Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at CCSU

Expand your education--Empower your voice--Enlarge your mind

Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on the experiences of women in society and history.  Initially conceived as a method to include women's contributions to knowledge and culture into education, it has evolved into a mature field that draws on feminist theories and scholarship in order to analyze how systems of gender have shaped women's experiences in areas such art, literature, history, the family, science and other dimensions of daily life.  As the mission statement of the National Women's Studies Association indicates, Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies has as its vision a world free from sexism and racism.  

At Central, it is a program that you can select as your concentration.  We offer courses that draw on the resources of many different traditional departments, and we also offer two "stand alone" classes: WGSS 200 Introduction to Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies and WGSS 400 Feminist Theory.   When you take a course in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, you will take a course with some of the best and most dynamic teachers on the Central campus.  Browse our course listings, check out what our faculty are doing.  We also periodically sponsor lectures and events (especially in March, National Women's History Month) and hold an annual conference in April.  Any questions?  Contact the coordinator of the program; she would be happy to help.

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Coordinator: Dr. Heather Munro Prescott, (860) 832-2809, prescott@ccsu.edu

UPCOMING EVENTS

June Baker Higgins Gender Studies Conference: “Sexing the Vote: Gender, Sexuality, & Politics”
April 3 & 4, 2008

Thursday, April 3, 5:15 pm: Film “Running in High Heels,” by filmmaker, Maryann Breschard, Torp Theatre

Friday, April 4: CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

ONGOING EVENT
“Female Forms and Facets: Artwork by Women from 1975 to the Present Featuring Judy Chicago with Carolee Schneemann, Cindy Sherman, Penny Arcade, Janine Antoni, Lisa Yuskavage, Judy Fox, Candice Raquel Lee, and Sara Risk”
Exhibition and Presentations
Now through April 18
Free Admission. Chen Art Galleries, Maloney Hall, 2^nd floor
Information: Click here

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Recent
“Guerrilla Girls on Tour: Feminists Are Funny, with Julia Child, Aphra Behn, & Eva Le Gallienne”
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Torp Theater
7:00 PM
Free & open to the public
Information: Click here; View the Youtube clip here
There will also be a Women’s History Month Luncheon, “Creating a Feminist Performance,” on Wednesday, March 5, at noon, Alumni Hall, Student Center. Tickets for the luncheon, $20, can be purchased at CENtix or call 832-1989.
Both events are sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences Diversity Initiative, the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, the Ruthe Boyea Women's Center, and the Committee on the Concerns of Women.
Contact: Prescott@ccsu.edu; (860) 832-2809

"Women in the Aftermath of Militarism and War"
Dr. Shahrzad Mojab, University of Toronto
Dept. of Adult Education and Counseling Psychology, Director of Women and Gender Studies Institute
Thursday, October 18, 2007  4:00 pm
Vance Academic Building, Room 105
Contact: CIE 832-2040 or Dr. Ali Antar 832-2931, antar@ccsu.edu

"The Federal Law Known as Title IX: What's Fact Vs. Fiction Got To Do With It?"
Mary Jo Kane, Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport
Tuesday, November 6, 2007 4:00 pm
Founders Hall, Davidson Building
Contact: Prescott@ccsu.edu; (860) 832-2809

Mary Jo Kane is a professor in the School of Kinesiology and the director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. The Tucker Center is the first and only university-based institute for research on girls and women in sport in the nation. Dr. Kane is also an adjunct professor with the Department of American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts. She has served as director of the School of Kinesiology since 2005.

View PowerPoint of Dr. Kane's presentation here.

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CALL FOR PAPERS: The Central Connecticut State University Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies program welcomes proposals for papers or panels from faculty, graduate students, senior undergraduate students supervised by professors, and independent scholars for the Annual June Baker Higgins Gender Studies Conference Friday, April 4, 2008.

This year’s theme is “Sexing the Vote: Gender, Sexuality and Politics.” 

Possible topics include, but are not limited to: gender and electoral politics; public opinion on female and male candidates and office holders; the impact of female politicians on legislation and public policy; gender, globalization, and international politics; gender, sexuality, and political activism; reproductive rights; gender, the media, and politics; free speech and civil liberties; same-sex marriages and civil unions. 

Topics that do not fit within the theme of the conference but which are of general relevance to Women, Gender and/or Sexuality Studies are welcomed, but preference will be given to panels and papers that address this year’s theme.

Proposals for papers or panels, poster sessions, or short films should be submitted (no later than February 8, 2008) by mail to:

Dr. Heather Munro Prescott

Department of History

Central Connecticut State University

1615 Stanley Street

New Britain, CT 06050

or by email to Prescott@ccsu.edu

Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Course List                                           

How to Concentrate in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies       

Committee on the Concerns of Women             

Current Research

Resources

Faculty affiliated with our program: