Women's & Gender Studies
About the program
Students of Women's and Gender Studies at Augustana develop critical skills and awareness of the experience, art, writing and theories of women in the academic curriculum. Within the program's interdisciplinary setting, students explore gender, power, sexuality and achievement by re-evaluating women's contributions to society.
The Major/Minor in Women's and Gender Studies includes both specialized courses and courses from the general education curriculum which have the new scholarship on women and/or use gender analysis as a significant component. Internship and graduate school information is available from the Coordinator.
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| Graduating Women's & Gender Studies majors celebrate at the May 2011 WGS banquet. From left to right, they are Taylor Pouliot, Kendra Mulcahy, Kristine Juarez, and Sam Ott. |
Special opportunities
- Mary Wollstonecraft Award for Student Writing
- Vazquez-Valarezo Poetry Award
- Field trips to museum, exhibits, and conferences
- Meeting with scholars visiting on campus
- Women's History Month celebration every March
- Research projects with faculty
- A Women's and Gender Studies Research and Study Center in Old Main 225 with a computer, resources, and space for conversation and discussion
- Sponsoring of community and college events
- Course work and programming that offer significant opportunities to engage in activism on campus and in the community on issues such as health education, GLBT awareness, violence prevention, and global equality
Outside of the classroom
- WS 389 Internship in Women's & Gender Studies
Looking for a way to enhance your Women's Studies experience at Augustana? Do an internship at a foundation, agency, community organization or firm that works on women's issues. Many of the things we take for granted every day, such as women's right to higher education, to suffrage, to health and safety, come from the efforts of people working together in the global women's movement.
What students say
Rachel Sternhagen '10, majoring in women's and gender studies
and political science:
"The fact that a school the size of Augustana has a women's and gender studies major is incredible. For this major, most people have to attend a larger school and sit in auditorium-sized classrooms. I am thankful I can get the major I want from professors who know my name. The faculty all have extensive knowledge about gender issues. It's easy in this type of study to confuse terms and concepts, but the faculty won't allow it, demanding excellence from majors, minors and everyone."
