Master's Degree in Women's Studies / Gender Studies
Description of M.A. Program
The Master’s Degree in Gender and Women’s Studies provides advanced feminist training in gender analysis for students with a variety of academic backgrounds and career plans. Incorporating local, cross-cultural and transnational emphases, the curriculum encourages students and faculty from the humanities, arts, social sciences and natural sciences to develop innovative ways of expanding knowledge about gender in global, local, and historical contexts. As the name “Gender and Women’s Studies” indicates, the M.A. retains the emphasis on women’s lives and situations that has historically informed the field of women’s studies, while also emphasizing the incisive import of gender as a category of analysis transforming knowledge about, for example, masculinity and men’s lives, transgendered lives, as well as other complex topics. The degree engages the wide-ranging and multidisciplinary perspectives associated with gender studies and women’s studies: queer studies, transgender studies, sexuality studies, race and ethnicity studies, disability studies, area and global studies, cultural studies, postcolonial and transnational studies.
Our M.A. curriculum draws from the strengths of current course offerings in the program, as well as from methodologies and course offerings in other fields and departments. Among the domains of inquiry explored within the curriculum are:
work; family and education
social movements, the state and civil society
bodies, genders, health and sexualities
individual, collective and communal identities
communications, technology and culture industries
politics of representation, media and cultural practices
migration, immigration, labor and political economy
militarism, international relations and governmental processes
Some courses investigate these topics at the global level while others focus on the local, regional or national levels. The curriculum insures an overarching transnational and cross-cultural framework. Courses use interdisciplinary methodologies and/or disciplinary approaches.
Students completing the M.A. take advanced disciplinary and interdisciplinary course work in areas of their choosing and also demonstrate competency in a language other than English. The thesis ensures that students are able to demonstrate critical thinking and to carry out interdisciplinary research on a graduate level.
Curriculum
Students are involved from the outset in devising their own course of study in consultation with an interim advisor as they enter the program. Ultimately, they work closely with the thesis advisor, selected to correspond to their individual research project. The emphasis overall will be on flexibility within the overarching transnational and cross-cultural framework.
Current departmental faculty provide expertise in the social sciences, humanities, arts, and biological/health fields. Depending on their specific goals for the M.A. degree, students may wish to organize their courses along disciplinary lines (the arts, biology and health, culture, economics, history, law, literature, policy, politics, among others) or along emergent thematic lines of feminist inquiry (sexuality, theory, transnational and postcolonial studies, dis/ability studies, among others).
The degree program is designed to be a two-year full-time sequence; however, the program is also flexible enough to allow part-time students to pursue the M.A. All students are expected to maintain satisfactory progress in the graduate program in accordance with the regulations of the Graduate School and our departmental policies.
Each student will complete 24 credits of course work plus a thesis project. Of the 24 credits, at least 15 must be in designated courses in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. Those 15 credits must include a 3-credit graduate course in the Department: 900: Research in Gender and Women’s Studies. The remaining 9 credits may also be departmental courses or may be chosen (entirely or in part) from graduate-level courses in other departments and programs in the University. All courses should be selected in consultation with the advisor, who must approve the selections.
Each student’s M.A. thesis project is approved by a committee composed of the major advisor (drawn from faculty in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies) and two other faculty members. Although individual projects may focus on more particular locations and/or problems in gender and women’s studies, all thesis projects will engage transnational and cross-cultural questions and demonstrate understanding of interdisciplinary approaches to gender analysis.
(See graduate-level courses)
(See faculty list)
Degree Requirements include
24 credits, 15 of which must be in courses in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies
900: Research in Gender and Women’s Studies
Evidence of successful completion of a course in theory (feminist or women’s studies or gender analysis)
Evidence of completion of the language requirement
Thesis Project and Oral Examination
Language Requirement
Students must show evidence of competency in a language other than English or acquire such language competency during their M.A. study. The specific language will be determined by a student’s research focus. The range of acceptable languages will be kept as broad as possible. Competency is defined as fluency at the intermediate level.
