Women's Studies
Department of Womens Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
712 Clemens Hall
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-4630
Phone: 716.645.2327
Fax: 716.645.6569
Web: wings.buffalo.edu/cas/womensstudies/
Alexis De Veaux
Chair
About the Department
The major goals of the Department of Women’s Studies are:
- Providing critical gender perspectives on traditional disciplines
- Analyzing the diversities of race, class, sexual orientation and culture within the paradigm of women’s studies
- Exploring and seeking the theoretical linkages and distinctions among womanist and feminist standpoints which foster leadership among women
- Encouraging collective action and coalition among various communities to improve the lives of women
Women’s studies students are encouraged to take courses throughout the university to gain an interdisciplinary approach to gender studies.
Within the Women’s Studies department, students enjoy access to their instructors for further depth of understanding course content. Student groups emerge within the department to engage in social activist endeavors on--and off--campus, as well as being able to gather in our comfortable department lounge for lively discussions or merely relaxing and decompressing from student life. Found in our lounge are many resource materials; magazines, videos, DVD’s, books, art, student dissertations for review, and the technology to view our visual materials at their leisure.
Degrees Offered
Undergraduate: B.A., Minor
Concentrations: Cultures and Identities, Gender and Public Policy, Women's Global Citizenship
Graduate: M.A., Ph.D.
About Our Degrees
Acceptance Criteria
Minimum GPA of 2.0 overall.
Minimum GPA of 2.0 in prerequisite courses.
The Women’s Studies curriculum provides clusters in Cultures and Identities, Women and Global Citizenship, and Gender and Public Policy. Our objective is to provide women and men students with the critical thinking skills to link local and global knowledge, so as to prepare them with the capacity to link gender and history, literature and policy, and to be able to apply these understandings to graduate work and their future employment and careers.
The Department of Women’s Studies currently has approximately 30 majors, with an ever-increasing number of students who choose to minor or joint major in women’s studies.
The graduate program in Women's Studies currently offers master's (M.A.) and doctoral degrees (Ph.D.) through the Department of American Studies, its former academic home.
Degree Requirements
See the Undergraduate Catalog.
About Our Courses
Women’s Studies courses enjoy the use of fully equipped, technology rooms to enhance learning, incorporating the use of computer systems with web access and multi-media systems. WS 101 Introduction to Women’s Studies is a good overview of what women’s studies offers students; however, for more advanced students, a discussion with the department’s advisor may help to place the student in a higher level course that aulresses their current interests and academic focus.
For course descriptions, please see the Undergraduate Catalog.
About Our Faculty
Professor Masani Alexis DeVeaux teaches African American women's history and literature, cross-cultural literary analysis of works by women of color, and fiction writing. She is an acclaimed writer of fiction and non-fiction, and her current book, Warrior Poet, an authorized biography of African-American writer and activist Audre Lorde was released in April 2004. Professor De Veaux is the current Chair of Women’s Studies. Professor Barbara Wejnert has a Ph.D. in the sociology of politics and economics. She has several books and numerous publications in peer reviewed journals, and is thought of as a leader in her field. Her area of expertise links several disciplines-sociology, economics, gender and health; a current research project examines the impact of the rise of democratic states in Eastern Europe on women’s experiences. This research also has a comparative component focused on women in African democratic societies. She is the coordinator for adjunct faculty and courses within the department’s Gender and Public Policy cluster.
Professor Piya Pangsapa joined the WS faculty in August 2001. She is director of the Global Citizenship cluster, serves as faculty director and liaison of the Women’s Studies graduate students group, Bordercrossings, and she is an affiliated faculty member of the Asian Studies Program and the History department at UB. Her areas of specialization include gender and development, women and work, social movements, and the globalization and feminization of poverty. Fluent in both Thai and English, Professor Pangsapa spent one year conducting ethnographic field work on women textile factory workers in Bangkok, Thailand. She is in the process of finalizing a book entitled Factory Women and the Thai Apparel Industry: Exploitation and Possibilities for Resistance.
Special Academic Opportunities
Internships
Internships are possible for academic credit in consultation with the undergraduate advisor.
Independent Study
Independent study is available for academic credit in consultation with the undergraduate academic advisor and the supervising faculty member.
