Gender and Sexuality Studies (B.A., B.S.)

This course provides an overview of key contemporary theories, concepts, issues, and debates in Gender Studies. Students will glean an overview of the field of Gender Studies and its emergence from Women's Studies and advocacy for women's rights. Students will become familiar with key concepts from current gender scholarship. Students will develop and complete an applied gender-studies project with real-world applications that they can then share with other students. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)

This course explores a broad overview of big ideas about humans, society, change, stability, and chaos that have influenced sociology and other social sciences in the 19th to early 21st centuries. Broad perspectives examined include: Marxism, Functionalism, Weberian rationalization, Symbolic Interactionism, Feminisms, Queer Theory, Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, Rational Choice, Postmodernism and Poststructuralism, and theories of globalization. This course builds critical thinking, analysis, application, and writing skills essential to majors, minors, and students interested in critically examining society.
Prerequisite(s): SOC 1110 Introduction to Sociology.
(Normally offered each fall semester.)

This course is a study of the history of sexualities from US and transnational perspectives. It covers the development of ideas about sexual behavior in antiquity and their influence on Europe and the United States, as well as global histories of sexuality. The course covers the influence science, religion, migration, and capitalism have had historically in shaping social values about sexuality. Additional topics include sexual norms and nonconformity, the connection between sex and gender roles, sex and the body, and sexual liberation. Students in this course will conduct research in the history of sexualities and complete a research paper.

In this course, upper level students in the Arts and Humanities students reflect on their disciplinary learning and plan for their post-baccalaureate lives. This course also helps prepare students for their capstone experience. Course content includes vocational and career exploration activities, reflection on and documentation of the student's skill development in their major, and developing a proposal for the student's capstone project to be completed in ARHUM 4970/4990.

Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor.

This course is an experiential learning capstone option for students across a range of majors in the Arts and Humanities. Students will participate in an internship or substantial community service activity for a minimum of 135 hours. Students will also do a public presentation about their internship experience. This course requires an internship of 135+ hours. Students whose internship will be fewer hours should consider ARHUM 4970A or 4970B. Course may be repeated for credit to meet capstone requirements for multiple majors. Prerequisite: Junior Standing.

Each course in the Studies in Writing group focuses on the writing process and its product as applied to a particular genre (risk fiction, scriptwriting, hybrid genes, creative nonfiction, biography, and memoir) or concept (writing the body), which will vary from semester to semester. The course is conducted as a workshop in which students read their own compositions to the class and respond to the compositions of their classmates.

Prerequisite(s): ENG 1030FYW Writing and the Creative Arts, ENG 2170 Introduction to Fiction Writing, or ENG 2190 Introduction to Poetry Writing, or instructor permission.

Including films, music videos, and musicals this course examines varied depictions of sexualities in the arts (defined broadly), especially those that intersect with music. Alongside the study of culture and interdisciplinary musical arts, students learn and apply concepts and information from gender studies. Selected pieces require students to explore marginalized cultures in the United States and consider systems of privilege and oppression and other issues associated with the intersection of gender, sexualities, race, socio-economic status, and other markers of diversity. Collaborating in pairs, students complete research assignments related to a semester-long fieldwork project with a local music culture of their choice. They apply scholarship and instruction on participant observation fieldwork and library research associated with their selected local music culture. The fieldwork project (and experiential learning component) for this class requires some off-campus activities to be arranged by the student.

This course examines the development of ideas and styles in the Western European musical tradition during the nineteenth, twentieth, and early twenty-first centuries. The course is designed to develop your knowledge of Western musical repertoire from these time periods and your understanding of the cultural, aesthetic, and stylistic aspects of that music. We explore the relationships between the music and the history and cultures of Western Europe and the United States. In addition, we address the roles of black musicians, particularly in the United States.

