On-Ground/On-Line
Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies
at Southern Connecticut State University

Overview        Requirements         Program        Why Pursue?        Contact Us!
 

Overview

Students may earn a twelve credit Advanced Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies through a hybrid on-ground/on-line program. The first three credits are earned during a required two-week long summer residency on the SCSU campus, during which time students take a course in Women’s Studies Foundations and build relationships with faculty and other Women’s Studies students. The other nine credits are earned by taking three on-line courses offered during the academic year. Each individual student shall choose among the course offerings according to intellectual and/or professional interests. This program will primarily serve students who are unable to reside and study in the New Haven area for a sustained period of time. It also provides opportunities to local students who are unable to pursue on-ground graduate work in Women’s Studies due to work, family, or other obligations or impediments.

As in the traditional on-ground graduate degree and certificate programs, we will continue with the “cohort” model, that is, with each entering class taking the introductory summer residency course together. This is to ensure a feminist pedagogical approach, underscoring the importance of community. The plan of study integrates scholarly inquiry, critical problem-solving methods, professional training, and the development of cooperative leadership skills.

Graduate students may pursue the certificate as an elective option in a graduate degree program or as a free-standing interdisciplinary certificate for individuals holding bachelor’s degrees.

In the near future, the following departments and programs will be offering on-line interdisciplinary graduate courses in Women’s Studies:

· Anthropology
· Art
· Business
· Educational Foundations
· English
· Geography
· History
· Library
· Mathematics
· Media Studies
· Psychology
· Social Work
· Sociology
· Women’s Studies

Back to top

Requirements

The Hybrid On-Ground/On-Line Advanced Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies requires twelve credits of course work, consisting of the required on-ground summer course in Women’s Studies Foundations and the choice of three other courses. To encourage interdisciplinary scholarship and learning, the Women’s Studies Program requires its certificate students to take no more than two courses in a single academic department. Students matriculated for a master’s degree who are pursuing the hybrid on-ground/on-line certificate as an elective option in their graduate degree program must take the three other courses outside their primary discipline. Students select these elective courses with advisors from the Women’s Studies Program and the student’s home department. All courses are at the graduate level unless the student obtains special permission.

Please contact the Women’s Studies Office to request a graduate program admissions packet which contains all of the information and required forms necessary for admission.

Back to top

The Women’s Studies Program

A 35-year-old program, the Women’s Studies Program is among the longest running women’s studies programs in the country. It offers an undergraduate women’s studies minor (since 1971), a master’s degree in women’s studies (since 1998), a graduate certificate in women’s studies (since 1998), and a new on-ground/on-line graduate certificate in women’s studies.

Students in the Women’s Studies Program at SCSU have the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities with other students, faculty members, community-based organizations, and professional and academic associations. Summer institutes allow graduate students to accelerate their degree/certificate completion.

Women’s Studies’ extracurricular programming includes “64 Days of Nonviolence” in the spring semester, of which the Women’s History Month celebration and the annual Women’s Studies graduate student conference are a part. Every fall, the Women’s Studies Program hosts an annual conference (since 1991), which draws hundreds of scholars, activists, and students from around the country and the world to the Southern campus. The purpose of the annual conference is to promote intellectual and activist exchanges among academics, community leaders, activists, professionals, and others interested in women’s studies issues.

Back to top

Why Pursue a WMS On-Ground/On-Line Graduate Certificate?

The hybrid on-ground/on-line Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies provides a compelling gender, race, and class analysis which can be applied effectively in the workplace. The on-ground component of this new certificate program provides what is often missing in a distance-learning environment and helps the cohort forge a sense of community, an important element in women’s studies classroom. The on-line component affords students the facility to do graduate work with little commute hassle and flexibility of doing course work at times convenient to their schedules. It complements the student’s master’s degree and offers sophisticated, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural academic training with practical applications for those who choose to seek professional credentialing such as a terminal degree in law and/or intend to pursue a doctorate leading to teaching and advanced research. The certificate program also serves those who have achieved competence in their field as educators, administrators, human resource and health professionals, entrepreneurs, business owners, and all those who wish to integrate the theory and practice of women’s studies into their profession. It is also suitable for students seeking personal enrichment.

Contact Us

The On-Ground/On-Line Women’s Studies Graduate Certificate Program Coordinators:

Yi-Chun Tricia Lin,
Director/Associate Professor of Women’s Studies
liny4@southernct.edu

Back to top