Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Minor

The Minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies provides students with the tools to understand, critique and challenge social inequity.

Summary

The minor in WGSS expands access to the department’s interdisciplinary training through a 15 credit program. Students learn to analyze gender and sexuality as fundamental aspects of society and culture, both within the US and globally. Drawing from the WGSS BA curriculum, it teaches students about how feminist thinkers and activists have addressed the social, political, and cultural challenges of their times to promote collective liberation.

The Harriet Tubman Department in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies trains students to analyze gender and sexuality as fundamental aspects of society and culture, both within the US and globally. Building on a core curriculum that teaches students about how feminist thinkers and activists have addressed the social, political, and cultural challenges of their times to promote collective liberation, this major equips students with skills in critical analysis, writing, communication, and collaboration. It prepares students for diverse career paths, including government, policy, non-profit and advocacy work, communications, medicine, science, and technology, as well as for advanced graduate study in the social sciences, law, and the humanities.

Structure

The WGSS minor and WGSS BA have the same base structure; courses are divided into 3 main categories 1) required Intro and Foundation courses, 2) Core courses taught in the Harriet Tubman Department, and 3) Elective courses offered by other departments and often taught by WGSS Affiliate Faculty.

The WGSS minor includes:
6 credits of lower level coursework: With at least 1 course from the WGSS Intro list
3 credits of foundation coursework: WGSS 301 Introduction to Research Gender, Race, and Queer Studies
3 credits of 300 or 400 level in either a Core or an Elective course
3 credits from a 400 level Core course

The Minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is 15 credits.

At least 9 credits must be at or above the 3xx level.
No course with a grade less than "C-" may be used to satisfy the minor.
An overall GPA of 2.0 in the major it required for graduation.

For the full course list, including courses approved in the core and elective categories, please visit the Undergraduate Catalog.

Category	Credits	Courses
Introductory Course	3	Choose One From: LGBT 200 - Intro to LGBTQ+ Studies WGSS 105- Introduction to Disability Studies WGSS 200 - Intro to WGSS: Gender, Power, and Society WGSS 205 - Introduction to Reproductive Justice WGSS 250 - Intro to WGSS 250: Art and Culture WGSS 263 - Intro to Black Women’s Studies
Lower Level Core or Elective	3	Examples include: Any of the 6 introductory courses not already taken (LGBT 200, WGSS 105, WGSS 200, WGSS 205, WGSS 250, WGSS 263) WGSS115 / CMSC 115 - Gender, Race, and Computing WGSS 280: Gender and Science in Film and Media WGSS 291: Racialized Gender and Rebel Media
Foundation Course	3	WGSS 301 - Introduction to Research Gender, Race, and Queer Studies (Title will soon change to Feminist Knowledge Production)
Upper Level Core or Elective	3	Example courses: LGBT 310: Transgender Studies LGBT 327/ ENGL 359F: LGBT Film and Video LGBT 448L / LGBT 411 - Black Queer Studies WGSS 315 - Intro to Fat Studies: Fatness, Blackness, and their Intersections WGSS 319D Disability Justice WGSS 325 - The Sociology of Gender WGSS 360 Caribbean Women WGSS 370 Black Feminist Thought HLTH 377 - Human Sexuality LGBT 448Y / ENGL439D Dickinson, Erotics, Poetics, Biopics: Some (Queer) Ways We Read Poetry
400 Level Core Course	3	Example courses: LGBT 448L / LGBT 411 - Black Queer Studies LGBT 488G Seminar: Transnational Sexualities WGSS 428J Health Inequality: Social Determinants and the Intersections of Medicine, Technology, and the Humanities WGSS 488E Seminar: Transnational Feminisms WGSS 488F Seminar: Blackness, Gender, and Sexuality: Women Writing Self in the African Diaspora
Total	15 Credits

* - For a full list of courses, visit the WGSS Course webpage or the Undergraduate Catalog, it is updated annually

** - No course with a grade less than "C-" may be used to satisfy the minor. An overall GPA of 2.0 in the major it required for graduation. Students will design their programs in consultation with a Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies advisor

Only 6 credits of course overlap is allowed between a minor and a major.

CMSC is the exception as a minor can be used for the 12 credit non-major concentration.

What is the difference between a core and an elective?

"Core" courses are taught within the department by our faculty and our graduate students. "Elective" courses are taught outside the Harriet Tubman Department. Many of the electives are cross-listed with either the WGSS or LGBT course code and some of the departmental core courses are cross listed outside of the department.

For example, ENGL 250/WGSS 255: Reading Women Writing is an Elective course because it is taught by faculty in the English department and cross-listed with WGSS.

Students are not expected to automatically know which courses are core and which are electives, that's why they are listed on the Undergraduate Catalog and by area as linked below. If you don't see the course you are wondering about you can look up the instructor to see if they are in the department or not.

Where do I find the approved classes?

You can find the full list of approved courses in the WGSS Major entry in the Academic Catalog (Last updated July, 2025) under the heading Requirements. This list separates out the core and elective courses and is updated annually

What if I find a relevant class that isn't approved?

You can petition the Director of Undergraduate Studies to review the course if you have the syllabus. When other departments add new courses we won't be automatically reviewing them but are happy to get requests for cross lists or inclusion from faculty and students

Can I move up to the WGSS Major if I am doing well?

Yes! The WGSS minor is designed to include some of the benchmarks of the Major so that students can easily scale up