Minor In Gender Studies

Curriculum

Dr. Susan Rensing (left), representing the Gender Studies program on the MSU Starkville campus, joins MSU-Meridian faculty in discussing the new Gender Studies minor beginning fall semester on the Meridian Campus. To the left of Rensing are MSU-Meridian faculty: Dr. Julia Porter, associate professor of counselor education; Rhonda Carr, assistant professor of social work; Dr. James Kelley, assistant professor of English; Dr. Dennis Mitchell, chair of Arts & sciences and professor of history; and Dr. Vicki Gier, assistant professor of psychology.

About Gender Studies

Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary academic program that examines the construction of gender in a variety of cultures and in different historical epochs. Gender Studies courses examine gender as a social, cultural, biological and psychological phenomenon and the various ideologies that underpin the distinctions that different societies over time have made between the categories of “man” and “woman.” As a field of inquiry, Gender Studies enables us to question how gender as a social and cultural construction shapes people’s lives, their relationships, the workplace, institutional structures, public policy and the production of knowledge. It also enables us to investigate the different impact of events, technologies, and government policies on men and women. The study of gender helps to broaden our understanding of culture and identity, the intersection of gender with race, class, and sexuality, health and body politics, region and environment, nationalism, and citizenship.

Through the College of Arts and Sciences, Mississippi State University offers an undergraduate minor in Gender Studies (18 credit hours) and a graduate certificate (12 credit hours).

 Want more information about the gender studies minor? Contact Dr. Vicki Gier at the Division of Arts and Sciences, MSU-Meridian by e-mail at vgier@meridian.msstate.edu or by telephone at 601-484-0298.

Last Updated: 8/4/08