The Department of Women and Gender Studies (WGST) faculty aim to foster students’ critical thinking skills in a learning environment that is supportive and challenging. In the workplace, the media, popular culture, politics, and even academia, we are confronted with stereotypes and one-dimensional representations of gender, race, class, nationality and sexuality.
Accordingly, WGST faculty encourage students to critically engage with course materials and with the world around them, and we provide them tools to do so. We believe such skills are the prerequisites for enhancing the equality, dignity, and empowerment that we value.
Faculty research is an essential component in the educational experience of our undergraduates. WGST students receive instruction from faculty who are actively engaged in the creation of new knowledge and insights, not merely passive recipients of the work of others. Our faculty have been awarded research grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright, the National Science Foundation, and the United States Institute of Peace.
