Program Information
Women's Studies is the recognition and examination of the social construction of gender and its relation to class, race, age, ethnicity, nationality, and sexual identity. Women's Studies is a recognized curricular field, whose academic function is to analyze societies' changing definitions of women and their roles and to offer analysis exploring why and how these changes came about. The goals of the interdisciplinary minor in Women's Studies are three-fold.
Women's Study Program
Students majoring in Women's Studies will:
- become more knowledgeable about the way gender informs our social, economic, political and cultural lives;
- widen their perspective on national and global issues; and
- develop an appreciation for the connection between education and social responsibility.
The academic core of the Women's Studies program at SUNY Fredonia focuses on:
an interdisciplinary, transnational approach to the concept of gender as a social construct;
a critical and cultural analysis of the female experience through work in feminist theory;
race, ethnicity, nationality, class, age and sexual identity as central categories of analysis.
Completion of the interdisciplinary minor requires a minimum of 21 credit hours. Up to 6 (six) hours of transfer credit may be applied to the minor based upon approval by the Director of the Women's Studies Program. No more than 9 (nine) credit hours should be used to fulfill the requirements of the student's major.
Students declaring the Women's Studies Minor may use past courses retroactively after consultation with the director.
The Women's Studies Interdisciplinary Minor at a Glance
21 hours distributed as 4 core and 3 elective courses:
| Core: | |
| WOST 201 Intro to Women's Studies | WOST 301 Feminist Theory |
| WOST 302 Sex and Gender | WOST 401 Feminist Practice |
| Electives: | |
| Women and Culture | Women and Society |
NOTE: Many of the following courses have prerequisites within their own discipline; check catalogue for details. Students declaring the Women's Studies minor may use past courses retroactively after consultation with the director.