Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Minor Program

The Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program brings together courses and faculty from several colleges of the university to provide an interdisciplinary experience leading to a minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Graduates of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Minor Program will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of women’s participation in, contribution to, and transformation of society.
• Analyze how gender and sexuality are embedded within social institutions and culture.
• Articulate how different academic disciplines investigate women, gender, and sexuality.
• Analyze how gender and sexuality intersect with other categories of identity.
• Explain how constructions of gender and sexuality affect individual lives.

Minor Requirements

To obtain a minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, a student must complete 21 semester hours, of which 12 must be 300 or above. Students must also complete a portfolio and portfolio conference during their final semester at UAH.

Note: No more than two of the courses applied to the minor can be from the student’s major field of study. One course may count towards both the major and the minor. No more than 6 hours in a single subject area.

Course Information

As an interdisciplinary program, the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Minor features one required course, WGS 200 Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, offered every fall and spring.

Additional core and elective courses designated as WGS courses are taught in other departments. These courses are listed on the UAH course schedule under their major department and carry the marker of "W," which demonstrates that they have been approved by the WGS Program Advisory Committee as WGS classes and can be used to fulfill the requirements of the WGS Minor.

Descriptions of all WGS courses are available in the UAH Catalog.

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Minor Advising Form

Required Course (3 hrs)

• WGS200 - Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Core Courses

3 courses required from the following including at least 1 in Humanities and 1 in Social Sciences (9 hrs):

Humanities

• ARH 320 ST* - Women in Antiquity
• ARH 320 ST* - Modern Women Artists
• EH 414 - Creative Nonfiction Writing
• EH 418 - Representative Texts by Women Authors
• EH 440 ST* - Native Women’s Literature
• EH 461 - Shakespeare I
• EH 462 - Shakespeare II
• EH 465 - Dramatic Literature
• HY 367 - Women in U.S. History
• HY 390 - Women in Modern European History
• HY 483 - Women and Gender in Latin America
• PHL 335 - Feminist Philosophy
• TH 324 - Modern American Theatre
• WLC 204 ST* - International Cinema

Social Sciences

• PSC 440 ST* - Regional Studies: African Politics
• PSC 440 ST* - Regional Studies: Latin American Politics
• PY 406 - Psychology of Women
• SOC 206 - Marriage and Family
• SOC 306 - Sociology of Gender
• SOC 309 - Sociology of Sexuality

WGSS Advanced Courses

• WGSS 340 - Special Topics in WGS
• WGSS 499 - Independent Study

WGSS 340 and WGS 499 may count as core courses if the course carries 3 hours credit with permission of Director.

Elective Courses

Up to 3 additional core courses or 3 from the following approved elective courses (up to 9 hrs):

• ARH 103 - Art in Non-Western Traditions
• ARH 309 - Contemporary Art and Issues
• ARH 310 - Nineteenth Century Art
• CM/PY 330 - Nonverbal Communication
• CM 333 - Interpersonal Communication
• CM 433 - The Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication
• CM 455 - Communication and Culture
• EH 242 - Mythology
• EH 403 - Literary Criticism and Theory
• EH 430 - American Novel
• EH 434 - Science Fiction
• EH 438 - African American Literature
• EH 451 - Arthurian Romance
• HY 370 - Technology in American History
• HY 383 - Food in World History
• HY 473 - US-Latin American Relations
• HY 482 - Comparative Slavery and Abolition
• HY 484 - Latin American History Through Film
• HY 485 - Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
• PHL 102 - Introduction to Ethics
• PHL 303 - Continental Philosophy
• PHL 337 - Philosophy of Race
• PHL 403 ST* - Advanced Moral Philosophy: Care Ethics
• PSC/PHL 438 - Contemporary Political Thought
• PY/SOC 375 - Social Psychology
• PY/BYS 437 - Psychobiology of Stress and Illness
• SOC 330 - Race and Ethnicity
• TH 322 - Theatre History I

*ST designates “Special Topics.” Students should note that only the specific special topic section noted above, not all courses offered under that course number, is counted towards the minor.

Portfolio and Portfolio Conference

In addition to coursework, WGS minors complete a portfolio and portfolio conference. See the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Capstone Guidelines

Non-Degree Students

You do not need to be a regular student pursuing a degree to take these courses. Call the Admissions Office about Non-Degree status (256-824-6070) or check out the UAH Admissions website.