With 40 minors to choose from, some Hopkins students may not consider the program in Women, Gender and Sexuality very useful. Director Paola Marrati disagrees.
"It's an intellectual adventure," she said of the minor.
Combining the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, literature and many others, Women, Gender and Sexuality is a small interdisciplinary minor that any student, regardless of major, can pursue. The program began in 1988 and just focused on Women's Studies. In 1999, the program expanded to become Women, Gender and Sexuality (WGS). Marrati estimates there are about 17 to 22 minors currently, though this fluctuates yearly. Since 2005, the program has never had less than 15 minors. These students come from a diverse group of majors such as Writing Seminars, Anthropology, English and Biology.
According to the program's website, the goal of the minor is to "promote interdisciplinary scholarship on women, gender, sexuality and related issues." The minor requires six courses, with at least one chosen from the "core," which includes Feminist and Queer Theory, The Poetics of Politics and Sex, a course dealing with religion and a course taught by a highly vetted graduate student, respectively. Many courses are offered each semester and most are cross-listed with other departments such as English, Film and Media Studies and History.
For the Spring 2012 semester, courses such as "Economics of Discrimination," "Human Sexual Orientation" and "Gender and Sexuality in Early Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean" are offered.
The minor is very flexible and tries to synthesize its field with the array of academic offerings on campus, from the humanities to the hard sciences.
Marrati believes this flexibility makes Hopkins' program particularly strong.
"We're trying to follow gender and sex as it follows in different fields," she said. "We're strong interdisciplinary. Through sociology, anthropology, public health — we're trying to provide a forum."
Former Associate Director of WGS Aaron Goodfellow, a member of the Steering Committee, the decision-making body for the program, believes Hopkins' program is unique from other WGS programs at larger universities.
"It's special in its capacity to bend and flex with the larger fields represented by the program," he said. "The program can easily pick up on those sparks and new developments and offer curriculum in those subject areas. We're extremely flexible and mobile. You can tailor this minor to any field you are pursuing."
Unlike a department for a major, a program for a minor cannot hire and appoint faculty. According to Goodfellow, the administration of a program is more decentralized — but WGS uses this to its advantage.
"There's a tendency to think of small programs as lacking," he said. "But WGS is the opposite. It's relatively decentralized in its administration and we rely on grad fellows to teach coursework. We see these as great strengths of the program. The grad students are considered colleagues."
This relationship between students and faculty in the program sets WGS apart. Goodfellow said that because the program is small, there is more interaction between professors, grad students and undergraduates than in larger programs. Goodfellow said the learning goes back and forth.
"I learn a lot from reading student papers," he said. "We try to cultivate that philosophy."
Goodfellow also emphasized that the program is very cohesive.
"The pedagogy is not broken down between research, faculty and undergraduates," he said. "The conversations we are having in the speaker series are ongoing with graduate and undergraduate students. It is all integrated."
Goodfellow said that one of the key differences between the WGS minor at Hopkins and the program at larger universities is that there is no canonical text or no pre-set foundation in terms of curriculum. Classes change every year based on what's current in the field, instead of sticking to a permanent curriculum like older programs tend to do.
"Women, Gender and Sexuality is an incredibly fluid field," he said. "The subject matter changes very quickly. By not having a strictly defined set of texts, we can stay abreast of the changes in the field. We're at the cutting edge of the field, which is not typical for major universities."
This fall, the program is having a Gender History Workshop, which invites students and faculty to present and discuss concepts about gender and sexuality. Marrati cites these workshops as one of the defining features of the minor.
But in a depressed economy, where students may feel pressure to declare a more traditional minor like engineering or business, Marrati still believes the WGS program at Hopkins has a lot to offer graduates. She cited government, health and education as fields that deal with gender issues.
"You don't know what kinds of skills you'll need when you enter the job market," she said. "WGS is very helpful across all professions. You may find it useful to know the problems of gender in your field. It's not a purely academic enterprise."
Goodfellow agrees.
"If you want to work in public health, for example, the program will allow you to augment what you're doing in your major. It's about critical perspective."
Many students also participate in internships in many fields. The program partners with Hopkins' Center for Social Concern to provide a Summer Internship Practicum. Students who pursue this work with the Center to find local organizations in Baltimore that deal with everything from teenage pregnancy to domestic violence.
After Hopkins, Marrati said many students choose to pursue a graduate school education, often in sociology, anthropology or philosophy. Some even apply to medical school.
"Those programs increasingly offer specialization with WGS," she said.
As far as the future of the program, Goodfellow said it is anyone's guess how the program will evolve over the years. The programs in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences are currently undergoing an evaluation in the form of the Futures Seminars. Goodfellow said that the program is up for reinvention because of the new Krieger dean, along with new voices in the program's administration.
"Programs here like to reinvent themselves," he said. "It's a moment of great opportunity and uncertainty. We're at a peak right now."
