Guidelines and Policies

Guidelines for GWSS Course Approval

Courses designated for credit in the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies major and minor should meet the following guidelines:

  1. The Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies curriculum invites the interdisciplinary examination of issues related to gender/sex, women, and sexuality from cultural, critical, and/or theoretical perspectives. In general, courses approved for GWSS credit should be grounded significantly in feminist and/or queer epistemologies or principles. Courses in the core (i.e. those fulfilling area requirements outside of the elective concentration) should engage issues of difference and intersectionality, including but not limited to race, class, culture, ethnicity, and the body.
  2. Materials from women and queer sources and the subjects of women, gender/sex, and/or sexuality should be integrated throughout the course.
  3. Except in cases of oversight or error, a course on a student's transcript cannot be granted GWSS credit after the fact if not approved at the time it was taken.
  4. Applications for approval are expected to be submitted to the program director no less than five weeks prior to the start of registration for the semester in which the course will be offered (i.e. early October for spring registration in November, early March for fall registration in April). Contact the program director for information on applying for approval.
  5. When GWSS-approved courses migrate to a new instructor, the syllabus must be resubmitted for expedited approval.

Student Travel Request

The Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Committee will accept proposals for student travel to women's studies-related conferences. Students are encouraged to find a faculty sponsor to help them develop their proposals and to act as an advocate in the funding process. Proposals should include the following information: 

  1. Name
  2. Address and telephone
  3. Faculty sponsor
  4. Amount of request
  5. Name of conference
  6. Statement of significance to individual applicant
  7. Budget -- include conference fees and estimated cost of transportation and lodging In reviewing proposals, the following guidelines will apply:
    1. Preference will be given to proposals from students without access to other sources of funding. (Students should explore funds available from departments, CAB, etc., prior to seeking funding from the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Program.)
    2. Preference will be given to students who did not receive funding in a previous year.

Speaker Funding Policy

The Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Committee is interested in helping departments and interdisciplinary programs fund speakers that contribute to the inclusion of women's lives, work, ideas, and values in each discipline and/or complement the curriculum of the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Program. Preference is given to speakers exploring issues of gender from an interdisciplinary and/or cross-cultural feminist perspective.