Academics
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Graduate Certificate
The Certificate Program offered by Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies allows students enrolled in other Rutgers University graduate degree programs to earn a Certificate in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Many students find the Certificate useful for expansion of career options and thesis preparation. It prepares students in any discipline to teach courses and conduct research in women’s studies, to develop courses with a focus on gender, and to expand the scope of their professional activity to include gender issues and debates.
The certificate program consists of nine credits. At least six credits must be taken in WGSS core courses or WGSS advanced colloquia. Three credits may be in cognate courses offered in other departments. Students from 22 departments and schools are currently enrolled in the program. Students interested in the Certificate Program must be enrolled in a disciplinary department at Rutgers other than WGSS.
Requirements
To obtain a Certificate in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, students must:
- Take two Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (988) graduate courses. No exceptions.
- Take one approved graduate cognate course.
- Submit a
WGSS Graduate Certificate Application to the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Graduate Director upon completion of these courses.
Of these three courses, one must be a feminist theory course. This theory course can be any of the theory courses offered by WGSS, or it can be a course offered by another department if it has been approved by the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Graduate Director. Students should obtain approval prior to enrolling in a course; no courses will be approved retroactively. If the theory course is from another department, this course may satisfy the theory requirement and serve as the optional cognate course.
According to the Graduate School of New Brunswick, students may be awarded the Graduate Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies upon completion of the requirements for the certificate.
M.A. Admission
The M.A. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is a liberal arts degree that provides students with an opportunity to pursue advanced interdisciplinary work in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and enables them to become active practitioners in this rapidly expanding field of study. The Program may serve as a "terminal" master's degree for students planning non-academic careers. It may also serve as a precursor, a supplemental degree for professional degrees in fields such as law, social work, public health, labor studies, public policy, or clinical psychology. With an increasing emphasis on careers focusing on the delivery of services to women and a rethinking of the needs of women and families worldwide, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies helps to fill a growing demand for experts versed in women and gender issues. The M.A. program is designed to emphasize global and multicultural perspectives on these matters. The Department welcomes a wide variety of applicants—ranging from recent college graduates to mid-career professionals to international activists—who wish to enrich their engagement with women’s and gender studies.
The deadline for applications is December 20th
BA/M.A. Admission
The WGSS BA/MA Track in Feminist Practices for Social Change is a combined BA and MA degree in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies that is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to assume leadership roles in contemporary social justice activism and human rights. Undergraduate students majoring in WGS who are interested in this track will apply for admission to the BA/MA Program in their sophomore year or junior years. If accepted, students will initiate Master’s coursework during the final semesters of their undergraduate degree. They will complete academic requirements for the Master's degree by either their fifth year, if admitted as a sophomore, or by their sixth year, if admitted as a junior. WGSS will finalize acceptance notifications by mid to end of April.
The deadline for applications is February 15th
Ph.D. Admission
The Ph.D. program is designed for students seeking advanced interdisciplinary training in the field of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Since the entering class each year is very small (3-5 funded students), admissions are highly competitive.
Preference is given to students who demonstrate excellence in analytical abilities and creativity in interdisciplinary research pertaining to women, gender, and/or sexuality. Students applying to the doctoral program will be selected both on the basis of the excellence of their preparation for doctoral level work, and on the intersection of their research interests with those of the faculty at Rutgers.
The deadline for applications is December 21st
Graduate Handbooks
Undergraduate Program
The Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies undergraduate program, founded in the early seventies, is one of the oldest in the nation. Currently, the program has over 300 majors and minors and serves over 3,500 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.
All of the program's courses are interdisciplinary. Each course considers the complex dynamics linking race, ethnicity, locality, class, gender, and sexuality. The readings and discussions in each class represent a wide variety of 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, and Sexuality Studies program faculty, students, and staff are both active members and leaders of academic and community women’s organizations.
WGSS alumnae pursue their professional career in various fields. One-fifth of our graduates continues 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), and media or computer studies. Many WGSS graduates continue their activist work in non-governmental organizations that engage with women and work, international politics and women’s leadership.
