Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies

Our Programs

Our interdisciplinary, intersectional, and international program challenges you academically, personally, and politically to actively promote social justice and social transformation. Our courses give you the expertise to deal positively and effectively with issues of gender and sexuality facing individuals and society.

Our New Name Better Represents All of Us

Women and Gender Studies is now Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

This has been a long time coming, following three key milestones.

• 1992: We inaugurated the minor in Women Studies
• 2006: We began the major in Women & Gender Studies
• 2019: We expanded the program to include the minor in LGBTQ Studies minor

This new name reflects values we already demonstrate every day, and much remains the same:

• our vibrant faculty whose work continually breaks down barriers and paves new pathways to understanding gender and sexuality
• thought-provoking courses that challenge you to think about gender-based modes of oppression and liberation, and
• the type of student whose concerns and aspirations inspire us all to take our work beyond the classroom in ways that matter to us personally and to society as a whole.

Celebrating Success 2021

Congratulations to those graduating with Departmental Honors and recipients of our 2021 student awards, scholarships, and Teacher of the Year.

Student Awards

WGST Departmental Honors

The Honors Theses are available at ScholarWorks

Kelly Curtis

• Majors: Political Science; Minors: Non-Profit Administration and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 
• Thesis: Collective Responsibility in American Rape Culture Infrastructure: An “Edifice of Trust” Built on White Patriarchy, Misogyny, and Violent Masculinity. 
• Mentors: Dr. Theresa Earenfight (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), Dr. Mark Cohan (Sociology)

Ariana Siddiqui Dennis

• Majors: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with Departmental Honors; International Studies with University Honors; Minor: Philosophy
• Thesis: Pushing Against Patriarchy: Indonesian Women Using Islam as a Form of Resistance. 
• Mentors: Dr. Theresa Earenfight (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), Dr. Hazel Hahn (History), Dr. Maria Tedesco (Theology and Religious Studies)

Natalie Rahn

• Majors: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with Departmental Honors; Political Science
• Thesis: Funding Abortion as Facilitating It: The Complicity Argument in Religious Right Legal Efforts to Control Reproductive Choice in the United States. 
• Mentors: Dr. Daniel Dombrowski (Philosophy), Dr. Eric Olsen (Political Science), Dr. Theresa Earenfight (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)
• Susan L. Secker Award, Highest GPA

Kristin Leigh Roach Scholarship

Katlyn Kailiuli

• Hometown, Roseburg, OR. 
• My passion for my WGST minor stems from my interest to be the most inclusive educator possible. I am excited to see the pathways it will take in my career. day-to-day basis, I am excited to see the pathways it lets me take in my career. 

Eva Rodriguez

• Hometown: Kenmore, WA. 
• Major, Psychology and Minor in WGST. 
• My goal is to pursue a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy counseling with a focus on LGBTQ+ relationships.

Mackenzie Sollars

• Hometown: Tacoma, WA.
• I seek to improve the quality of life of people with feminine energy around the world by using my knowledge to empower them and help them love every aspect of themselves.

Susan L. Secker Award

Awarded to Students with Highest GPA

• Natalie Rahn

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