Department Partnership Initiative
Our Department Partnership Initiative helps forge pathways between WGS studies and other programs of study by radically expanding what counts as WGS electives. Through identifying courses in Partnering Departments that already include gender-related content and/or feminist approaches, what we are calling “double-dipped” courses now can count twice–once towards the student’s primary major and then a second time as WGS electives. These courses thus can serve as pathways into the WGS minor or double-major. See here for our list of “double-dipped” courses offered this spring. (See above)
Q and A’s you might have about our new initiative:
1. WGS has historically offered cross-listed courses as electives. What is the difference between these courses and the new “double-dipped” course? Most of our cross-listed courses are offered at the 200 or possibly 300 level and were originally designed to meet program objectives for WGS studies; additionally, many fulfill General Education Requirements. By contrast, “double-dipped” courses are generally the sort of upper- level undergraduate courses that require specialized knowledge in that particular field of study. Some of these courses are restricted to students in that particular major.
2. What makes a course a good candidate for “double-dipping?” Whereas most WGS courses take as their central content issues of gender and/or sexuality, the double-dipped courses inclusion of gender-related content and or feminist methods enhances the content while not usually being itself the central course of study. Students taking WGS courses benefit from the material and in ways that will help them draw connections between what they are learning in WGS and in that particular course.
3. I might be more interested in learning about gender and sexuality studies, but how might a double-major or minor in WGS assist me in my future career plans? Along with exploring
issues related to sexuality, gender, and women’s lives, WGS courses provide students with feminist perspectives and research methods that can enhance work that they do in other fields of study. These include:
Bringing personal investments and aspirations to academic work, and in ways that often spark a sense of ownership over and investment in one’s own learning;
Producing new knowledge through dialogue and collaboration; These perspectives and methods of analysis directly apply to a variety of fields such as:
Health care (recognizing how and why gender, sexuality, and other identity factors might impact the care people receive)
The sciences and any field involving data-collection (considering the operative questions or assumptions that might inform any data collection set, so as to explore potential blind- spots)
Computer programming and engineering (drawing more women and people from minoritized communities into these fields of study, and weighing how this might impact design choices and product creation)
Academic Interviews
Interviewer: Genesis Madu
To read the full interview, Click Here.
Interviewer: Emery Clifford
To Read the Full interview: Click Here.
Interviewer: Genesis Madu
To read full interview: Click here
Interviewed by : Emery Clifford
To Read the Full Interview: Click here
WGS 411(Previously 395) Internship Overview
Students pursue internships in workplaces such as businesses, non-profits, and other organizations. Course meetings provide students with faculty mentorship, opportunities to troubleshoot their internship work with peers, and related course content. Topics covered may include diversity/equity/justice in the workplace, social justice in the community, correlation between academic courses and the workplace, and career- exploration/preparation. For each topic, strategies for improving workplace communication are also covered. Each student will design their internship in consultation with their host organization and the course instructor such that it meets their specific interests/goals. Internship work will vary, but typically includes activities such as research, ideation, communication, writing, public relations, editing, content development, community organizing, and other related activities.
Requires 8 to 10 hours of internship work a week over 14 weeks.
UPCOMING WGS COURSES FOR SUMMER - FALL 2023
NEW RLE COURSE
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We are excited to announce a new RLE course for first-year students in fall 2023/spring 2024! This RLE is a 6-credit two semester course (WGS 101 and WGS 102), although students can elect to take just WGS 101 in the fall for 3-credits. RLE WGS 101/102: In recent years there has been a growing demand for positive social change. Some argue that U.S. society is in a Renaissance of the Civil Rights Movement with greater care for complex, historical contexts. But, did we ever leave the Civil Rights Movement? If so, how do we know? Through this RLE, students will be introduced to social justice theories and frameworks like the feminist method of Intersectionality. Students will explore the past before pivoting to the research portion of the course which equips Browns Emergent Strategy through an organized protest or direct action at the end of the spring semester. This RLE is for first-year students of all lived backgrounds, social identities, and majors/minors across the University who are interested in issues of feminism, 2SLGBTQIAP+ experiences, or simply want to do good in the world. 101: An introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and to its perspectives. The course will use interdisciplinary perspectives to begin to examine the categories of gender and sexuality, grounded in Women’s Studies, as they intersect with race, ethnicity, class, nationality, dis/ability, and other sites of social inequality. 102: An exploration of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies’ methods, histories, and perspectives for enrolled RLE learners. This course will apply interdisciplinary scholarship to consider matters grounded in Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, and Sexuality Studies or relating to positive social change. Assigned texts detail nuanced relationships of identity, care networks, and power to build an empirical feminist praxis. Particular attention is given to activating feminist theories, namely Brown’s Emergent Strategy.
If you have questions about this course, please feel free to email either WGS Director, Elizabeth Neiman (Elizabeth.Neiman@maine.edu) or course instructor, Cam McDonnell (cam.mcdonnell@maine.edu)
