My Degree

This course will explore how girls ('tweens and teens in particular), who are often dismissed as being too young and/or naïve to be real changemakers, harness their rhetorical power as activists for a variety of social and political issues and advocate for themselves and their communities. We will analyze the specific strategies they use, the forms their activism takes, and the relationships they build with their audiences through their protests. We also will consider the ways the girls’ voices, bodies, and lived experiences impact public perception and reception of their rhetorical work. Ultimately, this course will help us identify our own ways to bring about social change through rhetorical action and further promote civic engagement through feminist activist rhetoric.

To analyze the relative power and impact of women in contemporary politics. To examine the most formidable hurdles to, and most promising opportunities for, gender political equality. Current research and theories about women and gender in domestic and global political contexts. Covers gender politics as it relates to political culture, changes in media, growing regional (urban-rural-suburban) divisions, political institutions and influential public policies.

Health equity is the most central theoretical and applied concept guiding global and public health today. Students will cultivate an advanced appreciation for the pursuit of health equity for all people with an emphasis on reproductive justice. This course examines the intersections of gender, race and reproductive rights as it has been constructed locally, nationally, and globally with specific attention to the implications for public and global health. We will examine how gender roles, sexuality, and reproductive freedom are influenced and constrained by social, historical, and cultural forces in a race, class and gender framework. Finally, this semester the course will embed active community engaged learning opportunities through public health projects with local and national partners: JustUs Health and the New York State Department of Health.

To provide students with an overview of the way U.S. federal and state law regulates sexuality and gender identity, and related aspects of social behavior. In particular, to examine the way that the law provides different rights, privileges, and responsibilities dependent upon one's sexual orientation and/or gender identity. To further one's understanding of the relationship between the law, as part of the public sphere, and sexuality and gender identity, which are often understood as predominantly a part of the private sphere. Topical areas may include, but are not limited to, the conceptualization of sexual orientation and gender identity, historical trends, Constitutional law, employment, marriage, health care, military policy, law enforcement, and hate crime legislation.

To increase awareness of the relationship of communication and gender; the portrayal of gender in public discourse; the influence of gender socialization in developing communicative behaviors and interpretive frames; and the implications of societal response to communication as it relates to gender. Examination of research into gender differences and communication; examination of public messages as they influence perceptions of women and men; analysis of historical processes as they have influenced current perceptions of gender.

To introduce students to the basic aspects of reproductive biology, biological bases of gender differences, and women's health. The course will also provide a context for examining the social and political framework within which science is done, and the extent to which scientific studies may be conducted as objective or value-neutral activities. Course topics will include reproductive anatomy and physiology, sexual development and differentiation, hormones and reproductive cycle regulation, pregnancy and childbearing, reproductive technologies, STDs and AIDS, women and aging, and women and cancer. Students will practice methods of scientific inquiry and analysis, and assess the strengths and limitations of scientific approaches toward understanding the biology of women.

Students will be introduced to feminist perspectives that represent current trends in the discipline, especially as they pertain to global South/Third World contexts; study how globalization, as an ongoing process of social and economic change, impacts gendered practices, ideologies and forms of politics; develop analytic skills through dialoguing about films, memoir, ethnography, essays and articles focused on gender issues in the global South.