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Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies

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Undergraduate programs

Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Undergrad major Undergrad minor

RGSS is an interdisciplinary program that helps students understand the enormous diversity of the U.S. and a globalizing world, and the structures of inequality on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, and social class that shape this world. Students uncover hidden histories that include experiences of discrimination and marginalization, as well as of resilience, resistance, and coalition building. In RGSS, we work with students to develop research and communication skills to help students creatively use the knowledge and practices of our discipline, preparing them for careers, advanced degrees, and engaged citizenship.

Catalogfor Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies
Quick glancefor Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Social Justice

Undergrad minor

Social justice is fairness as it relates to rights, opportunities, and access to resources within society. This includes questions of housing, healthcare, political representation and participation, the economy and more.

Catalogfor Social Justice
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Hmong & Hmong-American Studies Certificate

Undergrad certificate

Hmong-Americans are first-generation refugee immigrants from Laos and their descendants. Since 1975, Hmong Americans have established communities across the country. According to the Pew Research Center, 327,000 Hmong people live in the U.S. as of 2019. In Wisconsin, Hmong people make up the largest Asian American ethnic group. 

Quick glancefor Hmong & Hmong-American Studies Certificate

Program outcomes
& opportunities

The basis of many of our courses begins with:

  • a desire to make the world better,
  • to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect
  • to allow people to live their lives more fully

We use an intersectional approach to understanding people/groups and students gain a deep understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. all contribute to their experience of the world, physically, socially, and emotionally.

Did you realize that...

In 2018, women comprised 20% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films.

Source:
Center for the study of Women in Television & Film

A heart attack is more likely to be fatal in a young woman than a young man, perhaps because women’s cardiac symptoms are more often misattributed to anxiety or depression than men’s.

Source:
"How one woman changed what doctors know about heart attacks" New York Times, Feb. 2019 

In 2018, 110 (81D, 29R) women hold seats in the United States Congress, comprising 20.6% of the 535 members; 23 women (23%) serve in the U.S. Senate, and 87 women (20.0%) serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Source:
Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics

Nearly 12% of high school females reported physical violence and nearly 16% reported sexual violence from a dating partner in the 12 months* before they were surveyed.

Source:
The 2015 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Women may make up 64% of the physical therapist (PT) workforce, but in 2013, they earned about 88% of what male PTs made, according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau.

Source:
"US Census: Median PT earnings nearly $10k lower for women than men in 2013" PT In Motion News, APTA

Multiple studies have shown that the presence of a [Gay Straight Alliance] at school is linked to safety at school for LGBTQ youth, as well as youth in general.

Source:
Kosciw et al., 2008; Lee, 2002; O’Shaughnessy et al., 2004; Szalacha, 3003

Experimental studies generally report that exposure to ultrathin bodies idealized in the media leads to body dissatisfaction, weight dissatisfaction, and negative affect among many women.

Source:
Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008; Groesz, Levine, & Murnen, 2002

Lesbian and gay Christians who were part of an affirming faith community indicated higher levels of psychological well-being, so by providing information to LGBT clients regarding affirming faith groups, counselors might challenge the myth of incompatibility between LGBT sexual, gender, and spiritual identity.

Source:
Lease, S. H., Horne, S. G., & Noffsinger-Frazier, N. (2005). Affirming faith experiences and psychological health for caucasian lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(3), 378-388. doi:http://dx.doi.org.libweb.uwlax.edu/10.1037/0022-0167.52.3.378

The “severity” of sexual harassment experiences have no effect on the level of harm the person being harassed experiences. Infrequent “high intensity” sexual harassment (i.e. assault) is just as detrimental as frequent “low intensity” harassment (i.e. crude jokes, etc.).

Source:
Sojo, V. E., Wood, R. E., & Genat, A. E. (2015). Harmful Workplace Experiences and Women’s Occupational Well-Being. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 40(1), 10-40. doi:10.1177/0361684315599346

Broadcasting & digital media

Here’s how UWL's Women’s Studies program will get you there! 

Students in the WGS program acquire planning and analytical experience through substantial research papers or projects as course requirements that help students become familiar with: 

  • Conducting an academic literature review 
  • Synthesizing large amounts of information 
  • Engaging in qualitative research methods such as interviewing and conducting survey and comparing their independent research findings against the scholarly literature.  

By the time students graduate from the program, they develop: 

  • Strong research and writing skills that are easily translatable.  
  • Skills on tailoring oral and writing presentations to appropriate audiences 
  • Community engagement 

Giving back to the community is an important priority to the WS program. Thus, students are encouraged to gain experience with getting to know the issues in the community in a variety of ways through our program, such as:  

  • Course projects that respond to the needs of the community, volunteering with campus and community organizations and doing internships.  
  • Work alongside other marketers and content marketers to help distribute content that educates and entertains specific audiences and supports an organization's marketing goals.  

The basis of many of the WGS courses begins with a desire to make the world better, to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect and can live their lives more fully. We use an intersectional approach to understanding people/groups and students gain a deep understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. all contribute to their experience of the world, physically, socially, and emotionally. 

Health Sciences

HERE’S HOW UWL’S WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM WILL GET YOU THERE! 

The basis of many of the Women’s Studies (WS) courses begins with a desire to make the world better to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect and can live their lives more fully. We use an intersectional approach to understanding people/groups and students gain a deep understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. all contribute to their experience of the world, physically, socially, and emotionally. 

Being a health care provider requires much more than one's knowledge in science and a degree in Women's Studies can help develop a complementary skillset. 

  • Women are the primary health care decision makers in families 
  • Health care encounters provide good opportunities to screen for family violence and sexual assault; those trained in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies are well equipped to handle these encounters with sensitivity and care 
  • Women’s reproductive care and care related to healthy sexuality are politicized; health care providers have a role to play in empowering women to care well for their sexual and reproductive health 
  • Women, girls, and transgender individuals need safe spaces to talk about their health and well-being, including issues with gender identity, sexuality, relationship issues, self-harm, violence, and intimate aspects of health that are often silenced 

Health care providers should know about the following research findings to do their job well  

  • Women’s pain tends to be taken less seriously than men’s; implicit bias in treating pain is important.  
  • Men are undertreated for depression, even when their screening scores are identical to women’s.  
  • Girls and women are at significantly higher risk for eating disorders; good health care providers attend to the social and cultural pressures in the lives of their female patients, and how these pressures are compounded depending upon race, class, sexual orientation, and gender identity.  
  • LGBTQ individuals often suffer significant bias and inequities in coverage in the health care system.  
  • Racism impacts the health care experiences of people of color, for women and all genders, in many well-studied ways; cultural competency and humility, awareness of implicit bias, and efforts to diversify health care staff, are greatly needed in health care settings.  

Health care policy can and should be informed by an understanding of the ways that gender, race, class, religion, immigrant status, and sexual orientation impact people’s access to quality care 

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – University of Wisconsin – La Crosse 

 

Law

INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN LAW? 

HERE’S HOW UWL’S WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM WILL GET YOU THERE! 

The basis of many of the Women’s Studies (WS) courses begins with a desire to make the world better to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect and can live their lives more fully. We use an intersectional approach to understanding people/groups and students gain a deep understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. all contribute to their experience of the world, physically, socially, and emotionally. 

WS helps provide students with the opportunity to develop and strengthen: 

  • Research and evidence-building skills  
  • Understanding precedent  
  • Writing and oral presentation skills  
  • Critical and interdisciplinary thinking skills, including the ability to synthesize information from a variety of perspectives  

WS courses also provide students the ability to:  

  • Conduct original research  
  • Critique laws and policies in terms of their impacts on a range of people and groups 
  • Advocate through the law for groups, including women and girls, people of color, and LGBT individuals, who have often been underserved and/or over policed or sentenced 

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – University of Wisconsin – La Crosse 

Non-Profit

INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN  NON-PROFT ADVOCACY? 

HERE’S HOW UWL’S WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM WILL GET YOU THERE! 

The basis of many of the Women’s Studies (WS) courses begins with a desire to make the world better to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect and can live their lives more fully. We use an intersectional approach to understanding people/groups and students gain a deep understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. all contribute to their experience of the world, physically, socially, and emotionally. 

WS courses help prepare students to be Executive or Program Directors that...  

  • Understand and can speak to the disproportionate impacts and intersectional realities of poverty and interpersonal violence, as well political and economic opportunities  
  • Know, understand, and can critically assess public policies related to these, and other issues  
  • Develop and implement alternative approaches 
  • Develop and implement evidence-based programs targeted to specific groups 

WS helps provide students with the opportunity to develop and strengthen...  

