Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies encourages students to reexamine their own lives and the world around them in relation to gender, race, class, and sexuality. The curriculum reflects new subjects, theories, and methodologies based on a cross-cultural, multidisciplinary approach to the study of women. In the creation of new knowledge, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies sees itself as connected to the social and political environment outside the University.
Visit the Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies website.
The combined M.A Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies /PhD Sociology program is the outcome of longstanding cooperation and overlapping strengths between the Departments of Sociology and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. It allows Sociology PhD students with interests in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and students in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies with sociological interests to combine their work in these two programs. This is facilitated by the number of joint and affiliated faculty shared between the two departments, as well as by graduate-level cross-listed coursework. It is also facilitated by the willingness of both departments to allow requirements for one program to be included as a portion of the coursework for the other program.
A Master’s degree in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies prepares students for graduate work and professional training in a variety of fields. Students who earn an M.A. in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies may apply for further graduate study in women’s, gender and sexuality studies doctoral programs, or profession study in law, social welfare, or public administration. They also find employment in community agencies (women’s centers, counseling centers, battered women’s shelters, rape crisis centers, women’s health centers, and women’s vocational agencies), in diversity education (in schools, government agencies, and business), and with campus-based women’s centers. The Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Albany Law School have established a collaborative arrangement for graduate students seeking to obtain a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Juris Doctor (J.D.) in Law, via execution of a formal Articulation Agreement. More information on the collaborative arrangement can be found here. Admitted students to the collaborative M.A./J.D. arrangement can expect to complete their first year in the Law School and start the M.A. in the second year (matriculation into the M.A. program would be delayed by one year).
