Welcome to the Department of Women's Studies!
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 Warhawk Involvement Center and have the opportunity to make presentations about various issues affecting women, such as nutrition and fitness, assertiveness, and international women's concerns. Students involved with the Center can help organize speakers and events about topical issues. Women’s Studies students also participate with the Residence Hall Association, organizing diversity activities such as “Boxes and Walls” and the “Take Back the Night” event, which addresses women's safety issues.
Additionally, the UW-W Wellness Center & the Sexual Assault Prevention Advisory Committee is in the process of creating a new organization that seeks to raise awareness about sexual assault, stalking, harassment and dating violence.