Gender & Women's Studies

Undergraduate Courses

See Topnet for Class Meeting Schedule

 

Summer 2025

Coming soon!

 

Fall 2025

Core Courses:

GWS 200 Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies
Required for the minor

Drawing on historical perspectives and cultural analysis, this course examines such topics as women and work, violence against women, family, and the social construction of gender, sexuality, race, and class. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code E-SB | SB

 

Approved Electives:

GWS 375 American Masculinities
Survey of the meanings of manhood in the United States, including historical, social, economic, cultural, and political influences on the development of masculine identity. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-SY Prerequisite(s): 21 hours of Foundations and Explorations Courses, or junior status

AFAM 393 African American Literature
Study of literature by African American writers. Prerequisite(s): Lit 200

ANTH 343 Anthropology of Gender
A comparative study of the role gender plays in various aspects of culture. Topics include distribution of labor, environmental impact, and ideological constraints on gender constructs in a cross-cultural concept.

DANC 360 Dance In Culture  (Honors Section Available)
Survey of world dance forms, emphasizing social, cultural and aesthetic principles
defining these forms. Gender, racial, political and religious orientations shaping dance history are examined. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-SC

ENG 360 Queer Literature
Study of queer texts with emphasis on critical theory and the concepts of sex and gender in global, cultural, and historical contexts. Prerequisite(s):ENG 200 or MLNG 200 or RELS 200 or ENG FAH-L or ENG B1-L

FACS 311 Family Relations F2F and Web Course
Study of issues affecting individual and family well-being. Interpersonal relationships and communication skills necessary to achieve quality of life are
addressed. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code SB

FILM 369 Intro to World Cinema
Examines cinema in several regions including China, India, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Viewing of representative films accompanied by background readings on history/culture. Note: Permission of instructor.

FLK 388-703 Foodways(Ferrell course only)    *DW exception appeal needed
Exploration of the relationship between food and culture. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-LG

HIST 335 20th Century Europe (On Demand Course)
A survey of Europe during the twentieth century that covers developments in social, cultural, political, intellectual, and gender history. Note: Permission of instructor. Prerequisite(s): (HIST 101 or HIST 102)

HIST 445 American Legal History to 1865
A survey of the development of American law and its relationship to political, economic, and social trends in antebellum American society.

HIST 453 American Women’s History
Social, cultural, and political history of American women from pre-colonial times to the present.

PH 364 Women’s Health (Web Course)
An analysis of the major health problems of contemporary women, with a special emphasis on health promotion, disease prevention, and consumer health concerns. Note: Permission of instructor is required.

PH 365 Human Sexuality (Web Course)
Examines sociological, physiological, and psychological aspects of human sexuality in relation to family life, courtship, marriage, reproduction, education, and aging. Includes information on sexual assault, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and
HIV/AIDS. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-SC

PS 373 Minority Politics
A study of the contemporary status and efforts made by African Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups to organize for political action; discusses political and socioeconomic constraints on the development of that power. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-SC Prerequisite(s): 21 hours of Foundations and Explorations Courses, or junior status

PS 374 Women and Politics
An examination of the political, economic and social status of American women from an historical and contemporary perspective; explores issues of concern to women in a political context. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-SC  Prerequisite(s): 21 hours of Foundations and Explorations Courses, or junior status

PSYS/PSY 350 Social Psychology  (Honors Section Available)  Delivered synchronously to Owensboro, Glasgow, ETown
A general introduction to social psychology for majors and non-majors in psychology. The psychology of how people think about and relate to others. Topics include love, altruism, aggression, conformity, behavior in groups, leadership, intergroup conflict, prejudice, and persuasion. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-SC | SB

PSY 355 Cross-Cultural Psychology F2F and Web Course
Examines the impact of culture on major principles, theories, and applications of psychology, including social behavior, gender, communication, development and abnormal psychology. Involves interacting with people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

RELS 341 Religion and the Environment
Examines different world religions' beliefs about the environment as well as their adherents' attitudes and actions concerning climate change and other issues. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-LG Prerequisite(s): 21 hours of Foundations and Explorations Courses, or junior status

SMC 310 Media Diversity
Explores journalistic coverage of diversity in terms of race, culture, gender, and sexual orientation in a number of mass media areas including newspaper, radio, television, film, video games, digital media, advertising, and public relations. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-SC  Prerequisite(s): 21 hours of Foundations and Explorations Courses, or junior status

SOCL 220 Marriage/Family (Web Course)
Analysis of the family institution, its structure and function and the dynamics of social change in family interaction and organization. Note: Consent of
instructor. Colonnade/Statewide General Education Code K-SC | SB

SOCL 355 Sociology of Gender
Examination of the social construction of women's and men's roles in society and of the concepts of masculinity and femininity. Note: Consent of instructor.  Prerequisite(s): SOCL 100

SOCL 359 Sexuality and Society  F2F and On Demand Course
Sociological examination of issues, debates, and research on pornography, prostitution, sexual orientation, and sex and the law.

SOCL 435 Family Violence (On Demand Course)
A sociological perspective on family violence in the United States, emphasizing child abuse and intimate partner violence. Research, theory, laws, treatment and prevention are analyzed.

THEA 375 Topics in Drama   (Feminist and Queer Theatre / Honors section Available)
Topics-based course focusing on a particular area of dramatic theory and/or literature.