This course examines the development of ideas and styles in the Western European musical tradition during the nineteenth, twentieth, and early twenty-first centuries. The course is designed to develop your knowledge of Western musical repertoire from these time periods and your understanding of the cultural, aesthetic, and stylistic aspects of that music. We explore the relationships between the music and the history and cultures of Western Europe and the United States. In addition, we address the roles of black musicians, particularly in the United States.

Most Americans have some understanding of how the categories of race and gender influence our personal and social identities. Yet many Americans also assume that race and gender are "natural," i.e., that we are born into a certain race and naturally embody a certain sex. In this course, we will examine these assumptions by reading, discussing, and critically assessing the arguments for and against the "naturalness" of race and gender. We will consider how categories of race and gender position us, historically and philosophically, as a person of a certain "type" from whom certain behaviors are expected. We will look at socio-economic conditions and philosophic positions that support or challenge racism, sexism, classism, segregation, and violence.
Cross listed with GEND 2300P.
(Normally offered alternate years.)

Theories and research exploring how gender is constructed in United States culture are introduced in this course. Topics include the construction and propagation of gender roles, differences between men and women in various domains, gender identity, sexuality, romantic relationships, and roles within work and family. 
Cross listed with GEND 2650.
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing. 
(Normally offered each spring semester.) 

This course will introduce psychological theories and research related to stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination in the United States. Topics include how and why stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination form and are perpetuated, how these concepts appear in daily life, and how they can be reduced. Prerequisite: PSYCH-1010FYW or PSYCH-1010.

Prerequisite: PSYCH 1010FYW Introduction to Psychological Science or PSYCH 1010 Introduction to Psychological Science.

This course offers an integrated overview of the complex interplay of the shifting realms of law and society. We depart from an analysis of the law as a set of social institutions, a construction of particular historical, cultural, economic and political conditions. We then interrogate the ways that social structures, including race, class, gender, sexuality, and nationality, as well capitalism, modernity and patriarchy influence the construction of law and legal doctrines. In turn, we explore how the resulting definitions of normativity and deviance, social control and liberty, as well as rights and freedoms serve to feed difference, inequality and injustice in society. But while law is often viewed as the realm of status quo and oppression, it is also often mobilized by laypersons, social movements, cause lawyers and public litigants to affect social change. Therefore, in this course, we investigate the complex relationship between law, social control and social change, delving into some of the most transformative moments of American law, and society, simultaneously.

Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing.

This course offers an integrated overview of the complex interplay of the shifting realms of law and society. We depart from an analysis of the law as a set of social institutions, a construction of particular historical, cultural, economic and political conditions. We then interrogate the ways that social structures, including race, class, gender, sexuality, and nationality, as well capitalism, modernity and patriarchy influence the construction of law and legal doctrines. In turn, we explore how the resulting definitions of normativity and deviance, social control and liberty, as well as rights and freedoms serve to feed difference, inequality and injustice in society. But while law is often viewed as the realm of status quo and oppression, it is also often mobilized by laypersons, social movements, cause lawyers and public litigants to affect social change. Therefore, in this course, we investigate the complex relationship between law, social control and social change, delving into some of the most transformative moments of American law, and society, simultaneously.

Prerequisite(s): SOC 1110 Introduction to Sociology.

This course explores social stratification, the socially created pattern of unequal distribution of social resources that leads to social inequality. It gives particular attention to social class, but also considers how class intersects with other social categories (such as race/ethnicity and gender) to create even further inequality. It also examines the interconnectedness of social inequality and the primary social institutions of U.S. society. It also explores global social inequality.
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing.
(Normally offered alternate years.)

This course will expose students to the various types of violence experienced by individuals and families across their lifespan. An introduction to various theories used in working with survivors of abuse will be presented and students will learn about bruises and fractures associated with child abuse. The influence of societal "isms", culture, gender, and sexual orientation related to violence will be incorporated into the material being discussed.
Cross listed with GEND-2350.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)

Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Cross listed with GEND 2200.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
(Normally offered every fall and spring semester.)

