In addition to the Master of Arts degree, the Department of Gender and Race Studies offers a Graduate Certificate to students outside the department who seek to develop interdisciplinary expertise in the study of women and gender. The certificate answers a need for many graduate students whose departments require them to minor in a secondary specialty. This certificate program is aimed at enhancing any master’s or doctoral program through the mapping of an individual plan of study and research. The certificate provides students with core knowledge of the field of Women’s Studies, and it allows students to research and develop an additional expertise in an individualized program of study.
Increasingly, scholarship on women and gender has come to occupy a significant place in the disciplines and professional associations. Students who develop an expertise in this desirable area of specialization become more attractive candidates in the professional job market.
The certificate is tangible evidence of proficiency in an area of Women’s Studies — such as feminist theory; gender, race, and class; or film and feminism — and in the interdisciplinary method of Women’s Studies. Upon completion of the certificate program, which is described below, Gender and Race Studies will provide students with a letter and certificate. These will provide tangible evidence of a background in Women’s Studies, feminist theory, and interdisciplinary research methods.