Extracurricular Activities
Undergraduate women’s studies students, along with students from other departments, formed the Feminist Action Group, an activist group that raises awareness on campus of various gendered issues through public performances, actions and distribution of published materials.
Undergraduate students are encouraged to meet together in the lounge to develop a sense of community.
Complementary Programs and Courses
The following departments well complement Women’s Studies:
- African American Studies
- American Studies
- Anthropology
- Art History
- Comparative Literature
- English
- History
- Nursing
- Romance Languages and Literatures
- Sociology
We have affiliated and cooperating faculty in all of these departments. Students in all fields of study can gain valuable knowledge and insight with involvement in women’s studies courses.
Advising Information
Students interested in pursuing a B.A., joint major or minor in women’s studies must speak with the department’s Director of Undergraduate Advising to discuss their interests in the department, as well as to plan their sequencing of courses to meet all criteria.
Career Information
Graduates of the program are prepared for graduate work in women's studies, law, counseling, and public advocacy. They are qualified for positions in social work, community agencies, and education. Women's studies challenges students to do their best thinking, teaches them critical reasoning and writing skills, and gives them perspectives unavailable as a by-product of traditional disciplinary fields of study. A program in women's studies is, in the best tradition of education in the liberal arts, well suited to careers requiring skill in thinking, writing, planning, analyzing and innovating.
Skills gained in this program include:
- Interpreting policy
- Directing individuals to resources that can assist them
- Organizing community action, and collecting funds to support an action
- Analyzing policymaking processes, behaviors, and power struggles
- Dealing effectively with individuals or groups to obtain information
- Using surveys and interview techniques for research
- Writing clear and concise reports
- Predicting the impact of change on quality of life
- Supplying historical perspective with information on past experiences
- Recommending measures to deal with social problems
- Predicting how groups will react to new institutions or social changes/pressures
- Adapting approaches used in public relations, marketing, and politics to different populations
- Applying knowledge of human relationships
Sampling of Transferable Skills: Organizing and meeting deadlines, analyzing, critical thinking, researching, dealing with data, teaching, interpreting policy, communicating, persuading/influencing, selling, coordinating, counseling, planning, and helping people.
Career Choices
Women's studies is valuable for any career choice, because it provides an atmosphere in which intellectual inquiry and high vocational goals for women are encouraged; it acknowledges and promotes women's confidence and competence; and it prepares women directly for jobs in affirmative action, public policy, and professional and community organizations and social service agencies geared to women. It is also an excellent preparation for graduate school and other forms of continuing education.
Graduates have pursued some of the following careers:
- Admissions counselor
- Affirmative action worker
- Biographer
- Business manager
- Career counselor
- Community service agency director
- Consultant
- Educator
- Financial planner
- Health policy planner
- Hospital administrator
- Human service worker
- Investment counselor
- Job developer
- Journalist
- Lawyer
- Legal advocate
- Market research analyst
- Planned parenthood counselor
- Psychologist
- Public relations specialist
- Social worker
- Women's rights advocate
Work Settings include:
- Advertising agencies
- Book publishers
- Chambers of commerce
- Childcare/adoption agencies
- College alumnae associations
- Community organizations
- Economic development councils
- Economic research foundations
- Educational institutions
- Health organizations
- Judicial system
- Labor unions
- Management consulting firms
- Market research firms
- Newspapers/magazines
- Public relations firms
- Scouting organizations
- Social service agencies
- Television and radio stations
- Women's rights organizations
Government Agencies
- Civil Rights Commission
- Consumer Affairs Office
- Consumer Product Safety Commission
- County Probation departments
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of Labor
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Federal Communications Commission
- National Telecommunications Information Administration
- Small Business Administration
Career Hints
Employers are seeking candidates with experience and those who have developed their skills from that experience. Internships, part-time work, summer employment, and/or further education can enhance a graduate's employability in their chosen career area.
Salary Information
Salaries range greatly from one occupation, position, and work setting to another. According to the April 1998 NACE national salary survey for bachelor's degree graduates, history graduates average $25,896 annually, social work graduates average $22,988 annually, and political science/government graduates average $28,134 annually.
Links to Further Information About This Program
- Undergraduate Catalog
- Undergraduate Admissions
- Graduate Admissions
- Department of Women’s Studies
- College of Arts and Sciences