Women's and Gender Studies
[edit] Description
Director: Margaret Jacobs
Associate Director: Rose Holz
The specialization or minor in Women’s and Gender Studies provides graduate students from diverse disciplines with opportunities to broaden and enrich analytical skills in one or more disciplines while drawing on the interdisciplinary perspectives of Women’s and Gender Studies. Courses offer a simultaneous focus on issues of gender, race, ethnicity, class, global feminism, and sexual orientation and offer models of scholarship, pedagogy, and professional activity that help students seeking employment in a variety of occupations related to women’s and gender issues.
Women’s and Gender Studies faculty supervise the specialization and minor through the Women’s and Gender Studies Advisory Board chaired by the director and in consultation with the Curriculum Committee as described in Women’s and Gender Studies by-laws.
Approval of students’ programs is the shared responsibility of the Women’s and Gender Studies Advisory Board and the student’s examination/supervisory committee. Students must apply by letter to their department Graduate Chair and the Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Advising will be by the students’ designated adviser within the home department in consultation with the Director of Women’s and Gender Studies. Students will submit their proposed program of study for the specialization to the Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program for formal approval of the Advisory Board. This is normally done when completing the Memorandum of Courses for the MA and filing the Program of Studies for the PhD.
Admission to a department with a graduate program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is required for participation in the specialization or minor.
Masters-level Specialization Requirements:
An intradisciplinary masters-level specialization or minor in Women’s and Gender Studies is available to any student pursuing a masters degree, with approval from the graduate chair in the home department. Each student will be required to complete:
1. Requirements for an MA in a UNL department.
2. Nine credit hours of graduate courses on women and gender outside the student’s major department approved by the Women’s and Gender Studies Advisory Board. Substitutions may be made with the permission of the Advisory Board. Under Graduate College rules, both Options I and II offer possibilities for completing the graduate specialization or minor without adding additional hours of course work.
3. If option I (thesis) is chosen, the thesis must address some issue(s) relevant to Women’s and Gender Studies. The student must deposit a copy of the thesis with Women’s and Gender Studies.
4. Confirmation to the Women’s and Gender Studies office that all requirements for the specialization or minor have been met by the middle of the final semester.
Successful completion of the specialization or the minor will be indicated on the students’ official transcript in parentheses following the name of the students’ academic discipline.
Doctoral Degree Program Requirements:
An intradisciplinary doctoral-level specialization or minor in Women’s and Gender Studies is available to any student pursuing a PhD degree, with approval of the graduate chair in the home department. Each student will be required to complete:
1. Requirements for a PhD in a UNL department.
2. Twelve credit hours of courses on women and gender outside the student’s major department approved by the Women’s and Gender Studies Advisory Board. Substitutions may be made with the permission of the Advisory Board. Graduate College rules provide various options within the PhD that allow students to complete the graduate specialization or the graduate minor without adding additional hours, subject to the approval of the supervisory committee. These include supporting courses in a related field, minor field courses, and/or collateral field courses.
3. The dissertation should address some issue(s) relevant to Women’s and Gender Studies. The student must deposit a copy of the dissertation with Women’s and Gender Studies
4. Confirmation to the Women’s and Gender Studies office that all requirements for the specialization or minor have been met by the middle of the final semester.
Successful completion of the specialization or minor will be indicated on the students’ official transcript in parentheses following the name of the students’ academic discipline.
Women’s and Gender Studies faculty and application procedures, plus other information, may be found at: www.unl.edu/womenssp.
