Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)

The Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies allows students to explore questions about women’s lives, gender and sexuality from a variety of perspectives in the humanities and social sciences. Courses examine how gender and sexual identities have been and are constructed, how they intersect with the categories of race, class, and ethnicity, and how we can create a more just and equitable world for people of all genders.

This interdisciplinary program allows students to understand the world around them by examining constructions of gender and sexuality and their intimate connections to structures of race, class and ethnicity. Students are required to take an interdisciplinary introductory course (WGSS 120 ) and can choose from a range of other course offerings in the humanities and social and natural sciences, including ones on feminist and queer theory, literary constructions of femininity and masculinity, women’s history, and the role of gender in politics, religion, the economy and human psychology. Students who pursue the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies minor have the opportunity to complete a capstone project on a topic of their choosing.

All students interested in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) are invited to the program’s many lectures, readings, colloquia, and other events and to apply their heightened awareness of women’s, gender, and sexuality issues to every facet of campus life. The program’s graduates go on to pursue a wide range of career paths, including ones in the law, medicine, business, education, public policy, social services and advocacy work.

Program Co-Heads: Sarah Horowitz (Curriculum); Melina Bell (Engagement)

Core Faculty

First date is the year in which the faculty member began service as regular faculty at the University. Second date is the year of appointment to the present rank.

N. Melina Bell, Ph.D.—(2005)-2017
Professor of Philosophy and Law
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

Jenefer M. Davies, M.F.S., M.A.L.S.—(2006)-2014
Associate Professor of Dance
M.F.A., George Washington University
M.A.L.S., Hollins University

Megan Fulcher, Ph.D.—(2004)-2012
Associate Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science
Ph.D., University of Virginia

Genelle C. Gertz, Ph.D.—(2003)-2016
Professor of English and Associate Dean of The College for Strategic Initiatives
Ph.D., Princeton University

Sascha L. Goluboff, Ph.D.—(1999)-2013
Professor of Cultural Anthropology
Ph.D., University of Illinois

Sarah Horowitz, Ph.D.—(2008)-2014
Associate Professor of History
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

Wan-Chuan Kao, Ph.D.—(2013)-2019
Associate Professor of English
Ph.D. City University of New York

Robin Le Blanc, Ph.D.—(1998)-2008
Professor of Politics
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma

Ellen C. Mayock, Ph.D.—(1997)-2008
Ernest Williams II Professor of Romance Languages
Ph.D., University of Texas

Domnica V. Radulescu, Ph.D.—(1992)-2003
Edwin A. Morris Professor of Romance Languages
Ph.D., University of Chicago

Katharine L. Shester, Ph.D.—(2011)-2017
Associate Professor of Economics
Ph.D., Vanderbilt University

Taylor Fontaine Walle, Ph.D.—(2016)-2016
Assistant Professor of English
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Lesley M. Wheeler, Ph.D.—(1994)-2006
Henry S. Fox Professor of English
Ph.D., Princeton University

Julie A. Woodzicka, Ph.D.—(2000)-2012
Abigail Grigsby Urquahrt ‘11 Term Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science
Ph.D., Boston College

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Courses

Courses relevant to the Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies are as follows:

The following courses may also meet program requirements when the topic is appropriate: