Reinvent Your Perspective with Women and Gender Studies

Do you recognize these names? Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Dorothy Arzner. Ida Lipino. Barbara McClintock. Barbara Jordan. Madeline Albright. Katharine Graham. Julie Dash. If you don’t, you might want to consider exploring our Women & Gender Studies program at USU.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a renowned LDS author and feminist, said, “Well behaved women rarely make history.” Each of the women mentioned above, in her own way, rejected the societal norm of the “well behaved” woman and made significant contributions to American culture and society.

• Dorothy Arzner was the only woman film director in Hollywood until the 1940s.
• Screen star Ida Lupino was the only woman directing Hollywood films from the 1940s-1970s.
• Barbara McClintock demonstrated that DNA structure could be rearranged and reprogrammed, a discovery that forms the basis for current genetic research.
• Barbara Jordan was the first African American woman elected to Congress.
• Madeline Albright was the first female U.S. Secretary of State.
• Katherine Graham was one of the first women newspaper publishers in the U.S. and published the Washington Post during the Watergate hearings until her death a few years ago.
• Julie Dash is one of a few African-American film directors and her first full-length feature, “Daughters of the Dust,” received international acclaim.

The accomplishments of these women are just part of the focus of courses in USU’s Women and Gender Studies program. Each semester, WGS courses are taught by faculty members from departments throughout the university — Anthropology, Biology, Education, English, Journalism & Communication, Health and Physical Education, History, Languages, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Many special topics courses are offered during the year, and many courses also offer Honor’s and graduate sections. Internships and independent study opportunities also are available for work related to gender issues.

But our courses are not limited to studying women. WGS classes offer students the opportunity to examine gender issues from a wide range of perspectives and disciplines, including topics related to femininity, masculinity, and sexual identity. For example, ANTH 5100: Anthropology of Sex & Gender, examines how social roles for women and men are defined in different cultures and how these various cultural expectations for women and men help define that society. JCOM 5410/6410: Gender & Mass Media gives students the opportunity to investigate how women and men are represented in several different types of media, such as how sports media cover male and female athletics. And SOC 3010: Race, Class & Gender, explores how racial, class, and gender differences influence each of our lives.

WGS courses provide an understanding of the role of gender and its practical implications in your basic life experiences, and insight into the current and future changes in the roles of women and men in this country and the world.

Regardless of your career goals, a Women & Gender Studies minor or certificate is an asset for employment after you graduate. In any career, an understanding of how gender affects both our perceptions and expectations of others is invaluable for all students, female and male. USU Women & Gender Studies’ graduates are currently working in a variety of settings, including newspapers, counseling, legal firms, public relations, politics, social service agencies such as battered women’s shelters and rape crisis centers, and in international venues such as the Peace Corps; others go on to graduate study.

You may enroll in individual courses or apply course work toward either a minor or an area studies certificate in Women & Gender Studies. Eighteen credit hours are required for the minor, and 24 for the area certificate. One core course is required — WGS 1010: Introduction to Women & Gender Studies — and you may select the remaining courses with an advisor to fit your individual interests and career goals.

For additional information, you may contact Dr. Brenda Cooper, Women & Gender Studies Director, AS 319 C, 797-3253, brenda.cooper@usu.edu, or the Women & Gender Studies office located in the Center for Gender Programs (TSC 315).

Come find out how you can broaden your worldview and reinvent your perspectives with Women & Gender Studies!