THE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
FACULTY
SENATE
Senate
Document Number 1610S
Date
of Senate Approval 01/21/10
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Statement
of Faculty Senate Action:
APC Document
4: WMST
Program Title and Curricular Change to Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
(WGSS)
Effective
Date: Fall 2010
1.
Delete: On
pgs 267-269, the entire catalog copy for WMST.
Add: On pgs
267-269, in place of deleted entry:
Women,
Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
Participating Faculty: Dvorsky-Rohner,
Mills (Classics); Nickless (Economics); Snyder, Weldon (Foreign Languages);
Lanou, Wolfe (Health and Wellness); Hardy, Judson, Rizzo (History); Campbell
(Humanities); Ettari, Horvitz, D. James, Locklear, Min, Russell (Literature);
Slatton (Mass Communication); Burchard (Philosophy); D.J. Mullen (Political
Science); Himelien, Laughon, Weber (Psychology); Zubko (Religious Studies);
Bramlett, Ghidina, Kelley, Omer, Peterson, Wood (Sociology)
Women,
Gender and Sexuality Studies offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the
experiences of women, and the effects of the construction of gender and
sexuality in our society. Courses investigate the role of culture, social
institutions and policy on perspectives of women, gender and sexuality in
social, psychological, biological, political, literary and humanistic terms. Students majoring in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
may select one of three concentrations. The Concentration in Women, Gender and
Sexuality examines issues related to all three areas of study. The
Concentration in Women and Gender focuses more specifically on issues having an
effect on, and being experienced by, women based on their gender. The Concentration
in Gender and Sexuality focuses more specifically on the constructions of
gender and sexuality and their effects.
Concentration
in Women, Gender, and Sexuality
I. Required
courses in the major—9 hours, including WGSS 100, 365, 400.
II. Other
departmental requirements—27 additional hours from WGSS 451 and the courses
listed below, with at least 9 hours chosen from Social Science/Natural Science
courses and 9 hours from Humanities courses. Special topics courses, or other
courses with relevant content may be substituted with approval of the program
director. 12 of the additional 27 hours must be at the 300 level or above.
III. Major, oral
and computer competencies are demonstrated through completion of WGSS 400 with
a grade of C or higher.
Concentration
in Women and Gender
I. Required
courses in the major—9 hours, including WGSS 100, 365, 400 .
II. Other
departmental requirements—27 additional hours chosen from WGSS 451 and the
courses listed below, with at least 9 hours from Social Science/Natural Science
courses and 9 hours from Humanities courses. 15 of these additional hours must
be designated as Women and Gender (WG) courses. Special topics courses, or other courses with relevant content may be
substituted with approval of the program director. 12 of the additional 27
hours must be at the 300 level or above.
III. Major, oral
and computer competencies are demonstrated through completion of WGSS 400 with
a grade of C or higher.
Concentration
in Gender and Sexuality
I. Required
courses in the major—6 hours, including WGSS 100, 400.
II. Other
departmental requirements—one course from PHIL 302 or SOC 390; and 27
additional hours chosen from WGSS 451 and the courses listed below, with at
least 9 hours from Social Science/Natural Science courses and 9 hours from
Humanities courses. 15 of these additional hours must be designated as Gender
and Sexuality (GS) courses. Special topics courses, or other courses with
relevant content may be substituted with approval of the program director. 12
of the additional 27 hours must be at the 300 level or above.
III. Major, oral
and computer competencies are demonstrated through completion of WGSS 400 with
a grade of C or higher.
Declaration
of Major in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Declaring a major in Women, Gender and
Sexuality Studies requires the student to complete a
Declaration of Major form that must be
signed by the Program Director. Before
declaring a major, students must satisfy the LANG 120 requirement and have
completed WGSS 100 with a grade of “C” or better.
Minor
in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Completion of 18 hours distributed as
follows: WGSS 100, 400; either WGSS 365 or 451; 9
additional hours from the courses
listed below with at least 3 hours of Social Science/Natural Science and 3
hours of Humanities. Special topics or other courses may be substituted with
the approval of the program director. At
least 6 of the 300-level-and-higher credit hours must be taken at UNC
Asheville. One-half of the hours required for a minor must be completed at UNC
Asheville.
