Course Descriptions
WS 210 Images of Women in Literature: Biography and Autobiography (3)
This course offers a study of the writings in which women have portrayed images of themselves: diaries, journals, letters and autobiographies written for publication, for a personal correspondent, or just for their own perusal. Writing emphasis course, which includes the production of an autobiographical or biographical essay.
WS 215 Images of Women in Literature: Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (3)
This course examines images of women as presented by female authors in selected novels, drama and poetry from diverse historical periods and cultures. Focusing on the social construction of gender and its influence on writers, characters, and readers, the course will explore commonalities and diversity in the lived experience of women. This is a writing emphasis course.
WS 220 Women in Society (3)
This course inspects societal expectations of women and the roles they have been assigned both historically and today. How do such expectations affect women’s involvement in their own lives as well as the lives of their communities? Sources will include history, economics, law, sociology, and other social sciences.
WS 230/CFS 220 Marriage and Family (3)
This course considers emerging and declining roles and changing relationships among family members across the life cycle from various theoretical approaches. The impact of gender roles on marital relationships, marital quality, power, decision-making, communications, conflict management, and combining work-family roles will also be explored.
WS 310 Emergence of the Modern American Woman (3)
This course investigates the role of women in the development of American civilization and values. Major topics include women’s legal and political status, the emergence and development of feminism, women and the creative arts, and women’s roles in industrial and post-industrial American society. This is a writing-emphasis course.
WS 320/REL 320 Women in Religion (3)
This course explores concepts of gender in religious traditions and religious, social and psychological dimensions of the gender-related symbols (e.g., the Goddess, God the Father) that shape women’s and men’s experiences. The course will include contemporary feminist discussions of ways in which religions have liberated and oppressed women.
WS 332/ENG 332 Women in American Literature (3)
This course provides an exploration of the images of women created by American women writers. A range of writings in different genres and periods are offered; content will vary slightly depending on the instructor. This is a writing emphasis course.
WS 340 Women Politics and Law
This course offers an examination of recent changes in laws affecting women and a study of the role of women in contemporary American politics.
WS 360 Women in Cross-Cultural Perspectives (3)
This course provides a study of the changing roles of women in various contemporary cultures: industrial democracies, developing nations, communist countries. Focus of course may vary by section. For example, a section may focus on “gender and globalization” and include an examination of how global economic and political processes affect gender, culture, and society in a wide variety of contexts.
WS 375/SOC 375 Gender in Society (3)
This course affords an exploration of gender in society utilizing various sociological perspectives with special focus on the relationships between social structures, social roles, and gender identities.
WS 382/PHIL 382 Philosophy of Feminism (3)
In the first part of the semester, students consider efforts by feminist philosophers to illuminate an assortment of social justice issues such as pornography, abortion, and comparable worth legislation. Later, students focus on feminist treatments of the ethics of care and its relation to traditional non-feminist ethical theories. Students in this course are expected to approach all readings as philosophers in their own right – evaluating the authors' arguments, suggesting their own improvements and alternatives, and engaging the issues on their own account. This is a writing emphasis course.
WS 383/CLASSICS 383 Women in the Greek and Roman World (3)
This course considers the condition of women in the apparently male-dominated world of Classical Greece and Classical Rome. Evidence from literature, vase paintings, and other arts is examined from the age of Homer to the second century A.D. with emphasis on Athens in the fifth century B.C. and Roman Italy in the first and second centuries A.D.
WS 400 Special Topics (3) (May be repeated)
Topics for this course change per section and may include special topic courses from other programs. Check current timetable for information regarding current topic.
WS 410/CECP 410 Sex Role Development: Implications for Education & Counseling (3)
This survey course is designed for the University senior and first-year graduate student as an overview of theories and research concerning the development of gender and our social ecology of sex roles. Various perspectives of gender role theory will be covered with important psychological and social implications, both past and present, theory and application relevant for educational, counseling and other social contexts.
WS 422/ENG 422 Women Writers of Britain (3) (May be repeated; Maximum 6 hrs)
This course provides an emphasis on the literary consciousness and works of women writers in Britain. Course content varies according to instructor’s choice; students may repeat course so long as content differs. Authors covered may include Marie de France, Margery Kempe, Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth Cary, Aphra Behn, Frances Burney, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and Doris Lessing.
WS 425/HLTH 425 Women’s Health (3)
This course explores factors influencing women’s health as well as women as consumers in health delivery systems. Includes a study of health problems/concerns of women and techniques for prevention, maintenance, and/or correction.
