Academics

Women's and Gender Studies Minor

Welcome to the Women's and Gender Studies Minor at York College.

The Women's and Gender Studies Minor brings together a wide variety of courses into a coherent interdisciplinary unit of study. This program introduces students to the concept of gender as an organizing principle of cultural experience. Our students analyze past and contemporary scholarship, beliefs, and attitudes about gender and their impact across cultures.

Students can take the knowledge and understanding they gain and explore ways that these tools can empower themselves and others. Courses in this minor examine the implications of gender and gender roles in both Western and non-Western societies. Through interdisciplinary study, students understand gender as a key factor that drives both continuity and change in culture.

Minor Requirements

The Women's and Gender Studies (WGS) minor requires eighteen course credits. All students in the WGS minor are required to take Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (WGS 200), which is offered every spring. The remaining fifteen credits may be satisfied by any combination of the courses below:

BEH 360/WGS 360 Gender and Society

CJA 303/WGS 303 Gender and Crime

LIT 344/WGS 344 Love and Sex in Literature

LIT 382/WGS 382 Women in Literature

H 340/WGS 340 Women and War

H 342/WGS 342 Women in the United States: A History

PHL 238/WGS 238 Race, Gender, and Sexuality

PHL 380/WGS 380 Feminist Thought

REL 381/WGS 381 Women and Religion

SOC 225/WGS 225 The Family

WGS 210 Women's Health

WGS 450/451 Women's and Gender Studies Internship

WGS 498/499 Independent Study

Occasional special topics courses may also count toward the minor. Recent offerings include 20th Century British Women Writers, Women Flimmakers, Gay and Lesbian Literature, Jane Austen, and Psychology of Gender.

Component Course Option

In addition to the above courses, the WGS program offers students the option of satisying some of their requirements with "component courses," which include significant content on women's and/or gender topics, even though these topics are not the main focus of the course. In these courses, with the professor's approval, students design their individualized works (e.g. papers, projects, etc.) to focus on women's and gender studies topics. To receive WGS credit for component courses, students must petition the Curriculum Committee of the WGS minor and show that they have amplified the women's and gender studies content of the course through their individualized work. If approved, the course will be noted in the student's transcript as meeting the requirements for the WGS minor. No more than six credit hours may count toward the minor.

Contributing Departments

Behavioral Sciences, English and Humanities, History and Political Science, Nursing

Faculty

Prof. Julie Amberg, English and Humanities

Prof. Janet Archer, Behavioral Sciences

Prof. Marian Condon, Nursing

Prof. Jennifer Dierickx, Behavioral Sciences

Prof. Rory Kraft, English and Humanities

Prof. Peter Levy, History and Political Science

Prof. Kay McAdams, History and Political Science

Prof. Colbey Reid, English and Humanities

Prof. Laura Steck, Behavioral Sciences