Social
Science/Natural Science:
ANTH 350 Body,
Disability and Culture (3)
ANTH 361 Writing
Gender (3)
ANTH 425 Manhood
and Masculinities (3) (WG)
ECON 330 Women,
Men and Work (3) (WG)
HWP 154 Women’s
Health (3) (WG)
HWP 155 Men’s
Health (3)
HWP 253 Health
and Sexuality (3) (GS)
POLS 348 Women
and Politics (4) (WG)
PSYC 333 Psychology
of Women (3) (WG)
PSYC 367 Human
Sexuality (3) (GS)
PSYC 368 Psychology
of Close Relationships (3)
SOC 280 Sociology
of Gender (3) (GS)
SOC 359 Women
of Color and Feminism (3) (WG)
SOC 390 Queer
Sociology (3) (GS)
Humanities:
CLAS 350 Women
in Antiquity (3) (WG)
CLAS 356 Ancient
Sexualities (3) (GS)
HIST 301 Women
in US History: 1890s to the Present (3) (WG)
HIST 306 Southern
Women’s History (WG)
HIST 307 Women
in the Modern Civil Rights Movement (WG)
HIST 358 European
Feminisms (3) (WG)
HIST 383 Women
in
LIT 349 Studies
in Contemporary Literature: Post Colonial Literature (3) (WG)
LIT 359 Major
Women Writers (3) (WG)
LIT 489 Seminar
in Major Authors: Virginia Woolf (3) (WG)
LIT 489 Seminar
in Major Authors: Toni Morrison (3) (WG)
PHIL 302 Philosophy
of Sex and Gender (3) (GS)
RELS 330 Women
and Religion (3) (WG)
Courses in
Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
100 Introduction
to Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (3)
An interdisciplinary introduction to
Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies examining methodology, perspectives and
writings from humanities, social sciences and other related disciplines. Fall
and Spring.
365 Interdisciplinary Approaches to
Feminist Theory (3)
An investigation of selected feminist
theorists on a variety of topics that are current in the literature. With permission of program director, may be
repeated as content varies for a total of 6 hours credit. Prerequisite: WGSS
100. Fall.
400 Senior Seminar in Women, Gender and
Sexuality Studies (3)
Advanced readings in Women, Gender and
Sexuality Studies focusing on topics of current interest and debate.
451 Community Service Internship (3-6)
Students work for organizations that
provide services related to women, gender and sexuality. May be repeated for a
total of 6 hours credit. Prerequisites: WGSS 100 and permission of instructor.
See program director.
499 Undergraduate Research in Women,
Gender and Sexuality Studies (1-6)
Independent research under the
supervision of a faculty member. An IP grade may be awarded at discretion of
instructor. May be repeated for a total of 6 hours credit. See program
director.
171-3,
271-3, 371-3, 471-3 Special Topics
in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (1-6)
Courses not otherwise included in the
catalog but for which there may be special needs. Maybe be repeated for credit
as subject matter changes. See program director.
179,
379, 479 Liberal Studies Colloquia (LS 179, 379,
479)
Colloquia offered to fulfill ILS
requirements. See Liberal Studies
for course descriptions. May not be used to fulfill major or minor
requirements. WGSS 479 may not be used by students majoring in Women, Gender
and Sexuality Studies.
Impact
Statement:
Since the proposed curriculum includes
only courses that are currently offered and no additional scheduling demands
are required, there should be minimal immediate impact on any participating
department or program. However, with increasing enrollments in WMST and WMST
elective courses over the past few years, and an anticipated increase in
interest in the program with the addition of gender and sexuality studies, in the
future more elective courses may be needed to meet demand. This potential
growth would probably occur gradually and could be collectively met by many
different participating departments. So
immediately and in the near future, there should be no or little impact as no
new courses are required for the proposed curriculum. In the future, if the program grows, some
additional electives would be helpful to better meet increased student demand
but additional courses would not burden and single department.
Rationale:
The timing and substance of this
proposal is based on three primary reasons:
it corresponds to national trends in the field; the current WMST program
already reflects the additional issues of gender and sexuality studies; student
enrollment patterns and student interest support this program transition and
concentrations.
1) The field
of Women’s Studies has been evolving for years (some would argue for
decades). This curriculum proposal is in
keeping with these changes, as issues of gender and sexuality are inherent in
what was previously defined as more singularly Women’s Studies. Women, Gender
and Sexuality Studies is an increasingly common program title and a Helix code
already exists for it. A perusal of other college and university programs shows
that many have already shifted to this more inclusive curriculum. A wide
variety of institutions currently have Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
programs including, but not limited to:
Harvard, Yale, U. of Minnesota, U. of Richmond, UC Santa Barbara, Penn
State, Swarthmore, Gettysburg College, Central Connecticut State, Cornell, NYU,
U of Texas. Several UNC system schools
also offer some combination of women, gender and sexuality studies (
2) One of the advantages of this proposal is
that in actuality it requires no substantive change to what is the existing
WMST Program. The proposal calls for simply re-labeling and reorganizing
courses that are already a part of the program. From this perspective, changing
WMST to WGSS provides for greater “truth in advertising” while also having the
advantage of requiring no additional resources at this time.
