The West Virginia University Board of Governors at its June meeting approved the establishment of a program leading to the bachelor of arts degreein womens studies.
The major is open to WVU students interested in furthering their understanding of womens studies as a discipline, developingliteracy skills across the curriculum and havingopportunities to pursue their own interests through field experiences, research and independent study.
“Womens studies majors will be able to learn about anything and everything they want to learn,”says Nina Riivald, a graduate teaching assistantin the Center for Womens Studies.”This curriculum is multifaceted and allows for students to personalize their majors and take what they want from it.”
The new major allows for double majoring with a variety of other disciplines, including communication studies, English, geography, history, international studies, political science, psychology and sociology.
“The Eberly College is constantly growing and adapting to ensure that we offer what students want and need to pursue both academic interests and to pursue a variety of career options,”says Duane Nellis, dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, which will offer the new degree through its Center for Womens Studies.”The new major in womens studies is the latest example of our efforts to shift our curriculum to the needs of industry and society.”
Nellis said other recent efforts include the development of degree programs or program emphases in creative writing, forensic and investigative science and industrial mathematics and statistics.
There are already several students ready to fill out the paperwork to declare a major in womens studies, says Barbara J. Howe, director, with many more asking questions and taking an interest in the program.
One student, Valetta Shuppe, is currently a history major with a music minor. She is now planning to complete a second major in womens studies.
“The womens studies major is important to me because so many disciplines teach from a male point of view,”Shuppe says,”I plan to be a college-level history professor one day. The things I am learning now in my womens studies classes, through the eyes of women, will help me one day educate my students. I want to teach all sides of history.”
When the Center for Womens Studies began to draft the curriculum for the major, it depended on the help of Elizabeth Engelhardt, assistant professor of womens studies. She is one of only about 30 people in the country to have a Ph.D. in womens studies.
With the guidance of Engelhardt, the curriculum was built around courses that already existed. The centers faculty and staff also compared their ideas for the program with successful programs at other colleges and universities.
The WVU Center for Womens Studies is now in its third decade. The Womens Studies Programwas established in 1980 as a program within the Eberly College by Judith Gold Stitzel , now a professor emerita of English and womens studies.
The Center for Womens Studies was established four years later. In addition to the major, the center offers an area of emphasis in womens studies for students in the Regents Bachelor of Arts Program, a graduate certificate open to all WVU graduate students and a graduate certificate and thesis direction option for students pursuing degrees in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program.
For more information, visit the centers Web site athttp://www.as.wvu.edu/wmst/or call Howe at (304) 293-2339, ext. 1155.