  • Research, writing, and oral presentation skills  
  • Critical and interdisciplinary thinking skills, including the ability to synthesize information from a variety of perspectives  
  • Conduct original research 

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – University of Wisconsin – La Crosse 

Physical Therapy

INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN  PHYSICAL THERAPY? 

HERE’S HOW UWL’S WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM WILL GET YOU THERE! 

Being a physical therapist requires much more than one's knowledge in science and a degree in Women's Studies can help develop a complementary skillset. 

The basis of many of the Women’s Studies (WS) courses begins with a desire to make the world better to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect and can live their lives more fully. We use an intersectional approach to understanding people/groups and students gain a deep understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. all contribute to their experience of the world, physically, socially, and emotionally. 

For example, physical therapists also need to be able to:  

  • Listen to patients prior to and during diagnosis and treatment. Strong listening skills ensure the patient's needs can be met. Many WS courses discuss the importance of listening to marginalized voices and amplifying our understanding of those voices to understand how people experience the world around them, which has direct impacts on their health.  
  • Treat a wide variety of physical problems (within a patient) with a more holistic and comprehensive approach, not one that targets symptoms in isolation. Seeing how one symptom of pain may be connected to another and how environments, workplaces, family, daily practices, heredity, etc. may be playing a role and interacting together.  
  • Care for their patients and interact effectively with patients, regardless of their race, sex, religion, nationality, age, sexual orientation, or disability.  

Students become aware of the best research evidence related to each client, in terms of treatment, problems, social context, etc. Most of the WGSS courses incorporate research papers or projects as course requirements that help students become familiar with: 

  • Conducting an academic literature review 
  • Synthesizing large amounts of information 
  • Engaging in qualitative research methods such as interviewing and conducting surveys 
  • Comparing their independent research findings against the scholarly literature.  

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – University of Wisconsin – La Crosse 

Student Affairs

INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN  STUDENT AFFAIRS & ADMINISTRATION? 

HERE’S HOW UWL’S WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM WILL GET YOU THERE! 

The basis of many of the Women’s Studies (WS) courses begins with a desire to make the world better to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect and can live their lives more fully. We use an intersectional approach to understanding people/groups and students gain a deep understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. all contribute to their experience of the world, physically, socially, and emotionally. 

WS helps provide students with the opportunity to develop and strengthen: 

  • Your understanding of how past trends and institutional structures result in excluding, marginalizing, and/or underserving some college students  
  • Your writing and oral presentation skills  
  • Problem-solving skills 

WS courses also provide students the ability to: 

  • Critique institutional policies and structures in terms of their impacts on a range of people and groups 
  • Develop and defend policy ideas and programs that might work better for more students 
  • Conduct research that evaluates programs aimed at improving the student experience 
  • Connect institutions of higher education to communities, especially keeping those institutions accountable to marginalized communities and identities 

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – University of Wisconsin – La Crosse 

Marketing

INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN MARKETING? 

HERE’S HOW UWL’S WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM WILL GET YOU THERE! 

The basis of many of the Women’s Studies (WS) courses begins with a desire to make the world better to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect and can live their lives more fully. We use an intersectional approach to understanding people/groups and students gain a deep understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. all contribute to their experience of the world, physically, socially, and emotionally. 

WS helps provide students with the opportunity to develop and strengthen:  

  • Media literacy skills  
  • Research, writing, and oral presentation skills  
  • Critical and interdisciplinary thinking skills, including the ability to synthesize information from a variety of perspectives  

WS courses also provide students the ability to: 

  • Conduct original research  
  • Develop and implement evidence-based programs targeted to specific groups 
  • Critically examine how marketing is perceived by multiple perspectives 
  • Improve marketing practices  

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – University of Wisconsin – La Crosse 

Counseling & Therapy

INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN COUNSELING AND THERAPY? 

HERE’S HOW UWL’S WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM WILL GET YOU THERE! 

Good therapists/counselors need to be aware of the client’s identities and context (ie. culture, race, ethnicity, spirituality, sexual orientation, age, physical health, motivation for change). 