Graduate Program
As interdisciplinary undertakings that cross the humanities and the social sciences, the graduate programs in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies prepare students to engage with and to create new forms of feminist knowledge and practice. The WGSS faculty and students combine theoretical and activist-oriented work that foregrounds social justice, especially with respect to gender, race, sexuality, and decoloniality. As emerging scholars, intellectuals, and activists enrolled at a Research 1 state university with a long commitment to feminist practices, our students benefit from the rich resources of the larger feminist community at Rutgers. This includes 25 Ph.D. students, 20 M.A. students, and over 40 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, among others -- enrich the opportunities for our students to gain practical skills and to broaden their knowledge of feminist research and politics.
Click the associated link to learn more about WGSS Ph.D., M.A., BA/M.A. and Graduate Certificate Programs.
Click below to learn more about:
- BA/M.A. Learning Goals
- M.A. Learning Goals
- Ph.D. Learning Goals
For additional information please contact:
For the Ph.D. Program:Professor Ed Cohen Advising Hours: |
For the BA/M.A. & M.A. Program:Professor Julie Rajan Advising Hours: |
Minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
To declare a minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies please visit the Rutgers myMajor system.
Internships
The Internship in Women's and Gender Studies (988:422) integrates feminist theory and gender-based activism, and allows you to receive 3 credits for your work as a volunteer/intern in a community or university-based organization serving women.
Registration:
You can only register for this course with a special permission number from Women’s & Gender Studies.
- Come to Women’s & Gender Studies to talk with an advisor about your interests and an internship proposal.- Pick up an Internship Packet, which will include proposal and contract forms, and an outline of the course.
- Information on placements is available in the Women’s & Gender Studies office. Once you have selected some possible sites, contact the placements and arrange interviews. We can help with guidance on developing a résumé if needed.
- Once you are accepted by a placement, submit your internship proposal to Women’s & Gender Studies. You will then get a special permission number.
Internship Packet:
The internship packet contains several important forms you will need to complete.
Click here to download the application package.
These include:
- a checklist of forms to be handed in and deadlines they are due
- a self-assessment form to help you identify your interests, thoughts, strengths, and skills
- a guide to identifying and applying for a placement
- a proposal form to help you define the questions you want to explore during the internship
- a contract that formalizes the agreement between you and your placement
Once you have submitted the proposal and contract forms, you will receive a special permission number to register for the courses.
Finding a Placement:
Work with the internship course instructor:
Meet with the instructor to discuss your interest in the course. Pick up the internship packet and look over forms you need to complete.
Complete the self-assessment form and give it to the instructor as soon as possible. The instructor will help you identify possible placement based on the areas of interest and skills you want to develop.
Work on Developing your Internship Proposal:
Think about what you want to get out of your placement-both intellectually and personally. Begin to draft your proposal, though some of the details may change when you finalize your placement.
Applying for a Placement:
Placements are available at a wide range of community sites. In past years, internships have been hosted by the New Jersey Women and AIDS Network, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, the Center for American Women and Politics, the National Center for the Pro-Choice Majority, the Women’s Rights Information Center, and Ms. Magazine. Students are also encouraged to work with the course instructor to design internships that reflect their particular interests.
The Institute for Women’s Leadership Placement Sites: Women’s & Gender Studies and the Institute for Women’s Leadership (IWL) have worked together to identify placement sites interested in hosting an intern. In addition to placements identified by your advisor, you can ask to browse the files in the Women’s & Gender Studies office or at the IWL for other ideas.
Once several sites have been identified, call and arrange interviews. You might need a resume to give to the internship site. We have, in our office, the career services guide to creating a resume.
Meet with the placement supervisor. Be clear about your interests, but be open to hearing what the placement site needs.
If the placement seems like a good fit for both you and the site, complete the internship contract and finalize your internship proposal.
Registration:
Submit your internship proposal.
Submit your internship contract.
Get your special permission number after your materials have been reviewed and approved by the instructor.
Internship Proposal:
The proposal should be completed after discussing the placement with your supervisor. Explore several of the following questions in your one to two page proposal. The proposal should address both the mechanics of the internship and the larger theoretical questions of interest. Although you do not need prior experience to do an internship, please include any relevant experience that you do have.
