One of the most vibrant areas of intellectual inquiry, women's studies explores why gender matters in the pursuit of knowledge and social justice. 

The Department of Women's Studies offers a major, a minor, and a 15-hour certificate in women's studies.  Students often choose to double major in women's studies and another area, such as social work or public relations.  The interdisciplinary women's studies program blends a solid liberal arts foundation with courses about the experiences, roles, achievements, and issues impacting women. Helping to shed light and further understanding on issues specific to women in these complicated and ever-changing times is both a meaningful and popular endeavor.

Faculty
All women's studies faculty members hold doctorate degrees and teach every class; we do not use teaching assistants. While teaching is their top priority, faculty are involved in research and publish their findings through numerous books, articles, and conference papers.

Hands-on Learning
Students in women's studies apply their knowledge through internships on a part-time basis during the academic year or during the summer. In recent years, our students have interned at such organizations as:

• Equal Employment Opportunities Commission
• National Organization for Women
• People Against Domestic Abuse
• Planned Parenthood
• Women and Poverty Initiative
• YWCA Alternatives of Janesville

Student Organizations
Students serve as coordinators and volunteers in the Women's Resource Center and have the opportunity to make presentations about various issues affecting women, such as nutrition and fitness, assertiveness, and international women's concerns. The Women's Resource Center offers an array of books, articles, and pamphlets on women's issues to students and also provides space for studying and meeting others with similar interests. In addition, participants in the Women's Resource Center organize the Take Back the Night event, which addresses women's safety issues. Women's Studies students also participate in Students Against Sexual Violence and Amnesty International, which is focusing on Amnesty's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign.