From Program to Department - Text Only
This page contains the relevant text in a variety of documents in the history of the transition from the Women's Studies Program to the Women's and Gender Studies Department. We have included the text for the slides on the image version of this page.
Mustang Daily news item on plans for Women's Study Minor Program at Cal Poly, 05/14/87
Thursday, May 14, 1987 Mustang Daily
Women’s study minor one step from reality
By Monica Fiscalini
Staff Writer
A nine-member committee is trying to bring women’s studies to Cal Poly, the only school on the 19-campus California State University system without a program focusing on women.
The women’s study minor will be interdisciplinary, said English instructor Peggy Lant, who wrote the proposal for a minor at Cal Poly. She also got money for the project by writing a lottery proposal.
“In a truly liberal university, every area would be totally changed by a women’s study approach,” Lant said. “Women’s studies is not a field of knowledge,” but rather an approach.
The basic foundation for the minor would be a solid introductory course. There will also be three central courses that teach approach, as well as electives in various fields. Students will take classes from English and psychology.
The proposal was submitted to the School of Liberal Arts and reviewed by the Academic Senate. The Academic Senate had concerns with the proposal so the minor committee will resubmit the proposal in fall or winter.
Mary Whiteford, catalog coordinator of academic programs, is optimistic that the changes can be made and that the minor will be included in the 19888-1990 catalog.
There are already courses in the catalog that can be included in the women’s study minor, but these classes need revision, said Barbara Mori, head of the committee. She said the courses aren’t being overseen correctly and students can’t identify faculty for guidance in pursuing the study of women.
Mori has found there is interest on campus in women’s studies. She taught Gender and Sex Roles (SOC 311), an elective course, to a full class in which one-forth of the students were male. The men said they took the class because the real world has a lot of women and they need to know more about them. They were not taking it because it was a fluff or an easy A, she said.
Lant sees the minor as a starting point. She said the ideal university would be one where each class is sensitive to the points of view of women, racial minorities and the working class. She says she hopes to generate enthusiasm for this approach.
Sarah Elbert, a history teacher, tries to make her classes sensitive to women’s issues. In each history class she asks, “What is the relationship between the sexes in this period?” She said gender relationships in history are as significant as such factors as race and class.
Mori designed and proposed the class Women in East Asia for the minor because it is important that the minor go beyond white women in the 18-50 age bracket. The minor will consider age, ethnicity and economics, reflecting the makeup of the world.
Lant said, “The most important aspect of women’s studies is that it gets rid of a raciest, white, masculinist, heterosexualist point of view and substitutes a more humanitarian point of view.”
Kathy Ryan is looking forward to having more students in her Psychology of Women course. “I’m very eager to have the course in the women’s study minor,” she said.
Joanne Ruggles of the art and design department found that when she went to school women were invisible in art history. She would like to see this change.
To these women on the faculty, the mystery is why it has taken so long for women’s study to be proposed at Cal Poly.
Elbert “was floored that Cal Poly didn’t have one” when she arrived. She offered the possible explanation that because Cal Poly was started around 1910 when the division between the sexes was the greatest, they taught men’s work and women’s work. She said Cal Poly was so good at this that they didn’t need to attract new students and there was no push to change.
Mustang Daily news item about the new Liberal Arts minor program in Women's Studies, 02/13/91
Women's Studies Minor to help correct old bias
Advisor says Poly teaches 'men's studies.'
By Anne McMahon
Staff Writer
Since September, Poly's curriculum has had a new feature -- a women's studies minor.
It was designed to provide students with an understanding of women's contributions to various areas of human life, and women's place in history and society.
In response to questions concerning the need for such a program, Willi Coleman, one of the program's faculty advisers, said "The program is legitimate because all of what we teach has been men's studies.
I challenge them to spend one week in my classroom, on any campus and listen to the lectures that are given."
Coleman, the coordinator for the Center for Women and Ethnic Issues at Poly, said that traditional teaching suggests that women have had no part in creating American culture, which she said is "an incorrect, if not totally biased, view of American culture."
The program has more than a dozen faculty advisers. They represent several departments including English, social science, political science, history and psychology and human development.
Some of the classes to be offered next quarter are: Psychology of Women (Psy 314), Human Cultural Adaptation (Ant 360), Women Writers (Engl 345) and Sociology of Sex Roles (Soc 311).
