Gender Studies Minor
Rodney Hessinger (2000), Coordinator, Assistant Professor of History
B.A., Ursinus College;
M.A., Ph.D., Temple University
Kirsten L. Parkinson (2001), Coordinator, Assistant Professor of English
B.A., Harvard University;
M.A., Ph.D., University of Southern California
Janet Pope (1998), Coordinator, Associate Professor of History
B.A., Rider College;
M.A., Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara
Vivien Sandlund (1995), Coordinator, Associate Professor of History
B.A., M.A., M.Ed., University of Massachusetts;
Ph.D., Emory University
Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary minor that examines the role of gender in society. It considers both the biological and cultural origins of sex and gender differences and how those differences have structured a multitude of social and political institutions. The program also considers how issues of race, ethnicity, class, religion, and sexual orientation interact with gender. Incorporating the fields of anthropology, art, biology, communications, economics, English, history, foreign languages, philosophy, political science, psychology, religious studies, sociology, the Gender Studies minor provides students with practical and theoretical tools for understanding gender relationships.
Requirements for minors
To qualify for a gender studies minor, students must take INTD 314/384: Masculinity, Femininity, and the Body. They must also complete additional gender studies courses for a total of 18 credit hours. The most common structure is to take five (5) additional courses of 3-4 credit hours, but students can also take a range of 1-credit courses to complete part of the requirements. No more than three (3) classes in any given discipline can count towards a gender studies minor (i.e. taking 4 classes in women’s history would only fulfill 3 gender studies course requirements).
Gender studies courses
This list is not comprehensive. If there are courses not listed here that seem to qualify (such as occasional special topics seminars; recent offerings include Ohio women writers, women and the law, and African-American women’s history), please check with a gender studies coordinator to confirm that it will count towards the minor.
INTD 329: Gender and Creativity (offered yearly in the Weekend College)
INTD 372: Literary Anatomies: Women’s Bodies and Health in Literature
INTD 380: Finding Voice Through Quilts (Weekend College)
INTD 314/384: Masculinity, Femininity and the Body (REQUIRED; offered every
other year)
COMM 324: Gender Communication (offered every other year)
ENGL 241/251: Literary Perspectives on Women (offered every other year)
ENGL 428: Special Topics in British Literature: Angels and Whores: Gender in
Victorian Literature (offered every 2-3 years)
FREN 380: Seminar: Women in French Literature (offered every 2-3 years)
HIST 221: Concubines, Mothers, and Saints: European Women and the Family, circa 200-1500
HIST 224: Spinsters and Suffragists: Modern European Women and Gender (offered every other year)
HIST 237: Home, Sweet, Home: The History of the Family and Childhood in America (offered every other year)
HIST 254: History of Gender and Sexuality in the U.S. (offered every other year)
HIST 273: Women in American History
LITR 128: Hispanic Literature in Translation: Contemporary Mexican Women Writers
MUSI 218: Women in Music (offered every other year)
SOAN 239: Sex and Gender in Society
SOAN 262: The Family
FRCL 101: Frogs, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails: Biological and Social Conceptions of Gender
FSEM 149: Women and Narrative: Readers, Resisters, and Revisers