Advanced Feminist Studies Graduate Certificate

The Graduate Studies Committee of the Women's Studies Program administers the certificate program and advises interested students. Committee members are:

Joyce Berkman, Professor of History

Marta Calás, Associate Professor of Management

Barbara Cruikshank, Associate Professor of Political Science

Ann Ferguson, Graduate Certificate Program Director and Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies

Julie Graham, Professor of Geography

Miliann Kang, Assistant Professor of Women's Studies

Women's Studies Faculty

Arlene V. Avakian, Director, B.S., Columbia, 1961; M.A., Massachusetts, 1975; Ed.D., 1985.

Alexandrina Deschamps, Associate Professor, C.Ed., West Indies, 1975; M.A., Massachusetts, 1975; Ed.D., 1996.

Ann Ferguson, Professor, B.A., Swarthmore, 1959; M.A., Brown, 1961; Ph.D., 1965.

Dayo Gore, Assistant Professor, B.A., Northwestern, 1993; Ph.D., New York University, 2003.

Miliann Kang, Assistant Professor, B.A., Harvard, 1988; M.A., New York University, 1996; Ph.D., 2001.

Banu Subramaniam, Associate Professor, B.S., Stella Maris, Madras, India, 1986; Certificate, Duke, 1993; Ph.D., 1994.

In addition to the Women's Studies faculty, the Certificate in Advanced Feminist Studies draws upon associated faculty in other University departments. Women's Studies faculty and associated faculty are available to serve students as advisers in their graduate studies. Teaching faculty for the Certificate in Advanced Feminist Studies vary each semester depending upon course offerings.

The Program

The Graduate Certificate in Advanced Feminist Studies is an interdisciplinary program designed for students enrolled in a master's or doctoral degree-granting program. The purpose of the certificate is to enable students in-terested in feminist scholarship to pursue a coherent, integrated curriculum in the field and to credential them as knowledgeable in Feminist Studies, thus qualifying them for positions requiring such expertise. Further, students completing the certificate will have the opportuity to bring a feminist perspective to bear on the practices and ideas of their own discipline, thereby increasing the body of feminist theory and research.

Admission to the certificate program is contingent upon: 1) prior acceptance to the Graduate School of the University into a graduate degree-granting program; or 2) after com-pletion of a graduate degree and acceptance to the Graduate School as a non-degree student.

The candidate should demonstrate a commitment to, and evidence of, research or organizational experience in feminist concerns. A general knowledge of feminist scholarship is expected, but an undergraduate major in Women's Studies is not required.

Requirements

The program consists of the following requirements to fulfill the minimum 15 credits:

I. Five Women's Studies approved graduate courses:

A. Two core Women's Studies courses

1. Feminist Theory: A background in theory is required for admission and, in addition, this Women's Studies course is a foundational core requirement. It examines selected paradigms of feminist theory from the interaction of race, class, gender, and sexuality in a national and/or global perspective.

2. Issues in Feminist Research Seminar: A three-credit methods seminar in which students and selected guest lecturers present works in progress with critical attention paid to feminist research methodology.

B. Two interdisciplinary electives from the following approved categories:

1. Feminist Approaches to History, Literature and the Social and Natural Sciences. Students choose a course from the list of approved seminars that focus largely on women's roles, issues and concerns, and are guided by feminist principles.

2. Intercultural Perspectives: Students choose a course from the list of approved seminars that examine the lives of populations of women of color.

A list of approved courses may be obtained from Nancy Campbell Patteson, Graduate Program Coordinator, 208 Bartlett Hall, tel. 545-1922.

C. One Independent Study Final Research Project:

Ordinarily, a committee must be named and a research prospectus submitted to the Graduate Certificate Program Director at the beginning of work on the final research project. Certificate students must also sign up for at least a three-credit independent study with the Graduate Program Coordinator when beginning the final research project.

Research project options include but are not limited to a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation, a publishable research paper or project of outstanding quality, a book chapter, a performance or multimedia presentation. The research paper can be developed from: a) a paper submitted to meet one of the core requirements; b) prior research; c) a practicum or other project.

A faculty committee of at least two will evaluate the project, one from the disciplinary focus or class in which the student originally wrote the paper or conducted the research or practicum, and one other faculty member approved by the Graduate Certificate Program Director. A final copy of the research project to is to be filed with the Women's Studies Program.

Courses are offered and coordinated by core, adjunct, and associated graduate faculty of the Women's Studies Program. A program coordinator is available for advising and the Graduate Program Director provides supervision of research.

For further information, contact the Women's Studies Program, 208 Bartlett Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, tel.: (413) 545-1922; fax: (413) 545-1500; website: www.umass.edu/wost; and email: womens-studies@wost.umass.edu.