Women & Gender Studies

College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences
Student at a study session around a fountain

Degree Options

  • Minor in Women & Gender Studies (18 Credit Hours)
  • Certificate in Women & Gender Studies (12 Credit Hours)
  • Associate in General Studies Concentration in Women & Gender Studies

Who Would be Interested in Women & Gender Studies?

The minor or certificate in Women & Gender Studies complements the following majors and career paths:

  • Anthropology
  • Business Management
  • Creative Writing
  • Criminal Justice
  • English
  • Health Care
  • History
  • Journalism
  • Law
  • Political Science
  • Social Justice
  • Social Work
  • Sociology
  • Psychology

Why Women & Gender Studies?

  • Graduates with a Women & Gender Studies minor or certificate want to change the world!
  • We effect change in areas where gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality politics create power imbalances, such as in equal representation in government.
  • We generate intellectual discussion of intersectionality of identities in gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality along with ability, age, class, race, religion, and veteran status, among others..
  • We combat injustice and unhealthy gender dynamics in any scenario, such as in domestic violence.
  • We advocate for policy changes to ensure fairness toward everyone, regardless of gender identity, gender expression, or sexuality, such as in civic or workplace environment.

Where are recent graduates employed?

  • Hope's Wings Domestic Violence Program
  • Ampersand Sexual Violence Resource Center
  • University of Indiana PhD program
  • Community Action Counsil of Lexington, KY
  • Heart to Home, Inc.
  • KentuckyOne Health, St. Joseph Hospital
  • Department of Veteran Affairs

What Are the Requirements for the Program?

  • For a minor in Women & Gender Studies, a student must complete 18 hours. Required courses are Introduction to Women & Gender Studies (WGS 201) and Feminist Theory and Practice (WGS 400). The student must also complete 12 hours of WGS electives.
  • For a certificate in Women & Gender Studies, a student must complete 12 hours, with the required courses of WGS 201 and 400 plus 6 hours of WGS electives.

Are There Scholarship Opportunities?

Charlotte Schmidlapp Scholarship: EKU Women & Gender Studies invites applications for three Charlotte Schmidlapp scholarships awarded during the spring semester. Applicants will submit an abstract of an essay pertaining to women's and gender-related history *including papers from any discipline with a cultrual/historical component) and will present the full paper at the annual Herstory Conference. Selected first-, second-, and third-place winners receive $1,000, $500, and $300 scholarships awards deposited into their student accounts; all receiptients much be full-time EKU students who are graduating within a minimum of one semester from the time of the award.

Grise-White Scholarship: EKU Women & Gender Studies invites applications for the Grise-White Scholarship. Current EKU undergraduate students with a minor in Women & Gender Studies (and preferably with a major in English) may submit an original piece of poetry or other genre of creative writing for review by the selections committee. Award winners must hold a 2.75 GPA or higher and must be full-time EKU sstudents who are graduating within a minimum of one semester from the time of the award. This award of $300 will be deposited into the Eastern Kentucky University account of the selected recipient.

How Do I Get More Information?

For more information please visit wgs.eku.edu
Contact: class@eku.edu