The Women’s Studies (WS) program through its courses, the internships that it recommends, student orgs, etc. offer students with a range of opportunities to learn about the experiences of non-dominant groups in society based on gender, sexual orientation, race, class, religion, etc. By learning about, interacting with and supporting members from various communities, students learn to identify power differentials in society and between individuals and work to decentralize these dynamics. The relationship between a provider and a client requires trust and solid communication, which necessitates respect and understanding for the client (not just the provider).  

  • Many WS courses discuss the importance of listening to marginalized voices and amplifying those communities' voices in order to alleviate the impact that social inequalities have on the most vulnerable among us, one of which is people's emotional well-being. 

Most of the WGSS courses incorporate research papers or projects as course requirements that help students become familiar with: 

  • Conducting an academic literature review 
  • Synthesizing large amounts of information 
  • Engaging in qualitative research methods such as interviewing and conducting surveys 
  • Comparing their independent research findings against the scholarly literature.  

By the time students graduate from the program, they develop strong research and writing skills that are easily translatable and Exhibit a solid set of interpersonal skills, including: verbal fluency, interpersonal perception, warmth and acceptance, empathy, and focus on others/collaboration.  

The basis of many of the WS courses begins with a desire to make the world better to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect and can live their lives more fully. We use an intersectional approach to understanding people/groups and students gain a deep understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. all contribute to their experience of the world, physically, socially, and emotionally. 

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – University of Wisconsin – La Crosse 

Human Resources

INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN  HUMAN RESOURCES? 

HERE’S HOW UWL’S WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM WILL GET YOU THERE! 

 Human Resources professionals have significant opportunity to create more diverse, inclusive, gender equitable environments. With knowledge of how gender and other systems of privilege and inequality work, HR professionals can improve guiding policy and practice on: 

  • Strengthening organizational leadership by identifying barriers to the advancement of women, people of color, LGBT people, individuals with disabilities, religious minorities, and other groups that are often under-represented in organizational leadership 
  • Designing family leave and other work-life policies in ways that are equitable and help keep talented staff connected to the organization 
  • Advocating for health insurance coverage that serves women's needs with respect to family health, and the needs of groups who may need health insurance coverage not available in all plans 
  • Ensuring equitable procedures in hiring, evaluation, pay, promotion, and leadership opportunities 
  • Conducting employee surveys to assess and improve the inclusivity of an organization and its opportunities for advancement for all, and for leveraging the strengths of diversity 
  • Communicating with employees in ways that promote equality and fairness in hiring, evaluation, pay, promotion, and leadership opportunities in an organization/industry 
  • Serving as advocates for employees, especially those historically underrepresented in an organization or industry  
  • Recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce 

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – University of Wisconsin – La Crosse 

