Women's Studies

Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies

FAQ:

  1. How can I meet other WS graduate students?
  2. Am I eligible for this certificate program?
  3. Can I fit this certificate into my schedule?
  4. Can I receive any funding for it?
  5. How can I apply?
  6. What are the certificate requirements?

2007 retreat

Sharon Elber, Enid Montague, and WS Director Barbara Ellen Smith at the 2007 program retreat

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How can I meet other WS graduate students?

Women's Studies graduate students interested in meeting other WS graduate students, may contact Sharon Elber at sruff@vt.edu.

Am I eligible for this certificate program?

Students enrolled at either the master's or doctoral level in a regular academic program may be accepted into the Women's Studies Graduate Certificate Program. Thesis or dissertation work must be on a topic related to women's studies or feminist scholarship more broadly.

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Can I fit this into my schedule?

Graduate students earning degrees in other departments can normally fit the requirements for the certificate into their program of graduate study so that the time needed to complete the graduate degree in their basic discipline is not unreasonably extended by simultaneously pursuing the Certificate.

State residents enrolling at Virginia Tech just to pursue the WS Graduate Certificate are required to do an outreach project or project for their work in an applied setting (option 3b below). This way, both already enrolled graduate students and Certificate-only students are applying the insights from their WS coursework to a specific research or applied-setting agenda.

All students complete nine semester hours of work selected from the list below. The graduate seminars foreground the epistemological and pedagogical bases for studies that take gender, sexuality, and inequality as centrally constitutive analytic categories, and offer students the opportunity to present and critique each other's work-in-progress in an interdisciplinary environment. Because many WS faculty affiliates teach graduate seminars on feminist topics in their own departments, we sometimes consider course substitution requests, but would encourage students to take the specific sequence we offer.

Can receive any funding for it?

Graduate students earning the Certificate will be invited to teach WS courses as teaching assistants or instructors whenever possible (in other words, Certificate students will be prioritized for instructor positions available) as part of the academic experience and mentoring offered in the certificate program. Others will have the opportunity to do teaching or research assistantships when funding allows.

How can I apply?

All those interested in the Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies should confer with the Director of the WS Program (Dr. Barbara Ellen Smith) prior to submitting a program of study to the Graduate School, and also fill out the online Application for a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies. Applications are considered by the WS faculty on a case-by-case basis throughout the academic year. There is no cost to students wishing to apply for or enroll in the WS Graduate Certificate Program. There is a cost for nonstudent residents taking graduate courses at Virginia Tech (See the VT Graduate School for information on enrolling).

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What are the requirements of this certificate?

A student already enrolled in a graduate program at Virginia Tech must:

  • be pursuing, or planning to pursue, research (i.e., a thesis or dissertation project) with a focus on gender and inequality
  • be a member of a participating program or have a letter of support from her/his department head or graduate committee chair
  • complete three graduate courses in WS:
    1. Feminist Theory (WS 5914)
    2. Feminist Research Practicum (WS 5984) (Note that WS 5984, Alternative Research Methodologies will substitute)
    3. Either:
      1. Feminist Perspectives on Pedagogy and Academe (WS 5454)

      ---OR---

      1. An approved elective from student’s own degree program

A student with a baccalaureate degree but not currently enrolled in a graduate program must:

  • be pursuing, or planning to pursue, work in an applied setting on gender and inequality
  • complete three graduate courses in WS:
    1. Feminist Theory (WS 5914)
    2. Feminist Research Practicum (WS 5984) (Note that WS 5984, Alternative Research Methodologies will substitute)
    3. Feminist Perspectives on Pedagogy and Academe (WS 5454)

      ---AND---

    4. Outreach Project/Work in Applied Setting

 

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