Women's and Gender Studies Program

From its beginnings with a single course offering in 1975, women’s studies at Brandeis has grown dramatically in curriculum, degree offerings, and accomplishments as the field itself has burgeoned. Our undergraduate minor was established in 1978. In 1992 we added a graduate program that offers the M.A. jointly with nine fields encompassing Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. In 2003 a major was established, and in 2005, the Program changed its name and expanded its reach from Women’s Studies to Women’s and Gender Studies. Our curriculum includes both interdisciplinary core courses and over eighty cross-listed electives. In any given semester, about twenty courses are offered that could fulfill requirements for the major, the minor, or the Joint M.A.

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program is staffed by a core faculty of eighteen members, drawn from many different disciplines and supported by an even broader affiliate faculty representing nearly every Brandeis department. To complement its curricular mission, the Program hosts lectures, symposia, and study groups, offers student prizes, scholarships, and special initiatives, most of which are sustained by a National Board. A newly-launched Alumnae Network brings graduates of the Program together with faculty and current students for mutually enriching purposes.

The Program welcomes your participation--as a student, faculty member, graduate, or friend.  Please visit the exciting pages of this website to gain a fuller sense of our degree programs, courses, projects, prizes, events, and opportunities for participation.