3) Besides
following reflecting a national trend and restructuring to better reflect our
evolving program, this proposal is also based on student interest and
enrollment patterns. Over the past 5 academic years, enrollment in WMST courses
has increased, doubling from 56 in 04/05 to 114 in 08/09, and the current
academic year enrollments continue this trend (enrollment of 83 in Fall 2009
semester). (See Table 1 in Appendix A
for specific WMST course enrollment figures. The table also shows the regular
and sufficient frequency by which required WMST courses have been offered.) Enrollments in elective courses that fulfill
WMST requirements are less obvious and unique indicators of interest as they
include students also enrolled for other requirements and purposes. As can be seen in Table 2, however,
enrollment in these courses has also increased during the past five academic
years. This table additionally
illustrates that of the 9 elective courses required outside of the major, an
average of 12.8 courses are offered per year.
Therefore, within the 4 years (or more) an average student is at UNCA,
he/she would have 51 (or more) opportunities to fulfill the 9 required elective
courses for the major, which is also sufficient.
In order to
further gauge interest in the proposed program, major/minor, and specific
concentrations within it, we conducted an informal survey of students enrolled
in WMST courses, core and elective, over two semesters. Of this sample of 125 students, 85% were not
declared majors/minors nor intended to declare, so the results do not reflect
the interests of those already committed to the program, but rather potentially
interested students. Nearly half of the
sample (49%) indicated they were very interested or somewhat interested in
declaring a major in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies; 65% were interested
in declaring a minor. Additionally, 93%
of respondents were very or somewhat interested in taking courses in women,
gender and sexuality studies.
With regard
to specific concentrations within the major, 66% were very interested or
somewhat interested in taking courses “dealing primarily with women and gender,
but not sexuality” while 84% were very or somewhat interested in taking courses
“dealing with gender and sexuality, but not women’s studies.” As faculty have informally observed as well,
some students prefer more specialized study within the program and this is the
basis for offering concentrations as well as an overall major.
Appendix A
Table
1: WMST Enrollment and Course Offerings
|
|
AY
40/05 |
AY
05/06 |
AY
06/07 |
AY
07/08 |
AY
08/09 |
Fall
09* |
|
WMST
100 |
34 |
33 |
32 |
36 |
52 |
32 |
|
WMST
179 |
16 |
|
17 |
17 |
18 |
18 |
|
WMST
365 |
|
14 |
|
12 |
9 |
11 |
|
WMST
373 |
|
5 |
|
|
5 |
3 |
|
WMST
379 |
|
|
|
|
22 |
16 |
|
WMST
400 |
6 |
10 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
2 |
|
WMST
451 |
|
3 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
|
WMST
473 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
WMST
499 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
56 |
65 |
62 |
79 |
114 |
83* |
*
Statistics are for only one semester, not the academic year. Enrollments are usually higher in the Fall,
so this figure cannot simply be doubled, but nonetheless indicates increasing
enrollment in WMST courses.
Table
2: WMST/WGSS Elective
Enrollments/Offerings
|
|
AY
04/05 |
AY
05/06 |
AY
06/07 |
AY
07/08 |
AY
08/09 |
|
ANTH
350 |
|
31 |
25 |
29 |
31 |
|
ANTH
361 |
22 |
|
18 |
|
20 |
|
ANTH
425 |
|
20 |
|
|
|
|
CLAS
350 |
|
12 |
|
15 |
|
|
CLAS
356 |
|
|
19 |
|
20 |
|
ECON
330 |
|
6 |
|
7 |
|
|
HWP
154 |
|
106 |
149 |
98 |
106 |
|
HWP
155 |
|
52 |
53 |
60 |
55 |
|
HWP
253 |
|
50 |
53 |
29 |
92 |
|
HIST
301 |
24 |
|
|
27 |
|
|
HIST
358 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
HIST
383 |
|
|
|
|
17 |
|
LIT
349 |
17 |
12 |
24 |
25 |
12 |
|
LIT
359 |
21 |
|
|
|
34 |
|
LIT
373 |
25 |
|
27 |
|
24 |
|
LIT
489 |
|
20 |
16 |
14 |
|
|
PHIL
302 |
|
25 |
|
|
28 |
|
POLS
348 |
|
24 |
|
10 |
|
|
PSYC
333 |
53 |
|
|
26 |
|
|
PSYC
367 |
|
|
50 |
70 |
|
|
PSYC
368 |
49 |
95 |
|
53 |
33 |
|
SOC
280 |
21 |
|
26 |
|
26 |
|
SOC
359 |
12 |
10 |
13 |
|
|
|
SOC
373 |
|
|
|
26 |
25 |
|
SOC
390 |
|
22 |
|
25 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
245 |
485 |
473 |
494 |
523 |