The add-on Graduate Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS) offers graduate students the opportunity to study from an interdisciplinary perspective how gender and sexuality shape the past, present, and future of human cultures and societies. This interdisciplinary curriculum trains students in critical studies of the ways in which gender and sexuality intersect with race, ethnicity, nationality, ability, and other dimensions of difference.
The WGS program is dedicated to welcoming all members of our academic community and to studying issues pertinent to men, women, LGBTQIA+ and intersectionality. Our courses provide students with a wide variety of methodological skills and perspectives with which to conduct their own research, creative activity, and activism.
Application to the WGS graduate certificate program must be made through the Office of Graduate Admissions and by submitting a letter of application and copies of relevant transcripts to the WGS program chair. The WGS certificate is intended as additional study for graduate students who are concurrently enrolled in a master’s or doctoral program in another discipline at the University of Tennessee.
Students must be admitted to the certificate program prior to completing six credit hours toward the certificate. Students will select their coursework in conjunction with the WGS program chair, who must approve each student’s program. Students must maintain a minimum 3.0 grade point average throughout the program.
The WGS Graduate Certificate consists of a minimum of 12 credit hours in interdisciplinary coursework outlined as follows. A maximum of six credit hours can overlap between the WGS certificate and the student’s home discipline, as approved by the WGS program chair. At least six credit hours toward the WGS Graduate Certificate must be taken at the 500-level or above.
I. Six (6) credit hours chosen from:
II. An additional 3 credit hours chosen from
III. Three (3) credit hours of WGS 593 , to be completed under the supervision of a member of the WGS Steering Committee, or another faculty member approved by the WGS Chair. Normally this will involve a capstone experience that consists of a thoughtful creation of a course syllabus, a teaching philosophy, and a public presentation pertaining to WGS and the student’s home discipline.
