Download the Application for the Graduate Certificate The Institute for Women's and Gender Studies offers a 18-hour graduate certificate in Women's and Gender Studies. The certificate is available to students who are currently pursuing a graduate degree or who already have a graduate degree. In some cases, non-degree students may be permitted to pursue a certificate. The purpose of the certificate is to train students in a rapidly expanding and interdisciplinary body of theoretical, epistemological, and substantive scholarship on women and gender and its intersections with race, class, and nation. The WGS comprises core and affiliate faculty with expertise in a wide range of approaches to the study of women and gender, making the Institute uniquely able among institutes and departments on campus to provide access to this body of cutting-edge theories, methodologies, and empirical research. The graduate certificate thus offers students who pursue training in this area a credential that is sure to make them more well-rounded scholars and enhances their marketability in an academia that increasingly values interdisciplinary approaches to the construction of knowledge All certificate candidates are required to take WGST 7010 Graduate Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies, WGST 8011 Feminist Research Methods and WGST 8020 Advanced Feminist Theory. The nine remaining hours will be composed of 3 electives from other WGST graduate offerings (including solely WGST as well as cross-listed courses) OR 2 electives from WGST and 1 elective from other departmental options listed here. Students who have done extensive undergraduate or graduate coursework in feminist theory may petition to waive WGST 7010 and substitute another elective. For one of the electives, a student may take a three-hour Directed Research course either in a department or in Women's and Gender Studies (WGST 7950). Directed readings or independent research hours will be allowed if: 1. the research focuses on a Women's and Gender Studies-related topic and 2. the graduate director receives and approves, prior to the student's enrollment in the course, a statement from the student and instructor outlining the goals and content of the course. This statement should accompany the “Petition for Transferred Coursework” form available on the WGS website. The student must file a copy of the final paper with the Institute Office. A list of graduate courses can be found in the Student Handbook. Students are not required to take WGST 7010, 8011 or 8020 before taking other courses on the list. However, departmental prerequisites do apply. Students should consult the current Graduate Bulletin for the prerequisites set by the respective departments for all the courses listed. As we work to increase the number of WGST and cross-listed graduate level courses, the graduate coordinator will work with students to make sure they are able to satisfy the elective requirements. If necessary, students may be allowed to substitute a qualified non-WGST elective for a WGST elective. However, permission to do this will only be granted on a case-by-case basis. Students should contact the graduate coordinator with any concerns. When students have completed all certificate coursework, they must “apply to graduate” on Athena and contact the graduate coordinator in order to schedule an exit interview. Graduate Certificate Required Courses (9 hours)WGST 7010, WGST 8011 and WGST 8020 WGST/cross-listed electives & qualified non-WGST electives Course Options (6 - 9 hours)See the list of courses Directed Research Option (0 - 3 hours)WGST 7950 Directed Research in Women's and Gender Studies. 3 hoursorApproved departmental directed research (Will count as non-WGST elective). 3 hours. Appropriate substitutions may be petitioned. No more than two courses in the same department (or courses with the same prefix) and no more than two courses with the same instructor may be taken. A minimum grade of "B" in each course is required for graduate certificate credit. Course Options for Graduate Certificate
