WOMENS STUDIES MINOR

Until very recently, scholars in the academic disciplines considered the experience of women to be peripheral. During the late 1960s, however, many researchers turned their attention to the study of women, attempting to correct what they viewed as distortions in scholarship. They discovered that the study of women enlarges the purview of all scholarship and opens new perspectives from which to view social reality. At Assumption College, the Women’s Studies program began with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This grant brought together professors from four disciplines to design an introductory interdisciplinary course,
ENG/HIS/PSY/SOC 285 Women’s Studies: Images.

In 1993, a Minor in Women’s Studies was approved. The minor program requires students to take the introductory course, plus five other courses, one of which may be applied toward another major or minor program in the undergraduate college. Students may also pursue an internship concerning women’s issues in government or social service agencies. This minor is important for all students, but especially for those who intend to work in areas of policy making, urban planning, social service, or the law. In addition to the introductory course, usually teamtaught, students select from an array of courses approved as Women’s Studies electives. These courses change from semester to semester, but often include some of the following:

ANT 225 Women and Men in Cross Cultural Perspective
CLT 276 Women and Film
ECO 210 Economics of Women and the Family
ENG/SOC 225 Literature of Social Responsibility
ENG 281 Women in Literature
ENG 282E Short Stories by Women
ENG 286E American Literature by Women
ENG 287 Literature by American Women of Color
ENG 393 Contemporary Women’s Poetry
HIS 212 Women in Europe
HIS 213 Women and the American Experience
ID 205E Women and Aging
MGT 311 Diversity in the Workplace
MUS 235 Women and Music
PHI 312 Contemporary Women in Philosophy
PSY 117 Psychology of Women
PSY 220 Interpersonal Communication
PSY 245 Development of Gender Roles
SOC 223 The Family in Society
SOC 224 Gender Issues in Society
SPA 333 Spanish Mysticism
SPA 396 Spanish-American/Latina Women Writers
SRS 420 Violence in the Family
SRS 421 Loss and Bereavement

Field-based courses in Psychology, Sociology, and Social and Rehabilitation Services count for the Women’s Studies Minor if the field placement focuses on women and/or girls. An Independent Study with a focus on women and/or issues of significance to women may also count for the minor, as do courses with a focus on women offered in Continuing Education or through the Worcester Consortium.

For further information, contact Dr. Regina Edmonds (Psychology Department), Coordinator.

* This course, if taken with the ENG prefix, satisfies the second literature requirement for English. If taken with either the prefix PSY or SOC, it satisfies one Social Science General Education requirement. *

Did you Know?

n the fall of 2006, 34 of the brightest incoming first year students will participate in the new Honors Program.