Mellon Foundation Awards $100,000 to UMass Amherst Department of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies

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The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded $100,000 to the UMass Amherst Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) as part of its “Affirming Multivocal Humanities” initiative to advance the study of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.  

WGSS will use this funding to support both established and novel curricular programs and co-curricular activities ranging from undergraduate internships and guest speaker series, to microgrants for programs to promote clear understandings of the fields to the public. 

“Affirming Multivocal Humanities is an initiative that champions the insightful scholarship and teaching taking place in these disciplines—those that are too often undervalued and even undermined in American society today,” says Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander. “We are proud to support colleges and universities in the United States that are advancing deep research and curricular engagement with the stories and histories of our country’s vast diversity and the modes of inquiry that race, gender, and ethnic studies explore and expand.” 

Among the first women, gender, and sexuality studies programs established in the U.S., the department is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary with a series of lectures, panels, book discussions, community events, and more. 

"We look forward to extending our existing programs and imagining new directions for how we can support our vibrant student community,” says Svati Shah, associate professor in WGSS. “We feel that Gender and Sexuality Studies is more vital than ever and deeply appreciate seeing this supported by the Mellon Foundation.” 

A pilot version of the program was officially inaugurated at UMass Amherst in 1974. Called the Women’s Studies Program, it was developed from the rich terrain of feminist organizing, anti-war and anti-imperialist activism, racial justice, and other social change work that took place in the region, country, and world. In 2009, the program officially changed its name and became a department. 

“The Mellon grant will help us amplify and celebrate the work of WGSS faculty and students,” says Kiran Asher, professor and chair of the WGSS Department. “Our work truly embodies and exemplifies feminist interdisciplinarity, intersectionality, and principles of abolition justice".   

WGSS carries a long history of activism and intellectual energy. The department is committed to an interdisciplinary and intersectional analysis, drawing from different disciplines, in which the study of women and gender is multifaceted, diverse, and embedded in a network of power relations, including race, class, sexuality, gender identity, and nation. WGSS scholarship, teaching, and activism develop new theoretical approaches and engage and transform the analytical tools of many fields of study.   

With primarily small classes, WGSS offers an undergraduate major, an undergraduate minor, and a graduate certificate in Feminist Studies. Through its innovative pedagogy and esteemed curriculum, programming, and classes, the department prepares students to consider challenges faced by marginalized individuals in both domestic and foreign spaces, and work to conceptualize solutions that can be applied in communities around the world.  

Learn more about the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.