Discuss and Consider:
- How did you choose the internship, and why?
- What will you do day-to-day in your internship, and how does this relate to your academic and/ or career interest?
- What questions are you going to look at as a result of the work at this particular location?
- What theoretical questions do you want to explore through the internship?
- How does this internship relate to your Women’s and Gender Studies courses?
- What do you expect to learn from the placement what you could not get in a classroom?
Questions? Contact the Undergraduate Director at
Ruth Dill Johnson Crockett Building
162 Ryders Lane
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
LIST OF POSSIBLE INTERNSHIP PLACEMENT SITES
ON CAMPUS
Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)
Eagleton Institute, Woodlawn
Douglass Campus
732-932-9384
Center for Women and Work
Labor Education Center
50 Labor Center Way, Cook Campus
732-932-5473
Center for Women's Global Leadership
160 Ryders Lane, Douglass Campus
(732) 932-8782 x 601
Consortium for Educational Equity
Building 4090, Livingston Campus
(732) 932-2071
Department of Health and Education
Van Nest Hall, 3rd Floor, College Ave Campus
732-932-7710
Office of Diverse Community Affairs and Lesbian/Gay Concerns
Bishop House, Room 105, College Ave Campus
732-932-1711
Douglass College-Public Leadership Education Network
304 College Hall
Douglass Campus
732-932-9510
Douglass Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE)
P.O. Box 270, Chemistry Bldg., 114
Douglass Campus
732-932-9197
Institute for Research on Women
160 Ryders Lane, Douglass Campus
848-932-1463
Institute for Women's Leadership
162 Ryders Lane
3rd Floor, Douglass Campus
848-932-8449
Office of Sexual Assault Services
Douglass Campus: 210 Willets Health Center
College Ave Campus: 301 Van Nest Hall
732-932-1181
Women's Rights Litigation Clinic
Rutgers School of Law-Newark
15 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102
973-932-9510
Food Policy Institute (FPI)
Dept. of Human Ecology
55 Dudley Road
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8520
848-932-9145
Rutgers Office for the Promotion of Women in Science, Engineering & Mathematics (WISEM)
RUTCOR Modular Building, Busch Campus
640 Bartholomew Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854
732-445-1244
OFF CAMPUS (NJ & NY)
Adult Learning Center
New Brunswick Board of Education
268 Baldwin St, 2nd Floor
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-2166
(732) 745-5406
American Cancer Society
846 Main Street
Fords, NJ 08863
(732) 738-6800
Elijah's Promise
18 Nielson Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
(732) 545-9002
New Jersey Women and AIDS Network
5 Elm Row, Suite 112
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
(732) 846-4462
Link:
Planned Parenthood League/Middlesex Co.
211 Livingston Ave
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
(732) 246-2411 (NB office)
Contact: Linda Belcavitch, main office
Main office: (732) 842-9300
Women's Center of Monmouth County
1 Bethany Road, Building 3, Suite 42
Hazlet, NJ 07730
(732) 264-4161
Planned Parenthood League/Middlesex Co.
211 Livingston Ave
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
(732) 246-2411 (NB office)
Contact: Linda Belcavitch, main office
Main office: (732) 842-9300
Women's Center of Monmouth County
1 Bethany Road, Building 3, Suite 42
Hazlet, NJ 07730
(732) 264-4161
Alternatives to Domestic Violence
Bergen County
One Bergen County Plaza
Hackensack, NJ 07601-7076
201-336-6000
Amandla Crossing Transitional Housing
60 Clif Prescod Lane
Edison, NJ 08817
732-729-7770
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
Northern Monmouth County Branch
732-793-4855
Breast Cancer Resource Center
59 Paul Robeson Place
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-497-2100 x346
Callen-Lorde Community Health Center
356 West 18th St.
New York, NY 10011
212-271-7200
Community Leadership Center
CLC at Rutgers Camden
501 Cooper Street
Camden NJ, 08102
856-225-6348
Crawford House
362 Sunset Road
P.O. Box 255
Skillman, NJ 08558
908-874-5153
Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County
21 Normandy Heights Rd
Morristown, NJ 07960
973-285-1595
Girls Inc.
