Women's and Gender Studies
Graduate Certificate
About Our Program
Thoughts have no gender, and yet gender is such a prominent category it seems omnipresent. Gender matters in powerful ways, whether in science, technology, law, or politics.
In addition to enhancing your own research and extending your sense of how gender, race, class, sexuality, and ability status shape our society, getting a Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies provides further documentation of your multi-disciplinary knowledge when discussing your interests with future employers.
Campuses:
Virginia Tech Blacksburg Campus
Type of Instruction:
Residential/On Campus
9 hrs
Required Coursework Credit Hours
Hear from our former students
"Although my PhD is in sociology, my work is very much interdisciplinary, as is the field of gender, sexuality, and women's studies. The courses that I have taken at Virginia Tech as a requirement for the WGS certificate definitely helped lay the foundation of the work and teaching that I am currently doing. It has been quite rewarding!"
"Being in the academic job market can feel intimidating, to say the least. However, the WGS classes and interpersonal relationships that I always dubbed as, 'interactions for my soul,' is what most prepared me to stand confidently in how I approach teaching and research. The WGS concentration at Virginia Tech invited me to feel like a true scholar and advocate for social justice. I left classes feeling refueled. I brought that energy with me during campus interviews, along with my unique knowledge of feminist and queer methodologies and pedagogy. I credit the personal and professional growth I gained during my WGS certification for helping me land a full-time academic position at a major university within a year of graduating from Virginia Tech."
Curriculum
What You'll Study
The WGS Graduate Certificate requires 9 hours of coursework, including WGS 5914 Feminist Theory or WGS 5934 Sexualities and Queer Theory and WGS 5924 Feminist Research Methodologies. Other courses must be either WGS courses or WGS-approved from other disciplines. Thesis or dissertation should address gender or sexuality and have at least one WGS faculty member or affiliate faculty member from other departments on the committee.
Core Courses
- WGS 5914 Feminist Theory or WGS 5934 Sexualities and Queer Theory
- WGS 5924 Feminist Research Methodologies
Elective Course
Typical offerings include
- WGS 5124 Gender, Bodies & Technology (cross-listed with Science, Technology & Society)
- WGS 5244 Sexual Health and Human Rights (cross-listed with Human Development),
- WGS 5644 Women’s Rights as Human Rights (cross-listed with Political Science)
- WGS 5984 Reproduction and Society (cross-listed with Sociology)
- A 4000 level class (such as WGS 4334 Sexual Medicine) can also be considered.
Faculty in Women's and Gender Studies
Silas Cassinelli, English, Specializes in Korean diaspora, transnational adoption studies, and queer kinship
Selene Diaz, Sociology, Specializes in Mexico/US border issues, immigration, Latinx, and Indigenous communities in Mexico
Catalina Hernandez-Cabal, ATS, Specializes in Art Education, place-making, embodied knowledge, interdependence, and pedagogy
Christine Labuski, Science, Technology and Society, Specializes in how sexualities become medicalized, gender and climate/environmental justice and queer ecologies
Bonnie Zare, Sociology, Specializes in women’s empowerment, feminist theory, the intersection of caste, class and gender in India, women’s writing in India
Affiliate Faculty
- Sweta Baniya (English), transnational disaster studies, risk/crisis communication, non-Western rhetorical traditions, and community engagement.
- Esther Bauer (Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures), post-war and contemporary German-language literature; history of subjectivity: gender, sexuality, aging, the body; desire
- Chase Catalano (Education), trans(*)ness both in and out of higher education, social justice, queerness, and masculinities
- Maria Elisa Christie (CIRED), Gender, Agriculture, and Development; Qualitative Research Methods; Feminist Political Ecology; Geography of Food, Cuisine, and Kitchenspace
- Komal Dhillon (Soc), colorism in the US and India, critical race, postcolonial studies, African American studies, and feminist theory
- Liora O’Donnell Goldensher (Soc), reproduction; expertise and professions; science, technology and knowledge; ethnography; medicine and health
- Sharon Johnson (Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures), 19th century literature and painting, Paris in the 19th century, Rape in 19th-century Penny Presses, French Jurisprudence and Medical Reports, Flaubert, Maupassant, Zola
- Shoshana Milgram Knapp (English), nineteenth-century American, British, French, Russian fiction & twentieth century fiction
- Amanda Nelson (Theater), Arts Leadership, Arts and Technology, Women and Theatre, Arts Advocacy, Theatre History
- Su Fang Ng (English), early modern literature, Shakespeare, Milton, postcolonial literature, comparative literature
- Cora Olson (Science, Technology and Society), biomedical ethics, science and gender, sports studies, medical humanities
- Sarah Ovink (Soc), Sociology of Education, Higher Education, Immigration, Diversity
- Katalin Parti (Soc), cybercrime, sexual violence, and online manipulative scams
- Heidi Williams (Soc), families and intimate relationships, social inequalities, criminology
Why choose this program?
- We support the research of scholar-activists, who connect with communities in need and provide research that can help them to shape policies and solve problems.
- The research and scholarly interests of our faculty cross a wide range of disciplinary boundaries.
- Best fit for students interested in full-time graduate study on the campus of Virginia’s largest research university.
- Our graduates have gone on to do many things including becoming professors, directing women’s centers and diversity programs, becoming a Gender & Sexuality consultant at Tik Tok, and working for the disAbility Law Center of Virginia.
- All classes are taught in small seminars and offer personal interaction with faculty and peers.
Admissions and Tuition
Admissions Requirements
- A bachelor's degree
- TOEFL /IELTS Required (If Applicable)
Application Deadlines
Domestic Application
- Fall: August 1
- Spring: January 1
International Application
- Fall: August 1
- Spring: January 1