Annual MA/PhD Meet & Greet

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Annual MA/PhD Meet & Greet

The NWSA invests in nurturing and facilitation connections with women's, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS) degree granting programs. Each year, we invite university programs and departments to participate at the Meet & Greet networking session, which is a signature component of our Annual Conference. We welcome any current and/or prospective students to connect with our academic partners and explore the utility and reach of a degree (or certificate) in WGSS!

Facilitating Connections

In 1970, San Diego State University launched the first Women's Studies program and since its establishment, "there are more than nine hundred programs in the US, boasting well over ten thousand courses and an enrollment larger than that of any other interdisciplinary field" (Guy-Sheftall, 2020). 

The Association is always anchored by and transformed through the work happening to resist erasure and create new (and sometimes reclaimed) ways of being/thinking in postsecondary classrooms. We strive to move beyond assumed diametric oppositions, such as the idea that feminist transformations happen only in academia or in grassroots organizing, in order to hold space for the multivocality of the field. Our Annual MA/PhD Meet & Greet is an invitation to learn, feel invigorated, and nurture the relationships that sustain student engagement and faculty innovation.

As Past President, Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall (2020) notes:

"In the fifty years since its inception, Women’s Studies has revamped and revitalized major disciplines in the academy. It has challenged curricular and pedagogical practice. It has disrupted the male-centered canon. It has altered or blurred the boundaries between disciplines. It has introduced the social construction of gender and its intersections with race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality as a major focus of inquiry. And it has experienced phenomenal and unanticipated growth, becoming institutionalized on college and university campuses, spurring the hiring of feminist faculty, adding graduate courses of groundbreaking content, generating a large body of educational resources and providing the impetus for the establishment of feminist research centers. It has stimulated the development of other academic fields as well: queer studies, cultural studies, gender studies, men’s and masculinity studies, disability studies, peace studies, and more."

The Association therefore invests in the MA/PhD Meet & Greet as one way of honoring the breadth and depth of the field, as well as amplifying the reach of WGSS departments and programs to prospective students.

Read More About the Legacy of Women's Studies

Supporting Student Work

The National Women's Studies Association proudly supports undergraduate and graduate student's innovative scholarship.  Each year, we offer a number of student awards that are sponsored by Constituency Groups - namely the Lesbian Caucus, the Trans/Gender Variant Caucus, and the Women of Color Caucus.  

Explore Our Student Awards

2024 MA/PhD Meet & Greet 

This year's MA/PhD Meet & Greet will take place on Saturday November 16th from 3:00 - 5:00 PM at the Huntington Place Convention Center on the second level outside of the Grand Riverview Ballrooms in the Pre-Function area. You must be registered for the 2024 Annual Conference in order to attend this event. You can register for this years conference here

Participating program's this year include: 

Arizona State University School of Social Transformation
Eastern Michigan University 
Emory University Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at The University of Texas at Austin
Indiana University Department of Gender Studies
Southern Connecticut State University Department of Women and Gender Studies 
Texas Woman's University
The Graduate Center CUNY
The Ohio State University Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
University at Buffalo Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies 
University of California Los Angeles Department of Gender Studies
University of Florida Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
University of Kansas Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
University of Kentucky Gender & Women's Studies Department
University of Michigan Department of Women and Gender Studies
University of North Texas Women's & Gender Studies Program
University of Washington Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies
Penn State University Department of Gender Studies

And more!

Become an Institutional Member

All WGSS departments/programs and/or institutions qualify for an Institutional Membership with the NWSA. 

Explore the Benefits