Featured courses

  • Hmong Americans
    RGS 362 | 3 credits
    This is an introductory course to Hmong American history, culture, and contemporary life. The course reviews Hmong history within the context of U.S. foreign policy in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1975 and examines the sociocultural transformations that have been taking place in Hmong American communities across the U.S. since 1976. (Cross-listed with ANT/RGS; may only earn credit in one department.) Offered Occasionally.
  • Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Class
    RGS 100 | 3 credits
    This course provides an introduction to how race, gender, sexuality, and class have been intertwined and coexisted over time to produce and reproduce social inequalities in the US, in the context of a globally connected world. It explores the key concepts, theories, and historical experiences that form the basis of scholarly work in comparative race, gender, sexuality, and class studies. The creation, transmittal, interpretation and institutionalization of racial, gender, sexual, and class identities are examined through a human rights framework. Offered Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.
  • RGSS Senior Capstone
    RGS 490 | 3 credits
    This senior capstone course is designed as a culminating experience for students completing a major in race, gender, and sexuality studies or a Hmong and Hmong-American studies certificate. This course has three content foci: 1) Students apply what they have learned throughout their major in RGSS. Alone or in groups, students research, explain, and develop a means for addressing a social phenomenon through application of the material acquired in their courses - particularly those in RGSS. This culminates in a presentation and paper to be given before an audience that may include RGSS faculty, CASSH faculty, and UWL students. 2) Students analyze the ways race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality have played and continued to play in liberating oppressive roles in social, political, or cultural institutions. 3) Students identify and learn about careers such as journalism, marketing, community and housing development, media, health and medicine, community and union organizing, social work, and a wide variety of positions in federal, state, county, and local governments. Prerequisite: RGS 100; concurrent enrollment in one of the following: RGS 335, RGS 336, RGS 340, or RGS 377. Offered Spring.
  • Topics in Queer Studies
    RGS 310 | 3 credits
    This course offers students the opportunity to explore contemporary and historic issue through the lens of Queer studies and builds on the current Introduction to LGBT studies course in order to expand students' understanding of Queer history, activism, and/or theory. The course takes an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach through which students can build understanding of the connections between Queer studies and other fields. Department approval is necessary to apply more than three credits toward the RGS major/minor. Repeatable for credit - maximum nine. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered Annually.
  • Race, Gender, and Sport
    RGS 314 | 3 credits
    Sport has long occupied a place at the heart of American culture and society. Organized athletics have also served as symbolic sites of protest, power, and inclusion for the nation's populations marginalized, oppressed, and discriminated against based on their racial, gender, and sexual identities. This course will explore the terrain of American sport in the twentieth century as a way to understand the profound impact that the phenomenon of athletic competition has had in the development of American race and gender relations. We will pay particular attention to how the racial, gender, and sexual identities of African American, Native American, Latino/a, and Asian American athletes shaped the purposes, participation, and meaning of sport. Moreover, we will delve into the events, icons, and cultural meanings of sports over the last century. Prerequisite: RGS 100. Offered Occasionally.
  • Gender, Sexuality, and Social Change in Religion
    RGS 316 | 3 credits
    This course examines the various gender roles, norms, mobility, restrictions and empowerment that people experience within religious traditions, for example: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Global case studies and engaging narratives focused on the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and religion are considered. Special attention is paid to feminist laypersons and religious leaders who are reformulating traditional understandings and practices, and in turn, negotiating their agency within secular and spiritual spaces. Prerequisite: one of the following: RGS 100, RGS 150, SOC 110, SOC 120, EDS 206. (Cross-listed with RGS/SOC; may only earn credit in one department.) Offered Occasionally.
  • Violence and Gender
    RGS 320 | 3 credits
    This course will examine the connections between gendered violence and power distributions within our society using an interdisciplinary and intersectional perspective. Three specific types of violence and abuse will be examined in-depth: sexual harassment, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered Alternate Years.
  • Sex/Work
    RGS 328 | 3 credits
    In this course, students explore the topic of sex work. While course material focuses primarily on sex work in the United States, students also engage in comparative analyses in the international context. Participants in this course learn about the various types of labor that comprise sex work, as well as the different social, theoretical, feminist, regulatory, political, and legislative understandings and approaches to these forms of labor. Students also learn about the impacts that these understandings and approaches have on those engaged in these forms of labor and society more broadly, particularly as it relates to questions of gender, race, class, and sexuality. Prerequisite: one of the following: RGS 100, RGS 150, EDS 206, POL 205, PUB 210, SOC 110, SOC 120, SOC 150. Offered Fall - Odd Numbered Years.
  • Gender and Human Rights
    RGS 373 | 3 credits
    This course provides an overview of transnational women's human rights movements in a variety of locations around the world; locations vary with the instructor. Included in this overview is the study of women's political participation as a human rights issue; women's bodily integrity as a human right; violence against women and reproductive sexual health and rights; human rights as a framework for social and economic and gender justice; and human rights as (quasi) legal accountability; UN agreements, treaties and venues of redress. Prerequisite: RGS 100 or RGS 150 or EDS 206. Offered Fall - Odd Numbered Years.