Mustang Daily news item about the Women's Studies name and status change, Winter 2008.
College of Liberal Arts adds new department based on gender
By: Mica VincentIssue date: 4/7/08 Section: News
The Cal Poly Women's Studies Program will implement two big changes effective next quarter: It will officially become its own department and will change its name to be more indicative of its objective.
The soon-to-be women's and gender studies department will be the 17th department in the College of Liberal Arts. The status comes with several privileges, according to program director Mary Armstrong, who will serve as department chair.
"This change for us is a kind of catching up to reality," said Armstrong, who explained that the program has operated independently for years. With its own budget, schedule, office and staff support, the program was overdue for the upgrade, Armstrong said.
"It sends a message that the academic study of gender and sexuality is a critical area of study," she continued.
The change will allow the program to create its own standards and hire teachers who can teach women's and gender studies classes exclusively, although no hires are planned. As of now, only four permanent faculty members teach the classes and use joint-appointment format, where two-thirds of their classes must be taught in another department.
In addition to being recognized as its own discipline, the department will change its name to reflect the curriculum and attract more male students.
"We study gender from every angle," Armstrong said. "We want people to know that men are welcome and an important part of what we do."
Religious studies professor Devin Kuhn, who was hired in September, said she is very excited about being a part of the department from its inception.
"I hope that the title will indicate more inclusiveness," said Kuhn, a permanent faculty member.
Armstrong was hired in 2000 as the first permanent faculty member for the women's studies program. That year, only two students took the women's studies minor. Thirty-five students are now minoring in women's studies, but Armstrong said there are no plans to create a major in the discipline.
The decision to create the women's and gender studies department was passed by the College of Liberal Arts Chairs Council and all academic deans of the colleges unanimously, then passed through the Academic Senate with only two votes opposing it.
"There were lots of hoops that we had to go through to be a department," said Armstrong, who added that the College of Liberal Arts dean and the university president were very supportive of the decision and approved it very quickly.
While the name change won't be officially recognized until the 2009 catalog, those registering for classes will see the changes begin next quarter. The classes won't change much, but Armstrong said there are plans to add classes that focus on sustainability and global issues, as well as classes that continue to examine race and sexuality as they relate to gender.
The women's studies program was founded in 1990. Currently, 25 faculty members from nine different departments teach core and elective courses.
Cal Poly timeline about diversity and Cal Poly from the 2000-01 Cal Poly Centennial Web Site (no longer on-line), Page 1.
| Our Past | Cal Poly Diversity |
|---|---|
| 1st Woman Faculty: Gwendolyn Stewart | 1903 |
| 1904 | 1st Japanese-American Student: Eizo Kondo |
| 1st Women Awarded Vocational Degrees | 1906 |
| 1907 | 1st International Exchange Students |
| 1st Latino-American Students | 1908 |
| 1909 | 1st Women's Basketball Team |
| 1st Filipino-American Student: Alberto Concepcion | 1912 |
| 1920's | 1st Chinese-American Students |
| 1st Native American Students | 1920's |
| 1920's | 1st African-American Students |
| Japanese-American Students Interned | 1942 |
Cal Poly timeline about diversity and Cal Poly from the 2000-01 Cal Poly Centennial Web Site (no longer on-line), Page 2.
| 1951 | 1st African-American Receives Masters Degree: Frank Ross |
| 1st Woman receives B.A. Degree: Elizabeth Hanlon | 1956 |
| 1956 | 1st Woman receives Master's Degree: Verna Rogers |
| 1st Woman Awarded Scholarship in Electronics: Linda Miller | 1961 |
| 1978 | Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers is formed |
| Society of Women Engineers is formed | 1979 |
| 1988 | A women's studies minor was proposed to Cal Poly |
| Ethnic Studies Program Developed | 1990 |
| 1990 | The women's studies minor became effective |
| American Indian Science and Engineering Society is formed | 1991 |
| Ann J. Cotton recieved the first women's studies minor at Cal Poly | 1992 |
| 1994 | Ethnic Studies Minor Approved |
Women's Studies flyer outlining minor, outside page
Note: The following lists of courses refer to the course composition of WS minor prior to the change in status from WS Program to WGS Department. For a list of current requirements and courses, go to our WGS Minor page.