WS 432/HIST 432 Women in European History (3)
This course will provide an overview of the experiences of a variety of European women during specific historical periods – ancient Greece and Rome, the medieval period, early modern and modern Europe. Students will explore the status and expectations that particular societies proposed for women as well as the diversity of roles that women assumed in all fields of activity – economic, social, political, religious, and cultural. Attention will be directed to the varieties of women’s experiences as well as the commonalities. Discussion of the methodologies and sources employed in the study of history of European women will be an essential part of the course.
WS 433/FRCH 433 French & Francophone Women (3)
This course is divided into three parts, with the first offering an overview of race in France until the Revolution of 1789. The course will begin with an examination of how the concept of racial difference informed the debate on nobility and feminine virtue in works of fiction by women; then the class will turn to a more contemporary definition of race, as reflected in the documents that formed the basis for the first French Republic. In the second part of this course, students will begin with Spivak's influential essay on the subaltern, before considering works by women in which racial difference is highlighted—from Duras's early nineteenth-century masterpiece to works by contemporary African women writers. The course concludes in part three with the latest debate in French feminism, in which American feminist influence is presented as nefarious in its leveling didacticism. According to this widely accepted view, the critics Cixous and Irigaray, embraced in the United States as the embodiments of French feminism, are merely Americanized perversions of a French vision of equality that preserves difference. May be used toward fulfillment of French major or minor. This is a writing emphasis course.
WS 434/PSYC 434 Psychology of Gender (3)
This course examines feminist theories as the basis for exploring the psychological, social, and cultural elements of gender. Research traditions and findings in psychology regarding gender and the concept of difference are evaluated as they are influenced by methodology, societal context, and history. The socialization of gender identity and lifespan experiences are considered. Social issues of status and discrimination are explored on individual and interpersonal levels.
WS 453/HIST 453 Women in American History (3)
This course examines the experiences and perspectives of different groups of women in the United States from the colonial era through the 1980s. It also investigates how gender has shaped public policy, family life, race relations, social institutions, political movements, and work inside and outside the home. This is a writing emphasis course.
WS 469/CINEMA 469 Sexuality and Cinema (3)
Dedicated to Ginger Rogers, who did everything Fred Astaire did, backwards, and in high heels, this course will explore issues surrounding sexuality, gender and cinema, through the study of mainstream, documentary, and experimental films and the discussion of critical and theoretical commentary. The first half of the class tackles classic genre films directed by both men and women, the second half explores contemporary work.
WS 466/SpCOM 466 Rhetoric of the Women’s Rights Movement to 1930(3)
This course is a critical and historical study of the public address used in the campaign for women’s rights in the United States from the 1830s to the 1920s. Readings include speeches and other literature from the movement and its opponents and rhetorical analyses of these materials. Analysis of the movement’s use of songs, cartoons, pickets, and marches for persuasion is also included. This is a writing emphasis course.
WS 476/SpCOM 476 Rhetoric of the Contemporary Feminist Movement (3)
This course is designed to provide a critical study of the means of persuasion used in the campaign for women’s rights in the United States from the 1940s to the present. Analysis is focused on the rhetoric of the movement and its opponents in the variety of forms in which it appears—from speeches and writings to protest demonstrations and websites. This is a writing emphasis course.
WS 483/AAStudies 483 African American Women in American Society (3)
This course focuses on historical and contemporary social, economic and political factors in American society as they relate to the Black woman. This is a writing emphasis course.
WS 491 Foreign Study (by special arrangement) (1-15)
This course number designation provides an opportunity for students to receive credit for international study through the Women’s Studies department. The nature of the work assumed for credit should be negotiated by students with the Women’s Studies department prior to departure. Credit will be awarded only after completion of all agreed upon requirements.
WS 492 Off-Campus Study (by special arrangement) (1-6)
Recognizing that learning is not restricted to formal classroom situations, the College of Arts & Sciences provides an opportunity for students to earn credit toward graduation for approved off-campus study through the Women’s Studies department. Such study may be undertaken only with prior approval of the faculty member concerned and the Women’s Studies department. It may include certain kinds of work experiences, community involvements, working in political campaigns, etc.
WS 493 Independent Study (by special arrangement) (1-6)
Certain educational goals may best be met through independent study done by an individual under the direction of a faculty member. Students who wish to do such independent work should obtain the approval of the faculty member(s) concerned and the Women’s Studies department prior to embarking upon their study.
WS 510 Special Topics (may be repeated up to 6 hours)
This course’s topic changes per section and may include special topic courses from other programs. Check current timetable for information regarding current topic. This course is a graduate-level course.
WS 593 Independent Study (1-6) consent of chair
Certain educational goals may best be met through independent study done by an individual under the direction of a faculty member. Graduate students who wish to do such independent work should obtain the approval of the faculty member(s) concerned and the Women’s Studies department prior to embarking upon their study.