Founded in 1977, the Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies employs an interdisciplinary approach to generate knowledge about structures of inequality and intersecting dimensions of difference including gender as well as race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, citizenship, age and ability. Through course work, research, and outreach, we offer students, faculty, staff, and community members an opportunity to explore the past, present, and future of gender in a broad range of contexts, from the local to the transnational and global. Mission Statement The Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies creates an intellectual community that spans diverse theoretical and methodological approaches and recognizes the pluralistic, interdisciplinary nature of women’s and gender studies. Housed in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, WGS partners with units across schools and colleges in developing its curriculum and programming. The scholarship of our core and affiliate faculty represent the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, business, journalism, law, and engineering. Through our teaching, we prepare students to link theory to practice in a variety of settings. We emphasize experiential learning by providing opportunities to participate in research, publish in academic journals, present at national and international conferences, create dramatic performances and art installations, and engage with community networks. Our students’ WGS degrees give them the tools to transform their workplaces and communities as they go on to be changemakers in an impressive range of fields, including medicine, nonprofit work, law, education, and business.
