150 Extended Studies Building (XSB)
1633 SW Park Ave.
503-725-3516
www.pdx.edu/ws/
- B.A., B.S.—Women's Studies
- Minor in Women's Studies
- Minor in Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies
- Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Women's Studies
The Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies offers an interdisciplinary program designed to foster students’ personal and intellectual development and to prepare them for socially responsible citizenship as well as a broad range of careers. Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies advisers work closely with each student to craft a course of study appropriate to the student’s academic interests and post-graduate goals.
An expanding field of scholarship, women, gender, and sexuality studies is on the cutting edge of educational and intellectual innovation. Courses offered through many different disciplines explore how gender has shaped social, economic, and political institutions, culture, and language. Through these analyses, we envision what the world looks like once women’s experience is fully included in our thinking. The Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies core curriculum encourages students to develop critical thinking skills and an appreciation for the range of theoretical frameworks and methodologies present in contemporary feminist scholarship. Courses incorporate the diversity of women’s experience with attention to race, class, and sexual orientation as well as gender. Core courses also encourage students’ active participation through discussion, informal as well as formal writing, and collaborative learning in the classroom.
Experiential learning plays an important role in a student’s progress through the women, gender, and sexuality studies curriculum. The program’s extensive and long-established ties with organizations in the metro area provide wide-ranging opportunities for students to apply their classroom knowledge in a community setting. Many students discover a life’s vocation through these experiences, and all develop new skills. Guidelines for women, gender, and sexuality studies internships, practica, and independent study are flexible in order to meet individual needs. A degree in Women's Studies provides the foundation for life-long learning as well as background and experience for careers in teaching, counseling and social work, business, law, health sciences, public administration, public relations, and research.
Women, gender, and sexuality studies students participate in planning the program’s educational, cultural, and social events and advise the faculty on matters of curriculum and educational policy. The program also maintains a resource library open to all students.
Women’s Studies B.A./B.S.
In addition to meeting the general University degree requirements, the student majoring in Women's Studies must complete a required core program of 36 credits (28 classroom hours, including a senior seminar, and 8 hours in experiential learning) and 20 credits of WGSS electives (with a minimum of 16 upper-division credits).
Each student pursuing a Women's Studies major will select or be assigned an adviser who is knowledgeable in the student’s area(s) of academic interest.
Courses taken under the undifferentiated grading option (pass/no pass) are not acceptable toward fulfilling major requirements with the following exceptions: one Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies elective course, WS 404 Cooperative Education/Internship, or WS 409 Practicum.
Requirements
Core courses (28 credits)
| WS 101 | Introduction to Women's Studies | 4 |
| WS 301 | Gender and Critical Inquiry | 4 |
| WS 305 | Women of Color Feminisms | 4 |
| WS 307 | Women, Activism and Social Change | 4 |
| WS 315 | Feminist Analysis | 4 |
| WS 412 | Feminist Methodologies | 4 |
| WS 415 | Senior Seminar | 4 |
Experiential learning (8 credits)
Electives (20 credits)
(minimum 16 upper-division courses)
Total Credit Hours: 56