Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Curriculum – MA Program

The interdisciplinary MA in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies requires 36 semester hours and prepares graduates for professional employment and for further study. All students take the common core (9 credit hours) and capstone experience (6 credit hours) plus 21 or more additional hours. Course options may include a component of professional skills development to prepare students for immediate employment in non-faculty positions in education, non-profit organizations, government, or business. Students may also develop a plan of study leading to the pursuit of doctoral degrees in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality studies or other professional degrees for employment in such diverse areas as counseling, university teaching, the arts, and business.

Degree Requirements

Required Core Courses (9 credit hours)

WGSS 650: Feminist Theory: Intersections of Gender, Race and Class
WGSS 651: Feminist Research Analysis

And one of the following theory courses:

CST 659: Communication and Gender
ELC 680: Transnational and Postcolonial Feminist Perspectives
ENG 688: Women’s Rhetoric and Feminist Pedagogy
WGS 701: Critical Sexuality Studies and Queer Theory

Capstone Experience (6 credit hours)

Students must select either the 6 credit option or the 3 credit option at the end of their course work.

Individualized Plan of Study (21-24 credit hours)

Students should select a minimum of 9 credit hours of course work constituting a concentrated area of study that reflects their goals and interests. The proposed Plan of Study must be approved by the WGSS Graduate Adviser (Director of Graduate Studies). These courses may be selected from those approved for WGSS credit or appropriate courses in relevant fields. Students take 12 additional hours chosen from courses approved for WGSS credit, or from other graduate offerings consistent with their plan of study. All substitutions for WGSS credit must be approved in advance by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Representative Courses Approved for WGSS Credit

Consult adviser for additional options. Students may not double-count courses taken to fulfill requirements.

WGSS 600: Independent Study
WGSS 601: Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Internship
WGSS 602: Internship Seminar
CED 574: Contemporary Topics in Counseling: Counseling Women
CST 659: Communication and Gendered Communities
ELC 609: Epistemology and Education
ELC 662: Power, Politics, and Schools
ELC 664: Foundations of Interpretive Inquiry
ELC 670: Leadership for Teaching and Learning
ELC 688: Contemporary Problems Seminar
ELC 700: Critical Perspectives in Education, Leadership, and Culture
ENG 531: Feminist Theory and Women Writers
ERM 604: Methods of Educational Research
HDF 624: Feminist Theory and Research Methodologies
HDF 673: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Families
HEA 662: Gender and Health
HEA 665: Violence and Public Health
HIS 530: History of Sexuality: Selected Topics
HIS 551: Gender and History: Selected Topics
KIN 532: Women in Sport and Physical Activity
KIN 630: Sport and Society: Social Inequalities
MLS 610: Culture and Ideas (when focus is on gender)
MLS 620: Human Nature and Society (when focus is on gender)
TED 555: Multicultural Education

Possible Additional Courses, Depending on Plan of Study (9 hours)

Business Administration:  MBA 701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 710
Communication Studies:  CST 506, 562, 605, 630
Dance:  DCE 560, The Dancer’s Body
Educational Research Methodology: ERM 517, 604
History: HIS 626/IAR 626 (Public History); HIS 502, 713 (African American History)
Human Development Family Studies: HDF 502, 658, 673
Kinesiology: KIN 710, Sport and Feminisms
Library and Information Studies: LIS 636, Website Production for Librarians
Peace and Conflict Studies: PCS 600, 601, 610
Philosophy: PHI 602, Ethics and Genetics
Political Science:  PSC 540, Nonprofit Management and Leadership
Psychology: PSY 647, Advanced Social Psychology
Public Health:  HEA 601, 602, 603, 612, 617, 640, 645, 676
Social Work:  SWK 550, Social Services in Healthcare
Teacher Education: TED 555, Multicultural Education
Master’s students in WGSS may apply to study concurrently for Post Baccalaureate Certificates in Business Administration, Non-Profit Management, or other areas.

There are two ways to find current course offerings in WGSS (those with a WGSS number or marker):

Find all WGSS course offerings (undergrad and grad, no description) by going to UNCGenie Course Offerings Search: use the scroll-down menus to select the term; do not select subject (leave as “Not Applicable”); and scroll down to select WGSS for course category. Click the “course search” button.  The resulting list is alphabetical by subject, then numeric from lower- to higher-numbered courses. Graduate students may take 600- and 700-level courses as well as a limited number of 500-level courses.

Graduate course offering histories. To inform your enrollment choices, look through this searchable document which shows how often each course has been offered over the last five years, or to find WGSS markered courses.