lens of Queer Theory provides a framework for exploring issues related to sexuality, including but not limited to: essentialism, marginalization, heterosexism, and homophobia. The course also takes a brief look at LGBTQ history, focusing primarily on the LGBTQ liberation movement.

Prerequisite: GSTR 210or permission of instructor

Offered: Typically alternate years

An examination of the role of gender in communication at the interpersonal, public, and cultural levels. Includes the study of historical and contemporary scholarship on gender, media representations of femininity and masculinity; similarities and differences in communication styles among the genders; and the role played by communication in the shaping of gender.

Prerequisite: WGS 124 or permission of instructor

Offered: Typically alternate years

A study of the Western version of the Women's and Gender Studies Canon, with readings spanning the last two centuries in history, philosophy, literature, psychology, sociology, biography, and critical theory. Both old and new classic texts will be paired together to help students develop a coherent narrative about gender and sexuality over the past two hundred years. In addition, the idea of a "canon" will be raised as a problematic issue in a rapidly changing academic field. African Americans', Appalachians', and Women's Perspective.

Prerequisite: WGS 124 and junior standing
Offered: Typically annually (first offered Fall 2010)
An exploration of diverse academic theories and feminist philosophies as these apply to current and historical conditions. This course will interrogate theories of gender, women¿s subjectivity, social identity, political identity, and transnational feminism. NOTE: Noncredit for students who completed WGS 358.
1 Course Credit

Prerequisite: SOC 100 or permission of instructor

Offered: Typically every Fall Term (next offered term yet to be determined)

Study of cultural influences upon family functions, structures, and behaviors, focusing on the recognition and understanding of cultural similarities and differences. Covers topics such as cross-cultural interrelationships among economy, government, religion and family; kinship systems and patterns of marital residence; cultural variations in power distribution and sex roles; differences in childrearing patterns; universal shifts from ¿traditional¿ families; and variations in roles of aging family members. African Americans¿, Appalachians¿, and Women¿s Perspective and World Culture (Western) component of the International Perspective.
1 Course Credit

Prerequisite: WGS 124 and senior standing

Offered: Typically annually (first offered Fall 2010)

An exploration of diverse academic theories and feminist philosophies as these apply to current and historical conditions. This course will interrogate theories of gender, women¿s subjectivity, social identity, political identity, and transnational feminism. Students are expected to complete a research project in this course. NOTE: Noncredit for students who completed WGS 401.
1 Course Credit

Prerequisite: Sophomore, junior, or senior standing

Offered: Typically every term

See Academic Programs and Courses in this Catalog & Student Handbook for general description.
1 to 3 Course Credits

Prerequisite: Will vary, but always will include permission of instructor
Offered: Typically on a limited basis as student interest and faculty availability allow
See Academic Programs and Courses in this Catalog & Student Handbook for general description.
1 Course Credit