Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts And Letters

The Center for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Florida Atlantic supports faculty, students, and programming across the interdisciplinary fields of women’s studies, gender studies, sexuality studies, and more. Graduate and undergraduate students take classes with nationally and internationally known faculty in fields such as:

• Anthropology,
• Art History,
• English,
• Criminal Justice,
• Communication & Multimedia Studies,
• History,
• Languages, Linguistics, and Comparative Literature,
• Nursing,
• Political Science,
• Sociology, and of course,
• Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS).

Public programming and events fulfill the field’s foundational commitment to praxis, or the unification of theory and practice.

The Center for WGSS offers a Master’s of Arts degree, a graduate certificate, and an undergraduate minor. 

Graduates with experience in WGSS are highly sought after in a wide variety of professions, and our alumni work in law, education, communications, media, healthcare, advocacy, politics, technology, and business. Learn more about Careers in WGSS.

The Women’s Studies Center at Florida Atlantic was founded in 1986, with approval for a change of name to the Center for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in 2009. During the past three decades, we have grown in numbers, visibility, and influence on campus. In addition to their formal academic training, students enjoy opportunities to work on faculty members’ research, assist in teaching and curriculum development, contribute to the Center’s newsletter, participate in the Feminist Graduate Student Association, collaborate with the Women’s Resource and Community Connection as part of OwlsCare, and take part in activities on campus and in the community.

Undergraduate Minor

The Undergraduate Minor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary program granting students credit for specific courses in a wide variety of fields, including Anthropology, Criminal Justice, Communication, History, Literature, Nursing, Political Science, Sociology, and of course, Women, Gender and Sexuality studies. See the University Catalog for a full list of applicable courses and contact the Center with any questions about course substitutions.

Students earning a minor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies understand how gender and sexuality intersect with class, race, ethnicity, disability, region, and age, as well as how these interconnections shape politics, economics, history, culture, and society. Students are prepared to think critically about the political, social, economic, and historical forces that shape the lives of women, men, nonbinary people, and LGBTQ+ and examine varied responses by advocates and activists.

FALL 2025 UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

WST 2010: Introduction to Women's Studies

Asynchronous Online | Instructor Alicia Sowisdral

This course introduces foundational concepts and theories in the interdisciplinary field of Women's Studies by centering the experiences of women and the social construction of feminine gender roles. With emphasis on how interlocking systems of oppression shape women's lives, this course offers a critical examination of the way gender intersects with race, class and sexuality and demonstrates how activism is inherent in Women's Studies discourse. Students will be introduced to feminist and queer theory as frames of analysis for examining pop culture, identity and politics that contribute to defining the category of woman.

WST 2101: Women, Gender, and Power in the Global South

Asynchronous Online | Instructor Subata Zanat Riya

This course, "Women, Gender, and Power in the Global South", explores how systems of power and resistance are shaped by gender in the Global South. We will examine feminist movements, colonial and postcolonial legacies, and the socio-political challenges faced by women and gender minorities across diverse regions, including South Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Through an intersectional lens, students will engage with voices and scholarship from the Global South to better understand the transnational dynamics of gender and power.

WST 2351: Gender and Climate Change

Asynchronous Online | Instructor Dani Orias

Gender and Climate Change: We live in a time of global warming, mass extinction, and pervasive pollution of air, water, and land, raising urgent concerns about a viable future. This course explores historical, philosophical, sociological, and humanistic perspectives on how gender inequality across the globe is connected to environmental damage and climate change. We will examine feminist, Indigenous, and LGBTQ climate justice movements alongside the gendered implications of global policies and practices related to the history and development of environmental thought, in order to answer the question: How are gender and climate change connected?

WST 3325 Gender Based Violence and Social Movements

R, 11:00am-1:50pm | Professor Jane Caputi

Examines social and cultural issues in relation to violence in relation to gender and sexuality, including men’s violence against women, hate crimes directed at LGBTQ people, pop culture representations, and social movements acting in resistance to gender-based violence. 

