Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice

The Women's and Gender Studies Program gives students a theoretical base for a systematic analysis of the construction of gender and the historical, economic, political, social, and cultural experiences of women. It is an interdisciplinary program drawing on resources from the Social Sciences, the Humanities, and the Sciences. The Women's Studies Program at Dartmouth was established in 1978, and was the first such program in any of the previously all-male Ivy League colleges. Women's and Gender Studies may be undertaken as a program for a major, minor, modified major and a certificate. Women's and Gender Studies graduates report that the critical tools learned in the Program have helped them succeed in a wide variety of careers and further studies.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies (LGBTS) courses examine lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities and politics in historical and contemporary contexts. Rather than take sex and gender as given, in or by nature, many of the LGBT courses investigate sex and gender as sites of bodily and discursive contestation. LGBT classes first appeared in the Dartmouth curriculum in the Spring of 1992. LGBTS topics courses were taught occasionally until 1996 when funding from the Carpenter Foundation supported the development of an introductory course in LGBTS. Looking for a more permanent solution, the Dean of the Faculty asked Women's and Gender Studies if the Program could become the home, at least temporarily, for LGBTS courses. Currently, classes with LGBT/queer content are available in a number of departments and programs as well as Women's and Gender Studies.

Women's and Gender Studies offers a range of interdisciplinary courses as well as an extensive list of associated courses, offered by other departments and programs, that have central focus on gender or women. The major is administered by the Women's and Gender Studies Steering Committee. Students design their major plans in consultation with an adviser and with the Chair. Only the Chair may sign major cards. Students interested in becoming majors should consult the Chair well in advance of their intended declaration of a major.

Prerequisite: Women's and Gender Studies 10: Sex, Gender and Society

Requirements: (9 additional courses)

1. Women's and Gender Studies 15: Roots of Feminism

2. Women's and Gender Studies 16: Contemporary Issues in Feminism

3. Women's and Gender Studies 80: (Senior Seminar)

4. Three additional Women's and Gender Studies Courses

5. Three additional courses selected from Women's and Gender Studies offerings or from associated courses

6. Concentration. In consultation with an adviser and the Chair, each student will include within the list of required courses an area of concentration consisting of at least three related courses. Some examples of possible areas of concentrations are Gender in Literature; Women in the Third World; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies; Women's History; or Sex and Gender in Science.

7. Diversity. Each student's major plan must include at least two courses that are clearly outside the area of concentration to provide diversity to the major.

Requirement 3 constitutes the culminating experience in the major.

Note: WGST 07 (First-Year Seminars) cannot be counted towards a WGST Major or Minor. Women’s and Gender Studies 98 and 99 (Honors Thesis) carry two credits toward degree requirements but count as only one credit toward major requirements.

If you wish to major: Schedule an appointment with the Women’s and Gender Studies Chair. In addition to major cards, Women’s and Gender Studies requires majors to complete the Women’s and Gender Studies Major Worksheet. Download a copy here.

Honors Program in Women's and Gender Studies

Women’s and Gender Studies majors will be invited to participate in the Women’s and Gender Studies Honors Program if, after completing seven Dartmouth terms, Women’s and Gender Studies 10 (Sex, Gender, and Society), and four graded courses in the Women’s and Gender Studies major, they have achieved an overall College grade point average of 3.0 and a major average of 3.3.

The Honors Program consists of a two-term thesis project, Women’s and Gender Studies 98 and 99. Students will design their projects in consultation with the adviser who has agreed to direct the thesis. A student must secure an adviser’s preliminary endorsement of their project by May 1st of the junior year. Having secured the adviser’s endorsement, a student must submit a thesis proposal for the approval of the Women’s and Gender Studies Steering Committee by the second week of the fall term of the senior year. Women’s and Gender Studies 98 and 99 carry two credits toward degree requirements but count as only one credit toward major requirements.

Women’s and Gender Studies Minor

The Women’s and Gender Studies minor consists of six courses: Women’s and Gender Studies 10 (Sex, Gender, and Society); Women’s and Gender Studies 15 or 16; Women’s and Gender Studies 80; one other Women’s and Gender Studies course; and two additional courses selected from the Women’s and Gender Studies offerings or from associated courses.

If you wish to minor: Schedule an appointment with the Women’s and Gender Studies Chair. In additional to minor cards, Women’s and Gender Studies requires minors to complete the Women’s and Gender Studies Minor Worksheet.

Requirements for the Modified Major: (11 courses)

Women's and Gender Studies (7 courses: 4 Core + 3 Electives)

1.  WGST 10: Sex, Gender, and Society

2.  WGST 15: Roots of Feminism

3.  WGST 16: Contemporary Issues in Feminism

4.  WGST 80: Senior Seminar

5.  Three additional upper-level courses from the WGST course offerings.  One of these courses may be an associated course.

Secondary Discipline (4 courses from a single discipline)

1.  Four upper-level courses that count towards the Major/Minor in that discipline.

1.       SAT Reasoning or ACT (with Writing);

2.       2 SAT Subject Test Scores;

3.       The common application essay;

4.       Within the Common Application, Dartmouth’s writing supplement requires that applicants write a brief response to one of the following supplemental essay prompts. Candidates choose one topic and respond;

5.       A counselor recommendation and two teacher recommendations. In addition, a peer recommendation is strongly encouraged;

6.       Resume;

7.       Brief abstract of an independent research project;

8.       IELTS or TOEFL (no minimum scores).

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