English Matters. College of Arts and Sciences, Washington State University.

Program Spotlight

New Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies expands English department’s reach

The Department of English welcomed five new faculty members and expanded the number and diversity of our course offerings when we launched the Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in July 2018.

Pamela Thoma.
Pam Thoma

Directed by Associate Professor Pamela Thoma, WGSS is an interdisciplinary degree program that places gender and sexuality at the center of inquiry, preparing students and professionals for careers in a diverse world and for developing strategies in social and institutional change. The program’s dynamic, collaborative undergraduate curriculum offers training and provides opportunities for analyzing the myriad ways in which social class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, age, and ability intersect to shape understanding of gendered experience and injustice.

WGSS uses an intersectional lens in teaching students how to analyze gendered social roles and the ways in which they affect personal lives, artistic expression, work, social relationships, institutional structures, the production of knowledge, and national and international political and economic relations.

The program offers a major in Women’s Studies, which requires a minimum of 36 credit hours. Students can also pursue minors in Women’s Studies and Queer Studies.

The addition of WGSS to the English department was part of a realignment of two departments and several degree programs in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Pam Thoma teaching a class outside.
Pamela Thoma takes advantage of some nice weather to teach a Women’s Studies class outside on the  WSU Pullman campus.