Gender Studies Current Courses

Upcoming Spring 2025

ARTS 4370-01/5370-01 – Aesthetics and Visual Culture: Women Artists of the Southwest

Instructor: Amy Von Lintel

This course explores the dozens of women artists who have lived and worked in the US Southwest, moving beyond the best known such as Georgia O’Keeffe to explore many others, including Indigenous artists, Hispanic artists, trans artists, and more. We will explore themes that connect these artists, such as their role as art educators, their desire for adventure and getting outside the artistic mainstream, and their willingness to explore and challenge expected social gender roles in their art. 

COUN 6376 Sexuality Across the Lifespan

Instructor: Leigh Green

Exploration of human sexuality and assisting individuals and couples with sexual concerns. Emphasis on sexual development, sexual orientation, sexual dysfunction, and sexual trauma/abuse.

CRIJ/SOCI 3382-70 - Women and Criminal Justice

Instructor: Dawn Marie Jordan

Evolution and impact of women's participation in the justice system as victims, offenders, and professionals. An emphasis on critical thinking teaches students to look beyond media hype concerning female offenders to study the real stories behind women affected by and working in the justice system.

ENGL 4368 Studies in Race and Literature

Instructor: Bonnie Roos

An investigation of African-American arts, literature, music, and culture in and around Harlem especially during the 1920s and 30s, all of which will address complexities of gender, race, and/or sexuality issues. Among the artists we will study are Jean Toomer, Nella Larson, Zora Neale Hurston, Aaron Douglas, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Augusta Savage, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.

ENGL 4392 Special Topics: Modernist Art and Literature

Instructor: Bonnie Roos

An investigation of avant-garde arts and literatures produced between 1900-1945, all of whom address gender, race, and/or sexuality issues. Among the artists and writers we consider are Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Hannah Höch, Virginia Woolf, and Djuna Barnes. 

SES 3392-70 (Online) – Special Topics: History and Evolution of the Olympic Games

Instructor: Vanessa Fiaud

This course on the evolution of the Olympic Games, with several modules that focus on gender and women's issues, aims to explore the historical development of the world's most prestigious sporting event through the lens of gender equity. It will trace how the participation of women in the Olympics has evolved from being excluded in the early years to the significant strides made towards inclusion and gender parity today. By analyzing key moments, policies, and figures, the course will examine how social, political, and cultural changes have shaped the opportunities and limitations experienced by women in the Olympics, while also reflecting on the ongoing struggles for equal representation and fair competition.

SOCI 1301-70 (Online) - Introduction to Sociology

Instructor: Nicole Kraus

This course has several chapters that speak either directly to the sociology of gender and sexuality or its intersection with other identities like class and race/ethnicity, alongside its important role in broader social theory, social structures, and social groups.

SOCI 4325 - Sociology of Gender

Instructor: Nicole Kraus

This course deals directly with sociological theories and empirical studies of gender, sexuality, and their intersections with theoretical and empirical work on both. Extremely well-suited class for anyone interested in gender as a social construction and critical dividing line in the social world. Plus, super fun.

SOCI 4361-70 (Online) - Sociology Theory 

Instructor: Nicole Kraus 

From Jane Addams to Alexandra Kollontai to Patricia Hill Collins and many male theorists in-between, this class covers a broad theoretical and philosophical tradition across sociology.

SPAN 4365 - Spanish Literature

Instructor: Persephone Hernández-Vogt 

This class is conducted in Spanish.

Early modern Spanish theater dealt extensively with questions of gender. In Valor, agravio y mujer, a woman dresses as a man and duels the man who scorned her. In Fuenteovejuna, a group of peasant women demand a response to sexual assault. In Juan Rana, mujer, a woman dresses her husband in skirts and convinces him he is a young maiden. These plays and other literature provide insight into how early modern Spanish empire grappled with gendered expectations and the people who defied them.

POSC 3317-01 - Women and Politics

Instructor: Piper Biery

This course focuses on women in politics—both in theory and in practice. The first part of the course introduces students to feminist thought and the second part examines the role of women who participate in political processes, both as leaders and as citizens.