Fiction and essays by women from various cultures (including the U.S., Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean) will be the focus of this course. The multicultural, international reading list will provide students insight into the lives and experiences of women most likely very different from themselves; thus they can appreciate and learn from the differences and make connections across cultures.
Cross listed with GEND-3410.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and sophomore standing.

A study of Shakespeare and related texts that address issues of gender, sex, sexuality and sexuality identity.

Pre or corequisite(s): ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies or junior standing.

An introduction to the experiences of women in the United States from colonization to the present, with an examination of cultural meanings attached to gender; various social inequalities in access to institutions, activities, and resources; and women's status, well being, and power in American society. The course investigates the lives of women from various social, ethnic, and racial groups, analyzing the ways that they affected one another. The course emphasizes sexuality, reproduction, and maternity, and also covers politics, law, work, education, and other issues in women's lives. This course includes a service learning component.
Cross listed with GEND-2370.

See HIST-4530.

A study of women’s leadership and public speech across time and place, emphasizing the gendered nature of power, how it has been deployed and interpreted. This course begins in the Ancient World and then studies female leaders such as Cleopatra and Elizabeth I, along with women who have instigated reform in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. HIST 4530 meets with HIST 3530. The requirement of the courses are the same EXCEPT that a research paper is required for students in 4530.

This course highlights the history of the North American West through the lens of gender from precontact to present, and explores topics of myth and stereotypes; gender roles in the home, family, and community; as well as addressing questions of race, class, and ethnicity.

HIST 3550 meets with HIST 4550. The requirements of the courses are the same EXCEPT that a research paper is required for students in 4550.

Prerequisite(s): HIST 1010 Topics in United States History to 1877 or permission of the instructor.

This course highlights the history of the North American West through the lens of gender from precontact to present, and explores topics of myth and stereotypes; gender roles in the home, family, and community; as well as addressing questions of race, class, and ethnicity.

HIST 4550 meets with HIST 3550. The requirements of the courses are the same EXCEPT that a research paper is required for students in 4550.

Prerequisite(s): HIST 1010 Topics in United States History to 1877 or permission of the instructor.

This course examines the development of ideas and styles in the Western European musical tradition during the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical Periods. The course is designed to develop your knowledge of Western musical repertoire from these time periods and your understanding of the cultural, aesthetic, and stylistic aspects of that music. We explore the relationships between the music and the history and cultures of Western Europe. In addition, we focus on the roles of women in music.

This course examines the development of ideas and styles in the Western European musical tradition during the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical Periods. The course is designed to develop your knowledge of Western musical repertoire from these time periods and your understanding of the cultural, aesthetic, and stylistic aspects of that music. We explore the relationships between the music and the history and cultures of Western Europe. In addition, we focus on the roles of women in music.

This course provides a comprehensive exploration of the role of women in the political process. It examines the historical and contemporary participation of women in political institutions, movements, and advocacy efforts. Students will analyze the barriers and opportunities women face in achieving political representation and leadership, as well as the impact of social, cultural, and institutional factors on their engagement. The course also delves into the ways in which women influence and are affected by policy decisions, particularly those related to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, workplace equity, education, healthcare, and family policy. This course invites students of all genders
to engage in thoughtful discussions and develop insights into the broader implications of gender dynamics in shaping democratic governance.
 

This course will examine the roles and views of women in religious traditions. Students will encounter scholarship on gender, religion, and feminist theology in different traditions. The primary focus of this course will be on the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, although other traditions and contemporary religious movements may be considered.
Cross listed with GEND 2300R.
(Normally offered every year.)

See SOC 3380 Women and Crime.

This course uses a sociological perspective to explore gendered issues that women face as perpetrators, victims, and workers in the criminal justice system. As such, students will explore theories and empirical studies related to offending, victimization, and employment. This course is cross listed with GEND-3380 and meets with SOC 2380/GEND-2380. The requirements of the 3380 course will be the same as the 2380 course EXCEPT that students in the higher course number conduct an additional major project as determined by the instructor.