The requirement may be satisfied by:
Four semesters of undergraduate study, taken within the last five years, and with a minimum grade of B in the final semester
Independent study or study through courses offered by the Department of Liberal Studies-Continuing Studies and passing an exam offered through that program at the intermediate level
Students for whom English is a second language will be considered to have satisfied the language requirement.
Theory Requirement
All M.A. students must show evidence of earning a grade of B or better in a course equivalent to our 441: Contemporary Feminist Theories, or they must take such a course before beginning their thesis project.
Thesis Requirement
A three-member committee will oversee the thesis project and administer the oral examination upon completion of the thesis. Students must develop a proposal for their project in close consultation with their thesis advisor. The thesis itself may take a variety of formats in keeping with the student’s particular interests and expertise, i.e. the thesis might consist of a portfolio of art work, a documentary film, a composition or performance or a research paper or other written document.
The number of independent-study (or directed-study) credits that may count for the M.A. are generally limited to thesis credits, although these are not specifically required. Special circumstances or requests for additional independent/directed-study credits must be approved in advance by the advisor. Students will be allowed to take independent/directed-study credits that do not count toward the degree, if they wish.
Sample schedule for a full-time student:
Semester I
> 900: Research in Gender and Women’s Studies
> Departmental course
> Theory course (if needed)
> Language (if needed)
Semester II
> Departmental course
> Dept. or elective course
> Dept. or elective course
> Language (if needed)
Semester III
> Departmental course
> Dept. or elective course
> Language (if needed)
Semester IV
> Directed-study: Thesis
> Dept. or elective course
> Language (if needed)
The number of credits in departmental, elective, directed-study courses exceeds the required 24 credits. The sample schedule is intended to show options. Language courses do not count in the required 24 credits.
M.A. Program: Application Process
Applications to the Graduate School are made online at the following website: http://info.gradsch.wisc.edu/admin/admissions/appinstr.html.
If you have questions, please send an email to emislove@wisc.edu.
Graduate School admission requirements are listed at http://info.gradsch.wisc.edu/admin/admissions/requirements.html.
Items that should be sent to the Graduate School are listed at:
http://info.gradsch.wisc.edu/admin/admissions/gschecklist.html.
Please send the following items directly to the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies:
1) Two (2) copies of official transcripts or academic records from each institution attended. International academic records must be in the original language and accompanied by an official English translation. Documents must be issued by the school with the official seal/stamp and an official signature.
2) Three (3) letters of recommendation. We prefer that at least two of the letters come from academic sources. These letters may now be submitted on-line. Please see the Graduate School’s web link (THIS IS A LINK IN THE ORIGINAL) for instructions.
3) Statement of reasons why you wish to pursue the M.A. Degree in Gender and Women’s Studies (1-2 pages).
4) A short (1-2 pages) essay on the contemporary relevance of gender and women’s studies as a field of inquiry.
5) Curriculum vitae or resumé.
6) Writing sample, such as a paper submitted for a course in an academic program. The admissions committee wishes to see an entire piece of written work, generally between 5 and 10 pages. We prefer an academic paper or policy memo (professional writing) because we are looking for presentation of argument as well as appropriate writing skills.
Documents should be sent to:
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Gender and Women’s Studies
110 Ingraham Hall
1155 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Application Deadlines
The application deadline for fall admission is February 15.
Fellowships and Financial Support
The Department of Gender and Women’s Studies regrets that there are no fellowships or departmental means of financial support available for students in the M.A. Program. The Department does hire some graduate students each semester to serve as teaching assistants in our large lecture courses. This opportunity offers both classroom experience and background in the interdisciplinary aspects of the field of gender and women’s studies. These Teaching Assistantships are generally not available to first-semester M.A. students. Once on campus students may apply in the following semesters. However, there are only a limited number of positions and applicants to the M.A. Program should not count on a Teaching Assistantship in the Department as a means of financial support.
