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Academic Advising
What Can I Do With a Major in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies?
The Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies (WGS) program at Miami University is a dynamic, interdisciplinary program that investigates how our lives are affected by gender race, class, age, sexuality, religion, (dis)ability, gender identity, and nationality. WGS emphasizes the importance of understanding gender and sexuality as elements of wider social and political structures of power, knowledge, experience, culture, embodiedness, intimacy, and labor. WGS courses are organized around contemporary feminist research and theory, and focus intersectionally on women, gender, and sexuality as subjects of inquiry. Our coursework also focuses on how theory and practice come together. Students may choose from courses spanning departments, disciplines, divisions and ideologies. In WGS, students find an active and supportive community, close interaction with faculty, opportunities to take on leadership roles, and an academic program that allows them to cross the traditional disciplinary boundaries. With 9 core faculty members and over 50 affiliates, the Women's Studies program at Miami University integrates expertise in virtually every field of human endeavor.
Interests
The WGS curriculum is flexible and innovative, providing a strong liberal arts and cutting edge interdisciplinary education that prepares our students for meaningful life and work in the 21st century. Majors take four core courses and 18 additional units in WGS or WGS crosslisted courses. The flexibility of the major requirements encourages students to design a program to suit their needs and interests and makes it possible to pursue a minor or double major. A participant in the American Association of Universities "Shared Futures: General Education for a Global Century" Initiative, the WGS Program emphasizes critical thinking, personal and intellectual development, accountable local and global citizenship, and engaged learning. WGS students draw on interdisciplinary scholarship to analyze how cultural institutions, social structures, and systems of representation situate persons differentially according to their social position in complex networks of power, privilege, disenfranchisement, and marginalization. Working with faculty who are especially knowledgeable about intersectional gender and sexuality issues, students gain the ability to think through the personal, academic, and policy questions they confront regularly as they live in a culture shaped by the forces about which they are learning. Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies graduates gain knowledge, self-awareness, intercultural competency, and breadth of perspective, which are valuable in their own right and which public service organizations, private industry, government, and graduate schools need. And the employment picture is bright: comparisons of Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies graduates with female college graduates nationwide show an edge for WGS students in both traditional and non-traditional career fields. Recent graduates have gone on to law school, graduate school in many fields, public service and private sector careers, political leadership positions, and teaching in both K-12 and higher education.
Competencies
- Human Relations
- Awareness of social and cultural differences
Sensitivity to people and problems
Understanding and interpreting global cultures
Listening to others' thoughts and ideas - Project Development/Research
- Designing projects
Organizing ideas/materials
Testing an idea/hypothesis
Observing people
Planning and administering programs
Perceiving patterns and structures
Evaluating projects and plans - Communication
- Speaking to groups
Writing clearly and creatively
Critiquing and evaluating
Issues/problems/ events
Reading and understanding ideas - Thinking Critically/Creatively
- Analyzing cultural events and texts
Testing and exploring ideas in discussion with others
Problem posing/problem solving
Developing new agendas for old problems
Connecting with communities
Opportunities - Careers
- Government
- Political and government leadership positions
Human rights law
Gender and sexuality awareness organizing
Public information coordinator
Census/survey work
Peace Corps volunteer - Health and Human Services
- Civil rights advocate
Social worker
Women's/GLBT health advocate
Non-governmental agencies worker
Youth counselor
Volunteer services coordinator
Community planning specialist
Women's/GLBT programming
Health care practitioner specializing in women's/girls' health
HIV awareness trainer
Counselor/Therapist - Research/Preservation
- Exhibit preparation coordinator
Librarian
Conservator
Research associate - Communications/Journalism
- Public opinion analyst
Researcher/technical adviser
Editor
Journalist
Actor
Filmmaker
Blogger - Business/Industry
- Personnel officer
Market research analyst
Sales/marketing representative
Organizational planner
Management trainee
Consultant, cultural resource manager
Arts council director
Foundation administrator
Environmental consultant
Entrepreneur - Education
- Teacher
Professor
Community-based educator
Resource consultant
School administrator
Note: Some of the listed career options may require additional education and/or training beyond the bachelor's degree.
Opportunities - Graduate/Professional School
Students may continue their education in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Master's or Ph.D. level, as part of their graduate program in a professional school in law, business or medicine, or a disciplinary graduate program in, philosophy, student affairs in higher education, gerontology, cultural studies, history, religious studies, sociology, social work, psychology, art history, music, family studies, journalism, English, education, languages, or other fields.
Opportunities - Experiential
The following experiential possibilities are available: summer and/or part-time work with government agencies, law offices, women's/GLBTadvocacy programs, historical associations and foundations, research institutions, museums, art galleries, and community cultural programs, public archives and libraries, publishing companies, newspapers, magazines, theatrical or musical organizations; involvement in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Awareness programs, and community organizing.
Sources of Additional Information
- Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (126 MacMillan Hall, 529-5333)
- * Curriculum Requirements
* Career Opportunities - Career Services (200 Hoyt Hall, 529-3831)
- * Career Resource Center
* Career Counseling
* Career Assistance Center
* Computerized Career Development Program
* Dictionary of Occupational Titles
* Occupational Outlook Handbook - Arts and Science Academic Advising (146 Upham Hall, 529-3031)
- * Miami Plan & College of Arts and Science Requirements
- * Course Selection
* Career Decision Making
Developed by the College of Arts and Science Advising Office and the academic departmental offices with adaptations from Liberal Arts and Sciences - Skills - Career Opportunities, Career Planning and Placement Office, University of Michigan.