The Women's & Gender Studies (WGS) graduate specialization is available as an elective for students who are enrolled in master's and doctoral degree programs at Michigan State University. The specialization is sponsored jointly by the Colleges of Social Science, Arts & Letters, and Education.
Contact the GenCen grad programs advisor, Pat Arnold, for more information.
The WGS Graduate Specialization is designed to foster the study of women, gender, sexuality, and feminist theory across disciplines and national borders, provide professionalization opportunities for graduate students focusing on women, gender, and/or feminist studies, and to foster the growth of interdisciplinary research and teaching on women, gender, and sexualities. Emphasis is given to understanding the diversity of gender and sexuality—cross-culturally and globally. The specialization is open to graduate students with adequate undergraduate preparation in gender studies and currently enrolled in a graduate degree program at MSU.
The specialization should complement advanced, discipline-based degrees by providing an interdisciplinary, feminist component. Students are encouraged to develop competence in the foreign language most relevant to their field of work and area of interest.
Download the program brochure for the WGS specialization here [pdf].
The WGS Specialization is designed to provide interdisciplinary training in gender studies with a focus on the intersections of gender with race, class, and ethnicity from a global perspective. Students can select elective courses tailored to their interests.
With approval of the advisor, courses that are used to satisfy requirements in the student's graduate degree program may also be used to satisfy the requirements for the Graduate Specialization in Women's & Gender Studies.
WS 897: Seminar in Feminist Theories, Epistomologies & Pedagogy
Elective courses must focus on women's and gender issues and should complement the student's major interests. At least one of these courses must be at the 800-level. A complete list of applicable courses is maintained by the GenCen Advisor, and is available on the Office of the Registrar site.
Sample elective courses include:
The WGS Program offers Dissertation Fellowships on an annual basis. For more information on the Fellowships and how to apply, visit our graduate student funding page.
Dissertation Research Awards
So Yeon Park, “Navigating Human Rights: Evolving Meanings, Treaty Overlaps, and Strategic Behavior of Victims in the Treaty Bodies,” Political Science
Dissertation Writing Awards
Alejandra Lopez Villegas, “Women’s Rights On Our Own Terms: The Gender Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding,” Political Science
Alexandra Ballinger, “Maternal Personality Pathology and Early Parenting: An Investigation of Mechanisms,” Psychology
Brittany M. Brewer, “Tendering the Body,” Teacher Education
Hannah Olsen, ““C’est toujours un drame” ? : Narratives of Abortion, Contraception, and Family Planning in Postloi-Veil France, 1975-2000,” Romance and Classical Studies
Jeanetta Mohlke-Hill, “Quilting Messy Rhetorics: An A/r/tographic Inquiry into Sensory Multimodal Composing,” Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures
Sam Smith, “Working-Artists, Gender, Labor, and Nightlife in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Reno,” History
Kelechi Amakoh, “Breaking the Mold: Gender Dynamics in the Dark Art of Negative Campaigns,” Political Science
Dissertation Research Awards
Alejandra Lopez Villegas, “Democratic Backsliding and Backlash Against Women’s Rights,” Political Science
Hannah Olsen, ““Toujours un drame” ? : Narratives of Abortion and Family Planning in France in the Post-loi-Veil Era, 1975-1991,” Romance and Classical Studies
Kiana Sakimehr, “Emotions, Migration, and Gender: An Analysis of Emotional Transnationality and the Possible Transitions in Emotions among Afghan Refugees Settled in the US,” Anthropology
Dissertation Completion Awards
Kiana Gonzalez-Cedeno, “Entre llantos: Literary and Embodied Representations of Lamentations in Puerto Rican and Boricua Popular Culture,” English
Leo Kattari, “Motivators for Transgender and Gender Diverse Related Activism and Policy Action in the United States,” Social Work
Mashya Boon, “Close Encounters of Cinematic Clones: A Feminist Posthumanist Reading of The Gendered Embodiments, Consciousness & Memory of Clonal Selfhood,” English
Dissertation Research Awards
Vanessa Aguilar, "Archiving Knowledge: Ancestral Philosophies in Young Adult Afro-Latinx and Latinx Speculative Fiction,” English
Angelica Ruvalcaba, "Latina undergraduate students’ activism on a predominantly white campus,” Sociology
Megan Knittel, "Smart Homes, Smart Harms: Understanding Risks, Impacts, and Support-Seeking in Cases of Internet of Things-Mediated Intimate Partner Violence,” Media and information
Ruben “Ruby” Mendoza, “Trans*/formative Approaches to Transgender Medicine: Cultivating Rhetorical, Cultural, and Ethical Life-Affirming Digital Resources,” WRAC
Dissertation Completion Awards
Yasamean Zamani-Hank, "Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in the Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Preterm Delivery Among Women of Reproductive Age and the Role of Resilience,” Epidemiology
Katie Carline, "African Women’s Christian Associations and the Making of Urban Cultures in Twentieth-Century South Africa, 1900-1994,” History
Dissertation Research Awards
Lalaki Awudu (Sociology)
“Transregional Migration: Understanding Belonging and Gendered Relations in the Global South”
Kyla Cary (Human Development and Family Studies)
“Women’s Online Experiences of Sexual Objectification: Measurement Development and Associations with Behavior and Mental Health“
Nerli Paredes Ruvalcaba (Anthropology)
“An intersectional approach to motherhood and infant development in Mexico: The role of biomedicine, infant feeding, and human milk“
Edith Gondwe (Fisheries and Wildlife)
“Women Empowerment, Capital Assets, and Small-Scale Fish Food Systems: Contribution to Food and Nutrition Security”
Cara Jacob (Anthropology)
"Water Security Down the Drain: Shifting Understandings of Water In/security Among Women in A Rustbelt City"
Dissertation Completion Awards
Rebekah Gordon (Education – Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education)
“Laboring for the Motherland: Mobilizing Maternal Perspectives to Reconceptualize the Curriculum of State-sponsored Transnational Teachers”
Dissertation Research Awards
Elizabeth Brannon (Political Science)
"The Electoral Support of Former Rebel Women in Post-Conflict Africa"
Inna Mirzoyan (Sociology)
"Who is Armenia’s Second Army and Can It Help the Country Succeed?
Dissertation Completion Awards
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