Academics
Insert general "Academics" content here.
01:988:270 War: Critical Perspectives
- Course Code: 01:988:270
- Semester(s) Offered: Fall
- Credits: 3
- SAS Core Certified: CCO, SCL
01:988:260 The Modern Girl
- Course Code: 01:988:260
- Semester(s) Offered: Spring
- Credits: 3
- SAS Core Certified: HST
01:988:259 Homosexuality and Visual Culture
- Course Code: 01:988:259
- Semester(s) Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
- Credits: 3
01:988:258 Gender, Race, and Contemporary Art
- Course Code: 01:988:258
- Semester(s) Offered: Fall, Spring
- Credits: 3
01:988:257 Gender and the Body: Representation and Pornography
- Course Code: 01:988:257
- Semester(s) Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
- Credits: 3
01:988:255 Gender, Art, and Society
- Course Code: 01:988:255
- Semester(s) Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
- Credits: 3
01:988:252 Mentoring, Leadership, and Young Women’s Lives
- Course Code: 01:988:252
This course examines the theory and practice of mentoring to consider what might constitute a feminist model of mentorship. The course utilizes an intersectional analysis to explore the ways that gender/race/class/age interact in mentoring relationships. Beginning with a discussion of definitions and the history of mentoring, the course proceeds to consider personal narratives and mentoring practices, and the connection between mentoring and women’s leadership for social change.
In addition, the course will consider the micro challenges in building mentoring relationships, as well as gaining a macro lens on mentoring from an historical perspective, and the rise of structured mentoring as a form of engagement and social inclusion. Key questions addressed include: What are the myths of mentoring? How is mentoring used as a tool for social change? What is the connection between mentoring, leadership, policy, and practice? Can mentoring cross gender/race/class/age? How important is it to for mentors and mentees to share the same world view, standpoint, and culture? In examining case studies, personal narratives, prose, and memoir; what are lived experiences of young women and mentoring?
The class will feature several guest speakers to illustrate mentoring models. In addition, for an additional one CESEP credit, registration is linked with an applied experience in an existing Rutgers mentoring program which may include the Institute for Women’s Leadership’s WINGS and GROW programs; and/or other existing mentoring programs that take place over the course of the academic year.
The learning goals for the class include: (1) to gain an understanding of the definitions and history of mentoring using an interdisciplinary approach; (2) to gain an understanding of the ways that women in mentoring relations understand and narrate their experiences in the context of their life stories; (3) to gain an understanding of women’s leadership for social change and the importance of mentoring as a tool in transformative women’s leadership; (4) to advance critical reading skills; and (5) to utilize both primary and secondary sources in writing a research paper.
01:988:250 Feminist Perspectives
- Course Code: 01:988:250
- Semester(s) Offered: Spring
- Credits: 3
01:988:240 Gender and Science
- Course Code: 01:988:240
- Semester(s) Offered: Spring
- Credits: 3
01:988:235 Dynamics of Class, Race, and Sex
- Course Code: 01:988:235
- Semester(s) Offered: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer
- Credits: 3
- SAS Core Certified: CCD, CCO
Undergraduate Program
Undergraduate Director:Dr. Yana Rodgers
Sr. Department Administrator: Monique Gregory
The Women's & Gender Studies undergraduate program, founded in the early seventies, is one of the oldest in the nation. Currently, the program has over 200 majors and minors and serves over 1900 students annually in a wide array of core and cross-listed courses. The major, approved in 1984, introduces students to significant issues and debates in feminist scholarship, theory, and activism.
“Women’s & Gender Studies seek to enrich traditional disciplinary approaches not simply by including women but by transforming the categories, through which knowledge is produced and disseminated.”
All courses are interdisciplinary and each considers the complex dynamics among race, ethnicity, locality, class, gender, and sexuality. The readings and discussions in each class represent a wide variety of women's perspectives concerning issues such as: the conceptualization of difference, the production and recreation of femininity and masculinity, language and gender, the division of labor, women and poverty, sexual violence, reproductive rights, gay and lesbian theory, gender and popular theory, and contemporary feminist politics. Ultimately, we strive to ground both research and theory in the everyday realities of feminist activism around the globe. Women’s & Gender Studies program faculty, students and staff are active members and leaders of academic and community women’s organizations.
The WGS alumnae pursue their professional career in various fields. One-fifth of our graduates continue their education in graduate programs in different fields (political science, English, law) around the country. Many alumnae also engage in work in the area of health and pharmacy (about one fourth). Others choose law (one-fifth of the alumnae), education (one fourth) media or computer studies. Many WGS graduates continue their activist work in non-governmental organizations that engage with women and work, international politics and women’s leadership.
Graduate Program
The Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies offers the Ph.D., the M.A. , and a Graduate Certificate Program. The graduate program in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is the joint enterprise of a diverse Graduate Faculty comprising more than 100 scholars. Our students benefit from the rich resources of the larger feminist community at Rutgers which includes 27 Ph.D. students, 21 M.A. students, and over 100 Ph.D. students in other departments who are pursuing certificates in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In addition, the many Rutgers institutes and centers devoted to feminist research -- the Institute for Women's Leadership, the Center for American Women and Politics, the Center for Women's Global Leadership, the Center for Women and Work and the Institute for Research on Women -- enrich the opportunities for our students to gain practical skills and to broaden their knowledge of feminist research and politics.