Ohio University now offers a Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies, 36 years after the university first implemented a women's studies curriculum.
The major was approved by the OU Board of Trustees last quarter and was passed officially by the Ohio Board of Regents on Oct. 21, after former women's studies Director Susan Burgess spear-headed efforts for several years, said Judith Grant, director of Women's Studies.
Since 1981, OU undergraduates could only obtain a certificate in women's studies, which is still offered but will now function like a minor. Graduate students are still only offered a certificate, introduced in 1985, though the program could develop the graduate program and possibly offer a master's degree, Grant said.
Anything in any discipline that has to do with gender and women could be covered in a women's studies major
she said, listing political science, English, sociology, African American studies and geography among disciplines in which courses fall under the major's requirements.
Women's studies is an important subject because it brings up many gender issues and includes women's historical roles, topics that are often absent from the dominant ideology and teachings in school, said Kerensa Cadenas, OU junior and double-major in creative writing and women's studies.
Majors in the new program are required to take 12 credit hours from one of the three tracks within the program: the global track, sexuality track or general track. Majors must also take eight credit hours from outside their selected track in addition to core requirements.
New courses were added last spring in preparation for the program, including Advanced Feminist Theory; Queer Theory; and Women, Gender and Rock and Roll. The major was included in the Fall 2005-06 course catalogue because the Board of Trustees was confident it would be approved, Grant said.
I think women's and gender issues in general need to be something that everyone should learn about said Ben Nodzak, OU junior and triple-major in psychology, criminology and women's studies and one of the first students to sign up for the major.
Nodzak said the women's studies courses he has taken helped him understand that feminists work for equality in religion and politics and are more than just man-haters. Before the major became official, it was weird that OU did not already have the major, as many other schools do, Cadenas said.
Eight of OU's 10 peer institutions offer majors in women's or gender studies, both essentially the same program because women's issues result from the attitudes and behavior of men and society, Grant said. Auburn University and Clemson University offer minors in women's studies.
In the future, the OU women's studies program would like to call itself gender studies to seem less specific to women, Nodzak said.
Those involved with program would also like it to become a department, which would enable it to hire its own faculty, Grant said. All of the faculty in the women's studies program are also appointed by other programs, which makes it difficult to develop new classes for the major, she said.
Grant said she thinks the major will help in the retention and recruitment of good female students and will provide a supportive campus climate for women.
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