BA in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

BA in WGSS Page

Effective August 17, 2023

The Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at San Jose State is committed to intersectional and interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching based on feminist frameworks. WGSS curriculum investigates how gender and gender identity, race, class, sexuality, and nation shape lives. The program emphasizes the importance of an intersectional understanding of gender as integral to social and political structures of power. Students will obtain skills to cultivate critical thinking, engage in dialogue, coalition building, appreciation of diversity, and contribution to social change based on feminist frameworks. The goal of the WGSS program includes integrating the academic and experiential, thereby contributing to social change and justice.

Program Coordinator: Professor Tanya Bakhru

WGSS Faculty
Tanya Bakhru, Professor
Susana L. Gallardo, Assistant Professor
Angela Castillo, Senior Lecturer
Bianca Hernandez, Lecturer

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon graduation, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies students are expected to be able to:

1. Identify and analyze the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, and nation social and institutional contexts.
2. Identify and describe major theories and political movements central to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, placing contemporary developments in cultural, historical, environmental, and embodied contexts.
3. Describe the global span of feminist movements and the connection among gender and sexual minorities around the world.
4. Demonstrate critical thinking and research skills through written, oral and creative means.

The Major

All Students should regularly consult the WGSS major advisor. WGSS advisors have drop-in advising hours; for a schedule of advising hours, see Advising. 

Requirements of the Major (39 units)

To see a list of courses for the major concentration, and course descriptions, please see the current SJSU catalog.

Notes

See the SJSU Catalog for complete degree information on the BA in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Requirements of the major are only part of the requirements for graduation, as briefly summarized here:

A minor in another department is strongly recommended.

Some classes “double count” in GE or SJSU Studies as well as in the WGSS major. However, the units for the class only count once. Students should keep track of the cumulative number of units they have earned. Check your transcript on MYSJSU.

Carol Mukhopadhyay Feminist Lecture Series

The SJSU Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies program is home to the biannual Carol Mukhopadhyay Feminist Lecture Series endowed in 2014 by Emeritus SJSU Anthropology Professor Carol Mukhopadhyay. Each year, these lectures bring to campus a prominent or emerging feminist scholar doing cross-cultural or transnational work with a feminist anthropological lens. 

Recent lectures have featured: