THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE

 

                                                                   FACULTY SENATE

 

  Senate Document Number    3205S

 

  Date of Senate Approval      03/03/05  

 

 

 

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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

 

 

APC Document  26:                                          Major in Women’s Studies

 

 

Effective Date:   Fall 2005  (pending approval of Request to Establish a Major in Women’s Studies

  by the Office of the President)

 

 

1.   Delete:       On pg. 148 - 149, all catalog copy for:

 

Interdisciplinary Studies: Women’s Studies (WMST)

 

 

2.    Delete:      On pg. 214:

 

Women's Studies (WMST)

See Interdisciplinary Studies: Women's Studies

                                               

 

       Add:          On pg. 214, in place of the deleted entry:

 

                  Women's Studies (WMST)       

                  Associate Professor Rizzo (Director)

                                                          

Participating Faculty: Snoyer (Drama); Nickless (Economics); J.E. McGlinn (Education); Hardy, Judson, Rizzo (History); Ashburn, Downes, Ho, Horvitz, D. James, Moseley, Rackham (Literature); Mitchell (Mass Communication); Burchard (Philosophy); D.J. Mullen (Political Science); Himelein, Weber (Psychology); Bramlett, Ghidina, Kelley, Omer (Sociology)

 

Women’s Studies courses offer an interdisciplinary exploration of the experiences of women and perspectives on women. Courses investigate the role of women in society and culture and the phenomenon of gender in psychological, biological, literary and humanistic terms.

 

Major in Women’s Studies

I.    Required courses for the major--12 hours, including WMST 100, 365, 400, 451.

II.     Required courses outside the major--24 additional hours from the courses listed below, distributed as follows: 9 hours of Social Science/Natural Science courses; 9 hours of Humanities courses; 6 hours of Gender, Sexuality, Race and Class courses. Special topics courses may be substituted with approval of the program director.

III.     Demonstration of competency in the major and demonstration of oral competency are fulfilled through a service project or a research project with results presented orally in WMST 400.  Computer competency is met through successful completion of WMST 400.

 

Declaration of Major in Women's Studies

Declaring a major in Women's Studies requires the student to complete a Declaration of Major form that must be signed by the department chair. Before declaring a major, students must satisfy the LANG 120 requirement.

 

Minor in Women’s Studies

18 hours distributed as follows: WMST 100, 400; either WMST 365 or 451; 9 additional hours from the courses listed below, distributed as follows: 3 hours of Social Science/Natural Science courses; 3 hours of Humanities courses; 3 hours of Gender, Sexuality, Race and Class courses. Special topics or other courses may be substituted with approval of the program director.

 

 

Social Sciences/Natural Sciences:

ECON               330                   Women, Men and Work (3)

HWP                154                   Women’s Health (3)

POLS               348                   Women and Politics (3)

PSYC               333                   Psychology of Women (3)

PSYC               368                   Psychology of Close Relationships (3)

SOC                 359                   Women of Color and Feminism (3)

 

Humanities:

CLAS                350                   Women in Antiquity (3)

HIST                 301                   Women in United States History: 1890s to the Present (3)

HIST                 354                   European Women: Antiquity to 1700 (3)

HIST                 355                   European Women: 1700 to the Present (3)

HIST                 383                   Women in China (3)

LIT                    359                   Major Women Writers (3)

MCOM              364                   19th Century Newspaper Women (3)

PHIL                 302                   Philosophy of Sex and Gender (3)

 

Gender, Sexuality, Race and Class:

ANTH                100                   Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (3)

ANTH                361                   Writing Gender (3)

POLS               330                   Individual Rights and Civil Liberties (3)

POLS               331                   Immigration and Refugee Law and Policy (3)

POLS               353                   Politics and Social Welfare Policy (3)

POLS               388                   Human Rights and International Politics (3)

SOC                 240                   Evolution, Revolution and Social Change (3)

SOC                 312                   Society, Culture, and Poverty (3)

SOC                 365                   Violence in America (3)

SOC                 390                   Queer Sociology (3)

SOC                 420                   Difference and Inequality (3)

 

 

100       Introduction to Women’s Studies (3)

An interdisciplinary introduction to Women’s Studies examining methodology, perspectives and writings in Women’s Studies from the humanities, social science and electives. Fall and Spring.

 

365       Feminist Theory (PHIL 365)  (3)

An investigation of selected feminist theorists on a variety of topics that are current in the literature.  Prerequisite: two courses in philosophy; or WMST 100 and permission of instructor.  See program director.

 

400       Senior Seminar in Women’s Studies (3)

Advanced readings in Women’s Studies focusing on topics of current interest and debate. Readings will emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of Women’s Studies. Prerequisite: completion of 12 hours applicable to Women’s Studies major or minor.  Spring.

 

451       Community Service Internship (3-6)

Students work for community organizations which provide services to women.  May be repeated for a total of 6 hours credit.  Prerequisites: WMST 100 and permission of instructor.  See program director.

 

499       Undergraduate Research in Women’s Studies (1-6)

Independent research under the supervision of a faculty mentor.  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’s Studies (1-3)                                                                                          

Courses not otherwise included in the catalog but for which there may be special needs.  May 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.  WMST 479 may not be used by students majoring in Women’s Studies.   

 

3.         Delete:             On pg. 188, title for PHIL 365:

 

                                                365                   Feminist Theory  (3)

 

Add:                 On pg. 188, in place of deleted entry:

 

                                                365                   Feminist Theory  (WMST 365)  (3)

 

 

Impact: 

This new major will have no negative impact on UNCA.  History tells us we will have fewer than 10 majors at any one time.  Many will be people who would otherwise have enrolled in our existing minor.  The majors will easily be able to fit their schedules into UNCA’s current pattern of course offerings.

 

As ILS implementation proceeds, many of these courses will serve as intensives.  WMST 365 is a crosslisting of an existing philosophy course which many Women’s Studies minors currently take. Therefore, no enrollment impact.

 

WMST 451 being a new course will require faculty staffing; however, given the long list of faculty actively teaching in the Women’s Studies program, we anticipate no difficulty.  In the community, the course will have a positive impact since help provided by the students will generate goodwill towards UNCA.

 

Rationale: 

We are creating this major to meet a limited but enthusiastic demand from a small number of UNCA students.  Currently, students wanting to do a WMST major must craft an individual degree program.  The system of course distribution comes from an extensive study of requirements in Women’s Studies majors at other liberal arts colleges.  The overall philosophy is to offer students a broad-based interdisciplinary examination of the topic.  Because this major draws on offerings from a broad range of departments and faculty, it fits well into the UNCA idea of integrated liberal studies.

 

The minor is being changed to be parallel philosophically with the structure of the major in Women’s Studies.

Because WMST 365 is included in the core for the Women’s Studies major, this course should receive a Women’s Studies prefix.

 

WMST 451 will give students real-world experience with women’s issues that they have studied on a theoretical basis in their other courses.  The course fits with UNCA’s emphasis on community service.