WST 4113: Gender and Human Rights

T/R, 2:00-3:20pm | Professor Luisa Turbino Torres

[Description coming]

WST 4614: Gender and Sport

T/R, 11:00am-12:20pm | Professor Luisa Turbino Torres

[Description coming]

WST 4621: Men and Masculinities 

Asynchronous Online | Professor Jeffrey Nall

Men and Masculinities critically examines the multiple and shifting meanings of manhood and their impact on boys and men across culture, politics, work, and family life. The course unpacks both the privileges of masculinity—like career advantages and societal power—and its hidden costs, from shorter lifespans to emotional repression. The course also looks at men through a humanities lens, highlighting male feminists and the diverse, often overlooked, ways men have resisted rigid gender norms.

WST 4930: Women in Medicine

T/R, 2:00-3:20pm | Dr. Kathleen Hurwitz

This course explores the historical evolution, current status, and future directions of women in the medical field. It will examine the contributions of women to medicine, the challenges they have faced (and continue to face) in academia, research, and clinical practice. In addition, we
will examine the cultural and social factors such as bias, discrimination, poverty and legal interventions that influence women’s roles across the healthcare continuum as both caregivers and as patients. This course will provide an overview of women’s health, including social, physical and medical conditions and diseases. Through critical readings, discussions, film and expert guest speakers students will explore the unique healthcare needs of women and the artificial obstacles in the journey toward gender equity throughout the medical profession.

Handbook and Forms

Below are a list of related forms and documents for the WGSS MA Degree. 

WGSS 2024-25 Graduate Handbook 

First Year Review Guidelines 

Exam Guidelines

Exam List Form 

Internship Guidelines

Thesis Guidelines

Graduate Certificate in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Requirements

The Women’s Studies Center at Florida Atlantic University is pleased to announce a Graduate Certificate Program available to students who have completed an undergraduate degree.  There are two options available to students interested in the Graduate Certificate:

• Students may enroll in the Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Graduate Certificate program while pursuing a degree in another field.
• Students may enroll in the Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Graduate Certificate program independent of other graduate work.

The Graduate Certificate requires the following

• Twelve credit hours of graduate courses
• Three credit hours from one of the Women’s Studies core graduate courses
• Nine credit hours from a wide selection of graduate courses offered by departments throughout FAU ( approval of courses from the Center should be obtained prior to enrolling)
• Students must receive a grade of “B” or better

• At least six credit hours should be earned outside of your major ( for those students working toward a graduate degree)

For more information please contact the Director of the Center, Dr. Carla María Thomas at carlathomas@fau.edu. 

Graduate Coursework for Master of Arts in Women's Studies

The Women’s Studies M.A. degree is an interdisciplinary program. Please note that courses offered in related departments can vary. Thus, one week prior to registration, the Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies prints a list of courses that are included in the M.A. program for that semester.

Courses offered through the Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies:

• Women, Sexuality and Culture (WST 6312) 3 credits

  • Prerequisite: BA degree or approval of instructor
  • Course considers theoretical perspectives, social debates, and cultural representations of women’s sexualities.

• Women, Violence, Resistance (WST 6327) 3 credits

  • Prerequisite: BA degree or approval of instructor
  • Course considers rape, violence, incest, battery, and murder of women as a form of social control. Topics include cultural constructions of sexuality and gender, popular cultural representations, and women’s and men’s resistance to sexual violence.

• Special Topics (WST 6934) 3 credits

  • Reading and research in interdisciplinary women's studies topics.
        e.g.,    Visionary Feminist Thought (6934) 3 credits
                   Women, War, and Peace Building (WST 6934) 3 credits

• Sex/Violence/Hollywood (WST 6339) 3 credits

  • This course examines why sex and violence are the two main ingredients of Hollywood cinema and how the two interact to create meanings.

• Women, Environment, Ecofeminism, Environmental Justice (WST 6348) 3 credits

  • This course examines the history and evolution of ecofeminist and environmental justice, thought, and practice through its major womanist/feminist activists, theorists, and core issues.

• Women of Color in the U.S. (WST 6405) 3 credits

  • Examines how issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and class shape the lives of women of color in the U.S., such as Native-American, African-American, Latin- American, and Asian-American women.

• Feminist Theory and Praxis (WST 6564) 3 credits

  • Survey of major statements in modern and contemporary feminist theory, with attention to their application in fields that may include the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as national and global activism.

• Seminar in Feminist Studies and Qualitative Research (WST 6595) 3 credits

  • This course is designed to examine critically the production of knowledge in formal research from a feminist perspective and to apply feminist qualitative methods to particular research questions. Students will have the opportunity to formulate their own research programs within an expanded format as well as practice certain qualitative methods, such as interviewing a subject.

