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Undergraduate Course Catalog 2008-2009

College of Liberal Arts

» http://www.unh.edu/liberal-arts/


Women's Studies (WS)

» http://www.unh.edu/womens-studies/

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Coordinator: Marla A. Brettschneider
Professor: Marla A. Brettschneider
Associate Professor: Linda M. Blum, Julia E. Rodriguez
Research Associate Professor: Mary M. Moynihan
Assistant Professor: Carol B. Conaway
Research Assistant Professor: Jane Stapleton
Lecturer: Irene Monroe, Carina E. Self
Core Faculty: Kristine M. Baber, Victoria L. Banyard, Jennifer L. Borda, Melissa D. Deem, Diane P. Freedman, Robin Hackett, Marc W. Herold, Lori Hopkins, Delia C. Konzett, Nancy Lukens, Janet L. Polasky, Mary E. Rhiel, Juliette M. Rogers, Christine W. Saltzberg, Judy Sharkey, Raelene Shippee-Rice, Mara R. Witzling

Women’s Studies provides students with an understanding of the status of women and gender roles in various cultures and historical eras. Students learn the use of gender as a category of analysis, and increase their knowledge of women’s contributions to many fields and the roles gender plays in them. Women’s Studies courses offer students critical perspectives on such basic questions of the social order as assumptions about gender roles and gender identity and the ways cross-cutting phenomena such as racism, heterosexim, ablism, and ageism are a part of them.

A major or minor in Women’s Studies prepares students for careers where the changing roles of women, and gender more broadly, have a perceptible impact. Women’s Studies graduates go on to law school and graduate school in a variety of disciplines. Some have taken positions with social change or family service agencies, while others have found work in such fields as politics, communications, community organizing, education, affirmative action, health care, and personnel.

Women’s Studies Major
For the Women’s Studies major, students must complete 40 credits of Women’s Studies courses (or 32 in the case of a second major) with grades of C- (1.67) or better and an overall grade-point average of 2.00 or better. These courses must include the following three: 1) WS 401, Introduction to Women’s Studies, normally taken at the beginning of the course sequence; 2) WS 632, Feminist Thought; and 3) a 700-level WS-designated course (for instance, WS 795, 796, 797, 798, or 799). Electives are chosen in consultation with a faculty adviser principally from other Women’s Studies courses including WS 595 (Special Topics in Women’s Studies) and cross-listed departmental offerings.

Departmental offerings include the following regularly repeated cross-listed courses:


ARTS 487, Themes and Images in Art: Major Mythic Images of Women
ARTS 690, Women Artists of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
CMN 567, Images of Gender in the Media
CMN 583, Gender and Expression
ECON 698, Topics in Economics: Women in Economic Development
EDUC 507, Mentoring Adolescents
ENGL 585, Introduction to Women in Literature
ENGL 685, Women’s Literary Traditions
ENGL 785, Major Women Writers
FS 545, Family Relations
FS 757, Race, Class, Gender, and Families
GERM 520, Women in German Literature and Society
GERM 524, Topics in German Film
HIST 565, Women in Modern Europe
HIST 566, Women in American History
NURS 595, Women’s Health
POLT 525, Multicultural Theory
POLT 721, Feminist Political Philosophy
PHIL 510, Philosophy and Women
PSYC 711, Psychology in 20th Century Thought and Society
SOC/ANTH 625, Female, Male, and Society
SOC 630, Sociology of Gender

Students may also select from other courses that are offered as special topics by the departments. In the past, such offerings have included the following: ANTH 697, Women in the Middle East; CMN 616, Women and Film; FREN 525, French Women: Subject and Object; POLT 797, Queer Gender Theory.

Electives must show a balance between arts and humanities/social sciences and be distributed between upper (600 and 700) and lower (400 and 500) level courses; no more than four electives may be from the same department. No fewer than five courses should be taken at the upper level (for a first major). Strongly recommended are a practicum or internship course, and courses that focuses on women of color, cross-cultural, and queer perspectives.

Women’s Studies Minor
The minor consists of 20 credits of Women’s Studies courses. These must include WS 401, Introduction to Women’s Studies, and WS 798, Colloquium in Women’s Studies, normally taken at the beginning and end of the course sequence, respectively. It may be possible to substitute WS 797, Internship, for WS 798, Colloquium in Women's Studies, but please discuss with a WS adviser. In between, students should select other Women’s Studies courses or cross-listed courses from departmental offerings. (For a more complete description of the Women’s Studies Minor, see COLA/Interdisciplinary Programs.)

Students who wish to major or minor in Women’s Studies should consult with the coordinator, 203 Huddleston Hall, (603) 862-2194.


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