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The Spring issue contains a first-ever, 16-page special guide to women's studies, a fast-growing, cutting-edge field of study that's in high demand by 21st century employers

NWSA/MS. MAGAZINE GUIDE TO WOMEN'S & GENDER STUDIES
 

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A MATTER OF DEGREES

What has women’s studies meant to your life? And what are you currently doing with your women’s studies degree?
Those were the questions we put out to women’s studies graduates and current students, and we got responses from all corners of the nation, and even a few from abroad. Here are just a few of them; there are dozens more online at www.msmagazine.com.

Women’s studies has given me a voice, and now as a crisis interventionist, I’m using it at a domestic violence center, speaking up for those who have been silenced. —LUCÉ TOMLIN-BRENNER, B.A. IN WOMEN’S STUDIES (BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY, 2006)

I’m interning at the Arizona Center for Disability Law, advocating for the legal rights of people with disabilities. Women’s studies gives my law degree depth and meaning. It gives me the tools and space to understand the relationship between law, gender and identity and it made me a powerful advocate for change. —ALEXX TRACY-RAMÍREZ, CANDIDATE FOR J.D./ M.A. IN WOMEN’S STUDIES (UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA)

Women’s studies saved my life—literally—by encouraging me to get out of an abusive relationship. Figuratively, it showed me better possibilities for women and for myself. In teaching women’s studies at Norfolk (Va.) State University, I hope that I am giving back to my students what my professors gave me—the hope and fulfillment of a better life for themselves, for their children and thereby for all of us. —KAREN TATUM, M.A. IN ENGLISH AND WOMEN’S STUDIES (UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON, 1996)

Pursuing an M.A. in women’s studies confirmed that feminism is my professional and personal passion. My degree took me to the U.N. and Congress. At the U.N., I worked on policies to improve gender parity. I then began a fellowship with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), where I was able to help pass a resolution about rape in the Congo. —PAMELA O’LEARY, M.A. IN APPLIED WOMEN’S STUDIES (CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY, 2008)

I conduct research on women in the U.S. military who have been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. I am comparing whether men and women experience the violence of war differently or similarly. I plan to use the results of my studies to change the ground combat exclusion policy for women. —MARGIE SERRATO, CERTIFICATE IN WOMEN’S STUDIES AND PH.D. STUDENT IN ANTHROPOLOGY (TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY)

I have gained an understanding of the inequalities that exist between men and women and the role that gender plays in the construction of identities. For my master’s thesis, I intend to conduct empirical research on same-sex couples who raise children in the Netherlands and analyze the way in which these parents construct their communities and create “safe spaces” for their children. —MARK BARTKIEWICZ, B.A. IN ENGLISH AND WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES (COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, 2008), M.A. STUDENT IN
GENDER, SEXUALITY AND SOCIETY (UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM)

I am using my training in feminist studies in my classroom as a political science professor at a community college to teach the very real presence and effect politics have on the average lives of women in our communities. I think it is important to illustrate that feminism is not just isolated to a women’s rights class but permeates all disciplines in a college, and all walks of life outside of our college doors.
—ELIZABETH ULLRICH, B.A. IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND WOMEN’S STUDIES (CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO, 2003), M.A. IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND WOMEN’S STUDIES (PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, 2005)

I currently work in export support for a global logistics company, troubleshooting IT issues —seemingly on the opposite end of the spectrum from women studies. [But] I bring my education into the workplace everyday— working on committees to incorporate same-sex partner benefits, extending fair-trade agreements and investigating government policy. —MARLENA BLONSKY, B.A. IN WOMEN’S STUDIES (UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, 2008)

I am breaking ground for women’s professional sports at Sky Blue FC, the N.J./N.Y. team of the Women’s Professional Soccer league (WPS). We are about to kick off our historic first season. My women and gender studies background helped to drive me to take on such challenges; I truly believe [the WPS] will create lasting social change by providing strong, healthy, female role models to young women. —JILL APPLEHEIMER, B.A. IN WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES (THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, 2005), M.S.W. (UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 2008)

I hope to teach women’s studies at a community college or a women’s prison so that women who may never be able to attend a university can benefit from the wisdom given to us by women writers and activists. Women’s studies has given me the tools to change the world. —THE REV. DANA WILSON (AGE 57, SHE POINTS OUT), M.A. STUDENT IN WOMEN’S STUDIES (TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY)

Women’s studies filled mental and emotional voids an entire lifetime of education had not satisfied, enabling me to examine the world with a sense of clarity and purpose I’d never known. Whether I remain in academia or pursue work that benefits women outside the classroom, I’m excited about my options. —ERIN “TONI” WILLIAMS, MINOR IN WOMEN’S STUDIES (UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA, 2008), M.A. CANDIDATE IN WOMEN’S STUDIES (UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA)

