The
Women Studies Program at Oregon State University was founded in
1972 and has since grown to include three full time faculty lines
and more than 50 program faculty from across the University. Each
term, more than 500 students take Women Studies courses, either to
meet baccalaureate core, minor, or graduate requirements or for
personal interest and fulfillment.
Our core faculty members are Janet Lee, Patti Watkins, and Susan Shaw. Dr. Lee is a sociologist by training, although in recent years she has begun to write in women's history. She teaches several sections of one of our introductory courses, as well as Feminist Teaching and Learning, Theories of Feminism, and Feminist Research. Dr. Patti Watkins is a clinical psychologist, whose research interests include women's body issues. She also teaches one of our introductory courses, as well as Violence Against Women, Self-Esteem and Personal Power, and Women, Weight, and Eating Disorders. Dr.
Susan
Shaw is the director of the program, and her research interests
include women and rock 'n' roll and women and religion. She teaches
Women and Sexuality, Systems of Oppression in Women's Lives,
Feminist Theology and Spirituality, and Hate, Resistance, and
Reconciliation. Our faculty members have won numerous teaching,
research, and development awards and are actively involved in the
life of the University. Amy Leer is an instructor in Women Studies,
who is completing a Ph.D. in Design and the Human Environment. Her
research interest is in pop culture, and she teaches introductory
courses, as well as elective courses such as Sex and the City and
Witches, Midwives, and Healers.
Women Studies puts women's concerns at the center of academic
study. At the same time, we recognize that women are themselves
very different from one another, and so we also pay close attention
to the ways that race, ethnicity, social class, sexual identity,
ability, and age intersect with gender in women's lives. Our
courses examine a wide range of topics-from
sexuality to spirituality, from science to self-esteem.
Women Studies also practices feminist pedagogy in the classroom and feminist ethics in our dealings with students and others outside the classroom. Our classes are student-centered and discussion-oriented. Our goal is to help students develop critical thinking skills that they can apply in broader contexts. We encourage community involvement and activism, and our minors and graduate students complete internships in social change agencies.
Women Studies graduates go on to a variety of other academic programs and careers. Our graduates are therapists, professors, non-profit administrators, physicians, librarians, and government workers. Women Studies gives students a perspective to take with them into any career. Our graduates tell us that Women Studies has provided them with a lens with which to understand the world, to analyze the ways gender is operative in the situations around them, and to develop strategies for social change in their local communities and the larger global community.
200 Gilkey Hall
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon 97331
phone: (541)737-2826
sshaw@oregonstate.edu
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