YWCA of Bergen County
214 State Street, Suite 207
Hackensack, NJ 07601
201-345-1911
Gays and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
104 W 29th St (btw 6th Ave & 7th Ave)
New York, NY10001
212-629-3322
International Women's Tribune Center
777 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017, USA
212-687-8633
MADRE
21 West 27th Street, # 301
New York, NY 10001 USA
212-627-0444
Manavi - An Organization of South Asian Women
P.O. Box 3103
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
732-435-1414
Museum of Sex
233 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10016
212-689-6337
NARAL Pro-choice New Jersey
127 Route 206, Suite 25B
Hamilton, NJ 08610
609-581-7171
NARAL Pro-Choice New York
470 Park Avenue South, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10016
212-343-0114
National Organization of Women - NJ Chapter
P.O. Box 10299
Trenton, NJ 08650
609-393-0156
National Organization of Women - NY Chapter
150 W 28th St # 304
New York, NY 10001
212-627-9895
New Brunswick Development Corporation
120 Albany St
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-249-2220
New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners
119 W. Ward Street
Hightstown, NJ 08520
609-308-2530
New Jersey - Child Assault Prevention
107 Gilbreth Parkway
Mullica Hill, NJ 08062
856-582-7000
New Jersey Office of Women's Health (OWH)
50 East State Street, Box 364
Trenton, NJ 08625-0364
609-984-6137
NGO Committee on the Status of Women
708 3rd Ave # 5
New York, NY 10017
212-867-6161
Nontraditional Employment for Women
243 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-627-6252
Planned Parenthood of Central and Greater Northern New Jersey
Morristown Health Center
196 Speedwell Ave
Morristown, NJ 07960
973-539-9580
Rape Crisis Intervention Center
29 Oakwood Ave
Edison, NJ 08837
732-745-8270
The Safe House
PO Box 1887
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
973-759-2378
South Jersey Women's Center
1014 Haddonfield Rd
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
856-662-5282
Womanspace, Inc.
1530 Brunswick Avenue
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
609-394-0136
Women Aware, Inc.
250 Livingston Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-249-4900
Women's Health and Counseling Center
71 4th St
Somerville, NJ 08876
908-526-2335
Women Helping Women (WHW)
224 Main Street
Metuchen, NJ 08840
732-549-6000
Women Make Movies115 W. 29th Street, Suite 1200
New York, NY 10001
212-925-0606
Women's Project Theater55 West End Avenue (entrance on 62nd Street)
New York, NY 10023
212-765-1706
Women's Rights Information Center
108 W Palisade Ave
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-568-1166
Honors Program
Women's, Gender, and Sexualities Studies Majors and Minors can join the Honors Research Seminar if they have an overall cumulative grade-point average of 3.4 or better and a 3.6 average or better in WGSS courses at the end of their junior year.
Candidates are required to write an honors thesis of 60-80 pages on a topic related to women's, gender, and sexuality studies, participate in the six-credit, year-long Honors Research Seminar (988:497 and 498), and orally present the completed thesis to the Rutgers community at the end of the year.
THESIS
The thesis, though grounded in a discussion of what other scholars have written about the topic in question, should be based on the student's original research. Students will work with at least two faculty advisors in developing their projects: a primary advisor with expertise in the student's particular field of research and the instructor of the Honors Research Seminar, who will serve as a second advisor.
SEMINAR
The purpose of the Honors Research Seminar is to establish a feminist learning community that will support each student's project. In seminar meetings, students will explore issues in the production of feminist knowledge production as well as read and critique each other’s work.
PRESENTATION
Students will give an oral presentation of their honors thesis before students, faculty, and staff in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, as well as other invited guests, at the end of the spring semester.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
In recent years, students enrolled in Honors Research Seminar have won the first and second prize in the Undergraduate Research Colloquium organized yearly by the New Jersey Women's and Gender Studies Consortium; have received the Henry Rutgers Award for research and various departmental distinctions; have been offered full-time positions in their field before graduation; and have been accepted in prestigious master's degree programs. One student was accepted based solely on her undergraduate work, in a fully-funded Ph.D. program.
For more information, please contact Dr. Ileana Nachescu, the Director of the Honors Program, at
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.