Women's and Gender Studies

Program Overview

By earning a certificate in women's and gender studies, students gain access to an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural study of gender in social structure, history, culture, and technology. The Women's & Gender Studies program at Virginia Tech presents students with new ways of thinking about how race, class, and sexuality shape our society and our experiences in it.

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 earn doctorates here at Virginia Tech and in universities around the world, or to direct and coordinate women’s centers, diversity programs, and research at such institutions as the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington DC, and the DisAbility Law Center of Virginia.
All classes are taught in small seminars and offer personal interaction with faculty and peers.

What You'll Study

The WGS Graduate Certificate requires 9 hours of coursework, including WGS 5914 Feminist Theory and WGS 5924 Feminist Research Methodologies. Other courses must be either WGS courses or WGS-approved from other disciplines. Thesis or dissertation must address gender or sexuality and have at least one WGS faculty member or affiliate faculty member from other departments on the committee.

The Graduate Certificate in Women's and Gender Studies extends graduate students' work in other disciplines by exploring feminist theoretical perspectives and analyzing the structural and interpersonal dimensions of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. Students complete nine hours of coursework together with a thesis or dissertation addressing an issue of gender or sexuality in a significant way.

Core Courses

WGS 5914 Feminist Theory

WGS 5924 Feminist Research Methodologies

Elective Course

Women's and Gender Studies Elective