• Gender, Health and Power (WST 6615) 3 credits

  • This course assesses the role of power relations, particularly gender, ethnicity, social class, religion, and globalization in shaping the health status, the illness experiences and outcomes, and the form and substance of medical options available in local communities around the world. A focus on how health is differentially impacted for women and men will engender an examination of gender ideology in power relations.

• Directed Independent Study (WST 6909) 1-3 credits

  • Prerequisite: Approval by Director of Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
  • Reading and research in Women’s Studies Interdisciplinary topics, directed by a WGSS core faculty member or faculty associate of the WGSS Center.

• Graduate Research Seminar in Women’s Studies (WST 6919) 3 credits

  • Prerequisite: Admission to candidacy
  • Graduate project in research related to internship. Must be taken simultaneously with WST 6941. Grading: S/U

• Special Topics (WST 6934) 3 credits

  • Reading and Research in interdisciplinary women’s studies topics.

• Seminar in Global Perspectives on Gender (WST 6936) 3 credits

  • Interdisciplinary study of gender issues and their intersection with race and class in world regions.

• Feminization of Poverty (WST 6938) 3 credits 

  • Prerequisite: BA degree or approval of instructor
  • Course examines issues pertaining to the feminization of poverty from a feminist and comparative perspective. Discussions will apply theoretical, historical, and empirical frameworks to analyze the gender dimensions of poverty and ways in which these frameworks structure our understanding of the feminization of poverty.

• Graduate Internship in Women’s Studies (WST 6941) 3 credits

  • Prerequisite: Admission to candidacy
  • Internship with agency or office pertaining to women’s studies. 
  • Must be taken simultaneously with WST 6919.
  • Grading: S/U

• Master’s Thesis (WST 6971) 1-6 credits

  • Prerequisite: Admission to candidacy
  • Grading: S/U

In addition to courses offered by the Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, there are a range of graduate seminars that are offered by other departments in the College of Arts and Letters and that Women’s Studies graduate students can enroll in as part of their coursework for the Masters degree.

Sampling of courses offered through other departments in the College of Arts and Letters:

School of Communication & Multimedia Studies

• COM 6015: Studies in Gender and Sexuality 
• MMC 6705: Feminist Cultural Studies

Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature  

Sociology

• SYD 6809 Seminar in Gender Issues
• SYO 6107 Seminar in Sociology of Families in the U.S.

Some of the Special Topics graduate classes that have been offered:

• Gender and Screen Culture 
• Gender and Technological Change 
• Gay and Lesbian 20th Century Literature
• Studies in Queer Theory 
• Jane Austen 
• Rhetorics of Incarceration
• Homoeroticism and Crossdressing in English Renaissance Literature
• Women in the Middle East

Graduate Certificate in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies

1. Students may enroll in the Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Graduate Certificate program while pursuing a graduate degree in another field.
2. Students may enroll in the Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Graduate Certificate program independent of other graduate work.

Requirements

• Twelve (12) credit hours of graduate courses 
  • Three (3) credit hours from one (1) of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies core graduate courses
    • WST 6564: Feminist Theory and Praxis (typically taught in Spring)
    • WST 6936: Global Perspectives on Gender (typically taught in Fall)
  • Nine (9) credit hours from a wide selection of graduate courses offered by departments throughout Florida Atlantic (approval of courses from the Center should be obtained prior to enrolling)
  • At least six (6) credit hours should be earned outside of your major (for those students working toward a graduate degree)
  • Other graduate-level classes may be accepted toward the certificate with approval of the Director
• Students must receive a grade of “B” or better

Please fill out the Graduate Certificate Form, which you can acquire by emailing the Director, Dr. Carla María Thomas or the Program Coordinator, Lucy De Souza. Return the completed from to the Director the semester before you graduate.

Applyfor WGSS MA program

Admission Requirements:

Domestic and International Students 

• Undergraduate GPA of 3.0
• Three letters of recommendation; at least 2 from professors
• Personal statement
• A research writing sample (12-20 pages) representing the student’s best academic work and critical thinking

International Students 

• International transcript evaluated by FAU or a NACES member 
• TOEFL score of 500 or IBT of 61; IELTS 6.0 

Apply