Graduate Certificate

In virtually every area of university study, scholarship on women and gender has become increasingly influential because of its path-breaking theoretical perspectives and its empirical findings. The programs of virtually every professional association testify to the vitality and presence of research on women and gender.

The Women's Studies Program offers a graduate certificate program which will allow students to pursue interdisciplinary study in this flourishing field and thereby enhance their educational background and their career opportunities.

The Graduate Certificate will:

-Systematically add interdisciplinary breadth to the student's program
-Develop expertise in Women's Studies theory and methodology
-Offer focused study of the scholarship on women and gender
-Foster new strengths in both teaching and research
-Provide a professional credential to supplement other training

Because graduate study typically centers on one discipline, students usually encounter Women's Studies scholarship only piecemeal or read in the field in a relatively haphazard and instrumental way. The more systematic, course-centered focus of a certificate will remedy this problem and offer a credential which can be a substantial asset in the job market. Many searches, while not primarily directed at scholars of women and gender, list Women's Studies expertise as a desirable secondary qualification, and students with a certificate will be much more credible than those who simply allege a background in the field.

Because the program is interdisciplinary and because students will approach the certificate from a range of home fields and with widely varying preparation, all programs will be individualized . Each student must combine the study of Women's Studies theory and methodology, either through current study or prior preparation. The core faculty of the Women's Studies Program will act as advisors to certificate students; careful advising will insure that each student's program has the appropriate interdisciplinary breadth and articulates properly with her/his other course work and professional needs. All programs of study must include work in more than one department and must be approved by the Program Director, who will coordinate the certificate program.

The following courses may be applied to the graduate certificate in Women's Studies. A maximum of one 200-level course may be applied to the certificate, in accordance with Graduate School rules.

Courses may be counted simultaneously toward a UConn degree program and the certificate. Because courses with Women's Studies are often taught under departments' special-topics designations, they vary widely from year to year. Check each semester with the Women's Studies Office for a listing of such courses.