Women’s Studies Course Criteria and Guidelines
The Women’s Studies Curriculum Review Committee requests that you address the following points and submit all details along with the course syllabus to the Director of the Women’s Studies Program for review and consideration. If you have any questions, please contact the Women’s Studies Program office at x6297.
Please develop a brief discussion that addresses the following criteria:
- How the course applies feminist theories, criticism, or methods to the subject of study.
- How the course recognizes the diversity of women and women’s experience by consciously including that diversity (i.e. women of color, women of developing nations, lesbian women, class issues, as well as Euro-American or European women) or by acknowledging the particular limitations in scope, focus, etc. of the course.
- Ways in which a substantial portion of the course is grounded in feminist scholarship.
Suggested questions to consider when developing course materials:
- In the inclusion of diversity of women and women’s experiences, is every attempt made to have those experiences as an integral part of the course rather than peripheral?
- How are women studied in this course? Are women treated as objects or subjects of study, or both? If both, how, if at all, is this distinction articulated?
- Do critical and/or creative works by women comprise a significant portion of the required texts?
- Does the course syllabus reflect familiarity with current feminist research in the appropriate field?
- If the course is in a particular discipline, are scholarly feminist critiques of that discipline’s traditional perspectives incorporated into the course?
- Do the course requirements encourage students to engage in feminist criticism and/or research? How?
- Does the course syllabus attempt to incorporate the interdisciplinary perspective of Women’s Studies? How?
- Does the course practice the techniques of feminist pedagogy, empowering students to take responsibility for their own learning?