Bachelor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program

The Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program at Washington and Lee University offers students both the opportunity to complete a multi-disciplinary minor in feminist and gender studies, and a stimulating co-curricular environment in which to develop as intellectual and community leaders. Founded in 2001, the WGSS is a vibrant academic program that links the classroom with the world and offers the theoretical basis for activism and social change.

A demanding introductory course and disciplinary distribution requirements give all students a sound theoretical orientation to defining and articulating concepts and practices in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, while diverse course offerings from professors in disciplines that range from psychology to English, from Romance languages to political science, philosophy to sociology and anthropology, make it easy for students to draw connections between their major fields of studies and the evolving work of gender scholars.

Our faculty encourages students to see their studies as relevant to their everyday lives and important for understanding and responding to social justice issues. Students do just that--in a math student's investigation into why so few women study math in college, in a fraternity member's paper analyzing how his fraternity brothers' drinking habits shape male privilege, or in a missionary's daughter's attempt to better understand how a feminist might read the Bible.

The flexible Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies capstone requirement allows students to pursue their particular interests with the kind of intensity that turns classroom competence into an abiding passion.

The College is the heart of the Washington and Lee liberal arts education. It is the home of twenty-one departments, four interdepartmental majors, and seven interdepartmental programs. Students may earn either the B.A. or B.S. degree in thirty-seven different majors and may also pursue one or more of thirty-six minors.

The more than 140 faculty members in the College, in departments ranging from Music to Geology to Religion, are dedicated to nurturing the intellectual capacity and curiosity of our students in an environment of collaborative inquiry. All first-year students are members of the College, and typically take a range of courses in the liberal arts in preparation for selecting a major course of study.