About the Program

Women's Studies is an interdisciplinary program designed to encourage students to focus critically on gender issues. The program introduces students to recent scholarship that treats gender as a significant category of analysis. Many of our courses investigate how assumptions about gender operate in society, shaping both feminine and masculine identities, and influencing all social and political structures. Recent work in Women's and Gender Studies has demonstrated the need to reexamine past work in such fields as history, anthropology, psychology, and literature to create a curriculm that represents the history and achievement of women as well as men while reflecting on the ways thatassumptions about gender shape academic disciplines. By using gender to inform all areas of academic inquiry, Women's Studies has encouraged scholarship on gay and lesbian issues, women of color, women's economic roles, and women's contributions to various fields.

 

History of the Program

The history of Women's Studies at Williams began in 1970 when, with only six women as full-time faculty, Williams became a coeducational institution. At first, the College's interest in gender issues focused primarily on coeducation. However, Professor Frederick Rudolph's course, The American Woman, was an early academic effort to integrate women's experiences and contributions into the curriculum.

As more women arrived at Williams, politically active women's groups emerged. Committee W, a subcommittee of the American Association of University Professors, held its first meeting in 1971 and was instrumental in establishing lasting reforms that improved the lives of women on campus. By 1973, students had formed Williams Women and soon after established a Womens Center. In 1977, the Wiliams Women changed their name to the Feminist Alliance. with other campus political groups, they pressed for the addition of Women's Studies courses in the college curriculum. By 1978, Committee W and the Feminist Alliance had created forums for female junior faculty and students to present Women's Studies research. Students initiated the course Contemporary Feminist Thought in 1979, demonstrating a serious interest in Women's Studies as an academic field. The following Fall, Committee W, the Dean of Faculty, and the Mellon Fund brought fifteenprominent scholars from other institutions to participate in "The Williams Conference on Womens Studies." The conference generated a questionnaire collecting information and proposals for Women's Studies courses which were then presented to the faculty at a special meeting in May of 1980.

By 1981, Williams offered twenty-one Women's Studies (and related interest) courses, and the first Williams degree was granted for a contract major in Women's Studies. The Women's Studies Advisory Committee was formed in 1982 by Professors Ilona Bell, Lynda Bundtzen, Suzanne Graver, Meredith Hoppin, Anne Margolis, Rosemary Tong, Patricia Tracy, Patricia Yeager, and Dean Nancy mcIntire. The Advisory Committee proposed a program for a concentration in Women's Studies which was accepted by the faculty in the spring of 1983.

Since then, the Women's Studies program has grown from a relatively small number of concentrators and courses to a substantial community of students and faculty as well as a rich curriculum of elective courses in many disciplines. Professor Jana Sawicki was hired in 1992 as the first joint appointment in Women's Studies. She assumed chair of the program, a position she held until spring 2003. With funding from the President's office, the Women's Studies program sponsored a regional conference, "The Future of Women's Studies," in Spring, 1993. At this conference, feminist scholars from regional colleges and universities came together to discuss effective strategies for maintaining strong programs in Women's and Gender Studies.

In recent years, the Women's Studies program has offered a lecture series, bringing many distinguished scholars and activists in Women's and Gender Studies to campus. Recent speakers have included Susan Bordo, Hazel Carby, Sharon Marcus, Patricia Hill Collins, Dorothy Allison, Urvashi Vaid, Elizabeth Spelman, Minnie Bruce Pratt, and Joan Brumberg. The Women's Studies program has regularly co-sponsored events with the Dively Committee for Human Sexuality and Diversity and the Multicultural Center, reflecting an ongoing commitment to Gender and Sexuality Studies as well as racial and ethnic diversity within the Women's and Gender Studies curriculum.

In the Spring of 1998, the Faculty unanimously supported a proposal from the Women's Studies Advisory Committee to change the name of the Women's Studies Interdepartmental Program to "Women's and Gender Studies Interdepartmental Program." This change of name reflects curricular changes in the Program over the past decade. The Women's and Gender Studies curriculum has expanded to include not only women's contributions and concerns, but also a broader analysis of how gender is constructed and how assumptions about gneder influence the construction of disciplines, social and political institutions, the family, definitions of culture, accounts of human nature, and traditional canon formation.

The most recent step in the development of the department was the approval of a Women's and Gender Studies major in the spring of 2002. Students as of the class of 2004 have the opportunity to receive their bachelor's degree in WGST, and may also pursue honors work through the completion of a thesis or honors project in their senior year. For 2004-2005, there are thirteen senior majors.