The Women's Studies major offers students a focused yet flexible concentration in the study of women and/or gender across many disciplines.  Students pursuing the major take three required Women's Studies courses plus two core and five elective courses selected from the Women's Studies Course List.  Of the five electives representing three different departments required as part of the major, students choose three to cluster into a topic area, which will provide the framework for the culminating project in the senior year.  The director of Women's Studies advises on topic areas, approves course clusters, and meets with all students undertaking senior projects.  With the Director's approval, one internship for academic credit may count as one of the electives.  All 10 courses must be taken for a letter grade.

1.  WS 72  Introduction to Women's Studies (Spring)

2.  Two courses which explore the foundational arguments in feminist approaches to the discipline, covering a diversity of perspectives, including attention to international research on women and gender.  Courses currently available in this category:
 

Anth. 185 / WS 195	Globalization & Feminism
Comp.Rel. 104	Feminist Theologies
Education 165	Educating Women & Girls
English 177	Feminist Literature & Theory
Philosophy 48	Feminist Philosophy
Sociology 30	Sex & Gender in Society
WS 191	Introduction to Queer Studies

3.  Five elective courses chosen from the Women's Studies course list and representing at least three different departments.  Three of these electives should be clustered into a specific topic area in the study of women and/or gender, towards developing the focus of the senior project.  Students define their own topic areas, with the advice and approval of the Director of the Program. 
[Please note: Students taking electives for credit towards the Women's Studies major or minor are expected to do their major papers or projects on a topic appropriate to or focusing on women and/or gender.]

4.  WS 190  Doing Feminist Research (Fall)

5.  WS 193  Senior Project (Fall, Spring)
 
 

The Women's Studies Minor

Students pursuing the minor in Women's Studies take a total of six courses, including three interdisciplinary courses offered by Women's Studies (WS72, WS190, WS193).  In addition, students choose three electives (from at least two different departments) that study women and/or gender in specific contexts.  The Director of Women's Studies advises on course selection to fit each student's interests and to establish a  basis for the culminating project in the senior year.  The minor allows a focus on women and/or gender to complement a major concentration in a discipline or program and provides an interdisciplinary framework for the independent work of the project.  All courses must be taken for a letter grade.

Required Courses for the Major and Minor

WS 72 Introduction to Women's Studies
Historic and emergent development in the field of Women's Studies, with emphasis on the impact of race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality in global perspective. Perspectives and methodologies are drawn from a variety of disciplines.
Spring semester.

WS 190 Doing Feminist Research
Practices and methods of feminist, interdisciplinary research in a cross-cultural framework.  How feminist inquiry rethinks disciplinary assumptions and categories; what counts as knowledge; relation between subjects and objects of study; international issues in feminist analysis.  To be taken in preparation for the senior project.  With approval of the instructor, open to non-majors and non-minors (including graduate students) engaged in extensive research on women and/or gender in other programs or departments.  Fall semester.

WS 193 Senior Project
A one-semester independent project culminating in a substantial interdisciplinary research paper or other creative or activist work with a written component, which explores and tests traditional and contemporary thinking about women and/or gender.  Two faculty members from different departments advise student projects.  Includes a series of group meetings throughout the academic year.  One credit. Fall or spring semester.

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Requirements

Courses Offered

Below you will find our most current course listing.  To help you select your courses we suggest taking a look at the course descriptions.  Hard copy Women's Studies course listing sheets are also available in the Women's Studies office (106 Eaton Hall).

Fall 2008 courses

Spring 2008, Fall 2007, Spring 2007, Fall 2006, Spring 2006, Fall 2005, Spring 2005, Fall 2004, Spring 2004,Fall 2003, Spring 2003, Fall 2002, Spring 2002, Fall 2001

 

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The Women's Studies Internship (Optional)

• Earn full academic credit by working a minimum of 12 hours/week or 150 hours/semester.
• Gain experience, make connections, explore career opportunities working with individuals, agencies or organizations (private, non-profit, or governmental), political advocacy groups, or women’s social movements that impact the lives of women.
• Students choose their internship site based upon their own interests.  Need ideas? Visit the Tufts Women’s Center, 55 Talbot Avenue, for complete internship listings.
• Students choose their own faculty sponsor, with whom they will meet at least 3-5 times during the course of the internship.
• Typically, a written project of 10-20 pages will be required for the completion of the internship.
• The faculty sponsor will have ultimate responsibility for grading, however the site supervisor will be expected to play a role in the evaluation process.

The Registration Process

1. Students considering an internship in Women’s Studies should initially contact the Director of Women’s Studies Prof. Modhumita Roy.

2. Students are free to propose their own internship sites or they can look through the internship listings located at the Women’s Center, 55 Talbot Avenue, to get ideas.

3. The student will contact proposed site(s) and find a willing and professional-level site supervisor.

4. The student will find a faculty member willing to act as the sponsor.  The faculty sponsor and the student will agree on the amount and type of written work that will be required (typically a 10-20 page written project) and the number of meetings that will take place during the semester.  The student, in conjunction with the faculty sponsor, will fill out the Tufts Internship Agreement Form.  Both the student and the faculty sponsor should retain a copy of the Agreement.

5. The student will bring the completed Internship Agreement Form and a University Add/Drop form to the Director of Women’s Studies for signature.  The Add/Drop form must be turned in to the Registrar’s Office by the Registrar's drop deadline date.  The course number is WS 99.

Sample Placements:

The Abortion Access Project, Cambridge
Asian American Resource Workshop, Boston
Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC), Boston
Boston & MASS National Organization for Women, Boston
Boston 9 to 5 (National Association of Working Women), Boston
Boston Women’s Fund, Boston
Center for Campus Organizing, Boston
Cooperative Economics for Women, Jamaica Plain
EMERGE (Counseling & Education to stop Male Violence), Cambridge
Massachusetts Eating Disorder Association (MEDA), Brookline
Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, Boston
National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, Cambridge
New Words Bookstore, Cambridge
North American Indian Center of Boston, Jamaica Plain
Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, Cambridge
Political Research Associates, Somerville
Poor People’s United Fund, Boston
Resist, Inc., Somerville
Rosie’s Place, Boston
Second Step, Inc, Newtonville
Somerville Commission for Women, Somerville
Title IX Advocacy Project, Boston
WILD (Women’s Institute for Leadership Development), Jamaica Plain
WITCH Feminist Lecture Series, Cambridge
The Women’s Center, Cambridge
Women Express, Inc., Boston
The Women’s Lunch Place, Boston
Women’s State-Wide Legislative Network, Boston

 

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Women's Studies Forms

• Women's Studies Major and Minor Requirements
• Women's Studies Major Check Sheet
• Women's Studies Senior Survey
• Women's Studies Senior Project Mentor Agreement
• Women's Studies Senior Project Grade Sheet
• Women's Studies Course Proposal Spring/Fall
• Women's Studies Beyond the Classroom Submission Form
• Women's Studies Minor Declaration Form
• Interdisciplinary Minor Certification Form

 

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About the Program

Women's Studies is an interdisciplinary field focusing on women in diverse contexts, emphasizing the local and global interconnections across categories such as gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality.  Scholarship in Women's Studies analyzes the various historical and political circumstances, socioeconomic forces, and cultural representations that shape gendered lives. 

Feminist inquiry is a rigorous intellectual enterprise which fundamentally transforms traditional disciplinary assumptions and theories, creates new models for teaching and research, and develops practices for challenging systems of power.  Each semester, Women's Studies at Tufts lists at least twenty courses in a range of departments and programs which are feminist in perspective and make use of recent scholarship on women and gender.

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