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  Women's and Gender

  Studies Program

ABOUT W.I.L.L.

Women In Learning and Leadership (W.I.L.L.) is a curricular and co-curricular, certificate-bearing program designed to provide leadership experience, encouragement, and opportunity for development of critical and analytical skills.  W.L.L.L. provides active learning opportunities that empower women as leaders, fosters a deeper understanding of women's roles and contributions to society, and offers opportunities for women to investigate career and life choices.

Students accepted into W.I.L.L. are required to complete 5 courses in Women's and Gender Studies, in addition to attending at least 3 gender-related co-curricular programs each semester.   When appropriate, W.I.L.L.-only sections of WGS courses are offered. There is also one course (the Senior capstone WGS496) that has been designed specifically for the W.I.L.L. curriculum and is open only to W.I.L.L.students.

Academic Curriculum
WGS 200 (WGST 200): Women, Culture & Society (W.I.L.L.-only Leadership section)- 4 semester hrs.
LL:  Gender, Behavioral, Social or Cultural Perspectives
This is an introductory level course that introduces the discipline of Women's Studies. In the W.I.L.L.-only section there is a special emphasis on leadership theory and women's leadership.

Gender in Global Perspective (either 200 or 300 level) - 4 semester hrs.
LL:  Gender, Global, Literary, Visual & Performing Arts
A requirement that may be fulfilled by courses that examine feminist issues in a global context. Choose ONE of the following:
WGS376/LIT316 Global Women Writers
WGS260/AAS280 Africana Women in Historical Perspective
WGS375 Global Feminisms
WGS380/HON 338 Gender and Democracy
WGS360/LIT334 Literature by Latinas and Latin American Women
WGS381/ANT311 Women in Migration
WGS310/HIS324?HON337 Women in Eastern Europe
WGS375 Transnational Feminisms
SOC303  Women in World Perspectives

WGS 325: Feminist Theories (Prerequisite: at least one WGS/WGST course) - 4 semester hrs.
LL: Gender, Worldviews & Ways of Knowing
Philosophical and sociological perspectives and feminist theories are used to illuminate the assumptions and ideologies that maintain the asymmetry that exists between women and men. The course analyzes the relationship of cultural values and assumptions to scientific processes and knowledge as the systematic nature of gender, race, class, and other forms of subordination and oppression are explored.

WGS 399: Feminism in the Workplace (Prerequisite: at least two WGS/WGST courses) and internship- 4 semester hrs.
LL:  Gender, Community Engagement
What does it mean to be a feminist on the job? Students placed in the corporate, governmental, and nonprofit sectors will meet to analyze the organizational structures, institutional objectives and daily life of the workplace. While each student will develop a research project tailored to her placement, class discussions will be based on common readings on feminist ethics, feminist social research, and the gendered politics of the workplace.
OR
WGS 318 & WGS319:  Women and the Legislative Process Part I and Part II- 8 semester hrs.
This course explores contemporary and historical roles, impacts, and interactions of women as legislators, constituents, and professional or citizen lobbyists in state and national legislative bodies.  Particular emphasis will be placed on analyzing and understanding the unique contributions, issues, and challenges women experience when active in legislative areas.  Students will be provided with opportunities for direct contact with local women legislators, lobbyists, and citizen/community organizers in both classroom and legislative settings.
WGS 319:(Legislative Internship) (Prerequisite: WGS318)
This course will provide on-site experience of the ways in which laws are made and the roles citizens can have in the process.  Students will intern with state legislators and meet weekly in the classroom with an academic instructor 

WGS 496: Women's Leadership and Social Change - 4 semester hrs.
LL:  Gender, Behavioral, Social or Cultural Perspectives, Community Engagement
In the W.I.L.L. capstone seminar course, students experience the inferfaces between empirical knowledge and social policies through selecting, organizing, and implementing a class activism project.  This course is the culmination of the W.I.L.L. Program in which students will expand and enhance their leadership skills using acquired strategies and tactics to influence social, political, or economic change.