  • 20th Century Civil Rights Movement
    RGS 409 | 3 credits
    This course explores the modern civil rights movement in the US and the struggle for African Americans and other marginalized groups to gain equal rights in voting, education, employment, housing, and other facets of life in the US. It begins with the MOWM and examines the seemingly completing philosophies of civil rights organizations such as CORE, SNCC, SCLC, BPP, AIM, SDS, NCAI, YLP, RG, NOW, NBFO, the Mattachine Society, the Daughters of Bilitis, STAR and other civil rights organizations, leaders, and local people in shaping their own destinies. It highlights and interrogates major national and local political struggles rooted in racial, gender, and sexual identities and their reciprocal relationships with international political and anti-colonial movements from 1941 to the present. It concludes with exploring the link between convict leasing, prison reform movements, political prisoners, and the prison industrial complex as the New Jim Crow. Prerequisite: RGS 100 or EDS 206 or HIS 210. (Cross-listed with HIS/RGS; may only earn credit in one department.) Offered Spring.
  • The Disability Experience in the Contemporary World
    RGS 353 | 3 credits
    Disability studies is a field of study which offers a critique of commonly held assumptions regarding oppressive binaries such as normal/abnormal, disabled/non-disabled, rational/irrational, human/subaltern, white/racialized, civilized/savage - binaries that are justified by claiming that they are rooted in irrefutable "scientific" fact. This course aims at fostering a critical conversation among race, class, gender and sexuality studies, transnationalism (or global studies) and disability studies. Offered Alternate Years.
  • 20th Century Civil Rights Movement
    RGS 409 | 3 credits
    This course explores the modern civil rights movement in the US and the struggle for African Americans and other marginalized groups to gain equal rights in voting, education, employment, housing, and other facets of life in the US. It begins with the MOWM and examines the seemingly completing philosophies of civil rights organizations such as CORE, SNCC, SCLC, BPP, AIM, SDS, NCAI, YLP, RG, NOW, NBFO, the Mattachine Society, the Daughters of Bilitis, STAR and other civil rights organizations, leaders, and local people in shaping their own destinies. It highlights and interrogates major national and local political struggles rooted in racial, gender, and sexual identities and their reciprocal relationships with international political and anti-colonial movements from 1941 to the present. It concludes with exploring the link between convict leasing, prison reform movements, political prisoners, and the prison industrial complex as the New Jim Crow. Prerequisite: RGS 100 or EDS 206 or HIS 210. (Cross-listed with HIS/RGS; may only earn credit in one department.) Offered Spring.
  • International Development and Culture Change
    ANT 307 | 3 credits
    In an increasingly global world, what does it mean for cultures to change? What does it mean for cultures to stay the same? This course examines what "development" means to people in different cultures, and how the concept of development is itself a product of colonialism, the Cold War, and the current focus on what has been called the neoliberal global economy. The goals of the course are 1) to provide students with a comprehensive study of what economic, social, cultural, and political development has meant over time, and 2) to illustrate the benefits, limitations, and consequences of "progress" and "development" in the lives of people all over the globe. Course examples will come from topics such as conservation, sustainability, and the environment; the preservation of indigenous peoples' ways of life; tourism and its effects in a global world; gender and development; disaster response and reconstruction; and the roles of social movements, development aid, and non-governmental organizations in international development. Offered Occasionally.
  • Search for Economic Justice
    ECO 212 | 3 credits
    Through a mixture of face-to-face, online, and experiential methods, students will explore, examine, and compare and contrast the concept of economic justice from several theoretical perspectives including Amartya Sen, John Rawls, and Fredrich Hayek. From there the course will explore human rights and economics, the role of formal and informal institutions and the role of globalization. Students will be exposed to examples of women's rights and how the expansion of personal justice relates to economic development. Lastly, students will be exposed to data and other tools used to measure economic justice, freedom and individual rights through an analysis of different databases on human rights and institutions. Students may only earn credit in one of the following: ECO 212, ENG 212, or PHL 212. Offered Occasionally.
  • Urban Policy
    PUB 332 | 3 credits
    An in-depth analysis of the forms, functions, and problems of urban governments with special attention to metropolitan areas. Field work and the materials of contemporary urban politics will be used. Prerequisite: POL 102 or junior standing. Offered Fall.
  • Law and Society
    SOC 313 | 3 credits
    This course examines the law as a social construction. This involves exploring the notion that the civil and criminal law, deviance and criminal behavior, and various actors in the legal and criminal justice arenas are not to be taken for granted as natural, inevitable, and objective but rather, as rooted in social and political forces. Thus, this course explores the historical development of the law, social change, inequalities in the application of the law, why we obey or fail to obey the law, and heavily debated contemporary US laws. Prerequisite: SOC 110 or SOC 120 or SOC 202 or ANT 101. Offered Annually.
View all courses
Portrait of Mary Miller

Our alumni

Mary Miller

The social justice minor has surrounded me with inspiring people and has empowered me to advocate for a fair and equitable education system.

Portrait of Carrie Bero

Our alumni

Carrie Bero

I loved that we had opportunities to choose where to invest our time and energy in the program; I had so many opportunities to tailor assignments to my interests, to write papers about topics that were especially compelling to me.