Women’s Studies Required Courses
20 UNITS REQUIRED
WS 301 Introduction to Women Studies, 4 units, GE D5, USCP
WS 450 Feminist Theory USCP 4 units
CHOOSE THREE:
WS 311 Women in Cross Cultural Perspectives, 4 Units, GE D5
WS 340 Sexuality Studies GE D5 4 Units
WS/ES 350 Gender, Race, Science and Technology, 4 Units, GE F, USCP
WS/RELS 370 Religion, Gender and Society 4 Units, GE C4, USCP
WS 401 Seminar in Women’s Studies, 4 Units
WS/HIST 434 American Women’s History to 1870, 4 Units
WS/HIST 435 American Women’s History From 1870, 4 Units, USCP
PSY 314 Psychology of Women 4 Units
SOC 311 Sociology of Gender 4 Units
Women’s and Gender Studies
Elective Courses
8 UNITS REQUIRED
COMS 421 Gender and Communication 4 Units
ENGL 345 Women Writers of the 20th Century, 4 Units, GE C4, USCP
ENGL 349 Gender in 20th Century Literature GE C4, USCP 4 Units
ENGL 382 LGBT in Literature & Media 4 Units
ENGL 439 Gender in Medieval Literature 4 Units
ENGL 449 African American Women Writers 4 Units
ENGL 459 Literature and the Goddess 4 Units
ENGL 469 Women’s Rhetoric(s): Definitions, Contexts, Issues, 4 Units
ENGL 495 Language and Gender 4 Units
ES 300 Chicano(a) Non-Fiction Literature GE C4, USCP 4 Units
ES 325 Sex and Gender in African American Communities, 4 Units, USCP
HIST 445 The History of Prostitution 4 Units
HIST 458 Gender and Sexuality in Modern Europe 4 Units
KINE 323 Sport and Gender GE D5, USCP 4 Units
MU 328 Women in Music GE C4 4 Units
PHIL 336 Ethics, Gender, and Society GE C4 USCP 4 Units
POLS 310 Politics of Ethnicity and Gender USCP 4 Units
POLS 457 Politics of Reproductive Policy 4 Units
PSY 314 Psychology of Women 4 Units
SOC 311 Sociology of Gender 4 Units
SOC 351 Women in East Asia 4 Units
TH 310 Women’s Theater GE C4 4 Units
WS 311 Women in Cross Cultural Perspectives GED5 4 Units
WS/ART 316 Woman As Subject/Object in Art History 4 Units
WS 340 Sexuality Studies GE D5 4 Units
WS/ES 350 Gender, Race, Science and Technology, 4 Units, GE F, USCP
WS/RELS 370 Religion, Gender and Society 4 Units,
GE C4, USCP
WS 401 Seminar in Women’s & Gender Studies 4 Units
WS/HIST 434 American Women’s History to 1870 4 Units
WS/HIST 435 American Women’s History From 1870, 4 Units, USCP
Building 47, Room 25H
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-0875
(805) 756-1525, Fax (805) 756-2230
Email: womst@calpoly.edu
Web site: www.calpoly.edu/~womst
Women's Studies flyer outlining minor, inside page
Women’s and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field which focuses on issues of gender, examines the contributions and status of women, and seeks to broaden the academic interrogation of sex roles and gender ideals. It enables students to analyze how gender and sexuality, along with race, class and ethnicity (as well as other markers of identity), shape women’s and men’s lives. Women’s and Gender Studies offers a methodology that is interdisciplinary, multicultural, and feminist.
Women’s and Gender Studies at Cal Poly seeks to create an environment that supports and fosters the intellectual achievement of faculty and students interested in the study of women and gender. The program embraces the intellectual perspectives of faculty and students across the spectrum of Cal Poly’s majors and colleges. The program works with Women’s Programs, The Multicultural Center, and other campus and community organizations to promote feminist scholarship and activism.
The Women’s Studies Program at Cal Poly was founded in 1990. In 2008, Women’s Studies became the Women’s and Gender Studies Department. The department currently offers many courses on a wide variety of subjects across numerous disciplines. The Women’s and Gender Studies Department sponsors frequent academic events, including the Faculty Lecture Series. We offer a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies, as well.