Women’s studies gave me the tools to work within the system for social change. It also gave me a sense of community during and after my undergraduate years. For the past eight years, I have worked for civic and political organizations, specifically focusing on public policy for reproductive rights advocacy organizations. Women’s studies taught me to not fear networking! —KELLY BADEN, B.A. IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES (THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, 2001) AND GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN WOMEN, POLITICS AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP (WOMEN AND POLITICS INSTITUTE AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, 2004)

Most of my life I’ve journeyed to gain perspective. Only after completing a graduate degree in women’s studies did I realize my journey has a purpose. Currently, I work for Brave New Films as a political communications associate. I’m also an online content writer for YouthNoise.com. Both organizations’ missions emphasize social justice in the new media age.
—TARA L. CONLEY, M.A. IN WOMEN’S STUDIES
(TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY, 2008)

FORTY YEARS OF WOMEN'S STUDIES
Women's studies, as a distinct entitiy within U.S. higher education, made its debut in 1970 with the establishment of the first program at San Diego State University. Forty years later, there are more than 900 programs in the U.S., boasting well over 10,000 courses and an enrollment larger than that of any other interdisciplinary field.

The 2009 Guide to Women's Studies was compiled using data collected by NWSA through the "Mapping the Field" survey. Additional and updated information collected by Ms. Magazine has been added.

The guide includes information about women's studies programs on community colleges, colleges and universities in the United States. For more information or to update your listing please email nwsaweb@nwsa.org

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS

How do you measure education that changes lives? You can’t, of course, except to note a few facts about undergraduate women’s studies in the U.S.: There are pro­grams in over 700 colleges anduniversities, serving more than 90,000 students. You might also focus on the figure 30 percent—the percentage of women’s studies teachers, undergraduate and graduate, who are faculty of color. That grand diversity can also be found in the wide range of course offerings, from social sciences to biology, sexuality to literature, theory to activist practice.

It’s impossible to quantify what students absorb from a women’s studies education and how it changes theirper­spective on what they can accomplish. Michigan State Rep. Lesia Liss puts it like this: “I minored in women’s studies and that is why I am a state representative today.” Of the more than 18,000 women’s studies majors and minors in school today, few may end up in state office,but count on this: There will be thousands of other women’s­studies-inspired success stories to tell.
—Allison Kimmich, NWSA Executive Director

MASTER'S PROGRAMS

A Master's degree in Women's Studies can unlock a variety of doors: to doctoral study, or to numerous arenas of work and social-change leadership where specialized knowledge or women, gender, sex, sexuality, feminism or womanism is an asset. The 31 institutions that offer freestanding master's degrees in women's and gender studies serve a diversity of populations such as Southern Connecticut State University to populous urban campuses like the University of South Florida. Some provide a women's stuies masters degree with another degree, such as a J.D.
—Layli Phillips, Associate Professor of Women's Studies, WSI Graduate Director, and Associated Faculty, African American Studies Department

Ph.D. PROGRAMS

Women's Studies Ph.D. programs ensure that a core of experts is gaining advanced knowledge not only about women’s issues but also feminist and womanist critical perspectives. Graduates will be ready to serve all societal sectors, from academic and research institutes to government, the professions, media, nonprofits, corporations and the creative arts. Furthermore, since women’s studies is interdisciplinary, people with advanced degrees will by definition be equipped to think broadly about a wide range of social problems, drawing from multiple bodies of knowledge and diverse methods of problem-solving.

The oldest and largest of the Ph.D. programs is at Emory University, which has graduated more than 40 women’s studies Ph.D.s in the past two decades, many of whom now serve on other women’s studies faculties. Emory boasts a Ph.D. in women’s studies that is linked with the Feminist and Legal Theory Project, and has made recent hirings in feminist science studies as well. Another trailblazing program is the feminist studies Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, which stands out both for calling itself feminist and for integrating women’s studies with gender and queer studies.

Since the 1980s, the number of freestanding women’s and gender studies Ph.D. programs has more than tripled. Two of the programs house important women’s studies journals—Feminist Studies at the University of Maryland and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society at Rutgers—while Ohio State boasts a women’s studies library housing over 20,000 volumes and 100 journals. Indiana University at Bloomington maintains a connection with the famous Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, and the University of Arizona is similarly tied in with the Southwest Institute for Research on Women.

Two programs are unique in their emphasis on women’s spirituality: The Claremont (Calif.) Graduate University offers a Ph.D. in women’s studies in religion, while the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco offers a Ph.D. in women’s spirituality, allowing academic study of the spiritual quest as well as spiritually informed womanist and feminist approaches to eco-social concerns.
—Layli Phillips, Associate Professor of Women's Studies, WSI Graduate Director, and Associated Faculty, African American Studies Department

National Women's Studies Association
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