Website: www.iup.edu/womens
Lynn Botelho, Director
The Women’s and Gender Studies minor is designed to increase students’ interdisciplinary knowledge about the gendered nature of women’s experiences and the ways that all genders are shaped by history, culture, and society. In order to achieve this goal, the program offers courses using a variety of theories and methodologies from a range of disciplines, such as anthropology, art, communication media, criminology, film, the fine arts, history, journalism and public relations, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, religious studies, and sociology. The program explores gendered hierarchies and the impact of gender on the experiences of women, as well as women- and gendered-centered knowledge productions and learning. Students are encouraged to challenge traditional theories and research regarding women and gender through innovative and experimental classroom experiences and writing assignments. Students analyze the world, imagine and re-envision it, and seek to enact social transformation in both theory and practice.
A minor in women’s and gender studies strengthens and supplements every academic major and later professional careers. Students’ awareness of gendered, sexualized, classed, and racialized hierarchies make them valuable professionals in a range of careers, from business and banking to social work and law.