Women’s and Gender Studies Minor
The Women’s and Gender Studies minor provides a thorough, interdisciplinary background in feminist thought and theory, and teaches students to both question and contribute to knowledge from multiple perspectives. The minor encourages active student learning and emphasizes sophisticated engagement with issues of gender and sexuality from a variety of perspectives.
The minor program combines core courses and electives to provide involved students with an education in feminist scholarship that is both focused and interdisciplinary. Core courses in the minor emphasize fundamental concepts of feminist scholarship. Electives are offered in nine departments and programs.
The minor in Women’s and Gender Studies has many uses. Students who complete the minor understand how social, historical, and psychological forces, organized by the central concept of gender, shape human experience. They attain a fuller understanding of human behavior, culture, and society made possible only by investigating women’s lives. They gain the ability to transfer the critical and analytical skills they acquire in the study of gender and society to other classes, beyond the campus to other activities, and eventually to professional careers.
Activities
The Women and Gender Studies Department sponsors a bi-quarterly Faculty Lecture Series, where various Cal Poly faculty share their current research on gender and gender-related issues. Faculty from across the university are invited to participate.
Women’s and Gender Studies administers seven scholarships each year that identify exceptional students at Cal Poly who contribute to the rights of women and campus and in the community. The scholarship recipients are honored at the annual Women of the Year Luncheon.
Women’s and Gender Studies also offers various public lectures and events throughout the year.
Contacts
Mary A. Armstrong
Women’s & Gender Studies, Chair
Associate Professor of English and Women’s & Gender Studies
(805) 756-2529, maarmstr@calpoly.edu
Andrea Nash
Administrative Support Coordinator of Women’s & Gender Studies
(805) 756-1525 anash@calpoly.edu
Resolution on Department Status and Name Change for Women's Studies Program, 01/22/08
Adopted:
ACADEMIC SENATE
of
CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY
San Luis Obispo, CA
RESOLUTION ON DEPARTMENT STATUS
AND NAME CHANGE FOR WOMEN'S STUDIES PROGRAM
WHEREAS, The Women's Studies program is presently an academic unit located in the
College of Liberal Arts; and
WHEREAS, A change in status and name from Women's Studies program to "Department of
Women's and Gender Studies" is being proposed; and
WHEREAS, The hctional modifications in changing to department status are provided in the
attachment to this resolution; and
WHEREAS, Said change in status and name has been approved by the College of Liberal Arts
Chairs Council and the Academic Deans Council; therefore be it
RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of Cal Poly endorse the change in status and name
from Women's Studies program to Department of Women's and Gender
Studies.
Proposed by: Cal Poly Women's Studies Program and the
College of Liberal Arts
Date: October 9, 2007
Minutes of the Academic Senate indicating adoption of the Resolution on Department Status and Name Change for Women's Studies Program, 02/12/08
B. Resolution on Department Status and Name Change for Women’s Studies Program (Women’s Studies Program and College of Liberal Arts): Armstrong presented this resolution, which endorses the name and status change to Department of Women’s and Gender Studies. Resolution will return as a second reading item at the next Academic Senate meeting.
Cal Poly Report news item about the Women's Studies name and status change, 04/03/08
Cal Poly College of Liberal Arts Adds New Department: Women's and Gender Studies
SAN LUIS OBISPO -- After almost two decades as an independent academic unit, the Cal Poly Women's Studies Program is becoming the Women's and Gender Studies Department, the 17th department in the College of Liberal Arts.
The Women's Studies Program was founded in 1990, a time when issues of gender and sexuality were becoming increasingly commonplace throughout the United States. In 2000 the program hired its first permanent faculty line, Mary A. Armstrong, who will now serve as department chair.
The program recently expanded its faculty and course offerings. Currently 25 faculty members from nine different departments teach core and elective courses in the Women's and Gender Studies Department.
Along with the increased status that comes with departmental standing, the name change from "Women's Studies" to "Women's and Gender Studies" reflects the new department's commitment to serving all people and to investigating gender issues from every perspective, Armstrong said.
"Sometimes students or faculty will ask if men can be involved with women's studies," said Armstrong, "While we will always highlight research addressing the status and contributions of women, issues of masculinity are a critical part of the work we do, as are issues of sexuality."
Along with a minor program, the Women's and Gender Studies Department offers an ongoing faculty lecture series, supports visiting guest speakers throughout the year, and awards seven annual student scholarships and the Barbara Hallman Faculty Award.
