Women's and Gender Studies

It's your time to discover 

Dr Strand speaks at a podium, others stand alongside

The Women's and Gender Studies department at Aquinas College offers a versatile minor that educates students on women's historical and contemporary roles, experiences, and contributions across cultures; the creation and perpetuation of gender in human societies; and the intersections of gender with other categories of difference and identity such as race, class, nation, and sexuality.  In doing so, Women’s and Gender Studies courses also explore feminism as a historical activist movement and as a critical inquiry.

 

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Gender, Identity, and Sexualities Symposium

This academic conference showcases undergraduate student work from any discipline related to gender, identity, and/or sexuality.

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Explore Women's and gender studies at AQ

  1. Students will identify and explain the historic and contemporary contributions of feminist thought to make women and gender visible in our society and across global cultures.
  2. Students will understand the role of gender and gender norms and expectations in shaping many spheres of life (e.g. family, workplace, science, religion, politics, arts, and education).
  3. Students will demonstrate an awareness of the cultural and social construction of gender and its intersections with other categories of difference and identity such as race, ethnicity, nationality, class, sexuality, and ability, and how these conditions shape human experience.
  4. Students will use feminist intellectual frameworks to think critically about the world, challenge stereotypes and intersecting systems of privilege and inequality, and advocate for social change.

Meet our Team!

Name Title Department Phone
Amy Strand Associate Professor Women's Studies (616) 632-1992

Career Preparation based on leadership

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Jane Hibbard Idema Women's and Gender Studies Center

The Jane Hibbard Idema Women's and Gender Studies Center prepares students to become catalysts for change and voices for feminist ideals, both in our society and around the globe.

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Student Clubs

Student-driven programs identify, discuss, and respond to issues surrounding gender from students’ perspectives. Join a community of students who share your interests.

Volunteers

Events and Opportunities

 

Women's and Gender Studies partners with many departments across campus to bring you opportunities to get involved and learn more.View the event calendar

 

ImAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES

Women’s and Gender Studies prepares students for leadership and careers. Our alumni work for the Illinois Housing Council, Team Detroit, the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians, Priority Health, and other diverse organizations. 

In Women’s and Gender Studies, students creatively combine academics and their passions. Students have combined Women's and Gender Studies, Spanish, and English to create a tutoring program for Spanish-speaking women in Grand Rapids and go on to work for the Literacy Center of West Michigan, and they have combined Psychology, Art, and Women's and Gender Studies to work in child and family counseling settings.

Common Career Paths

  • Teaching
  • Research
  • Community education
  • Information/library science
  • Higher education administration and student support services:
    • Women and gender resource center, LGBTQIA+ resource center, admissions, academic advising, development, international education and study abroad, career services, residence life, student activities, sorority and fraternity life, orientation, leadership

Employers

  • Universities and colleges
  • Women’s resource centers
  • Non-profit organizations
  • Government programs (e.g., classes for displaced homemakers, parenting, GED prep, etc).
  • Libraries (for women’s studies departments, women’s organizations, museums, etc.)

Source: What Can I Do With This Major?

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Internships and Externships

Learn about the experiences other Women's and Gender Studies minors, who interned at orgnizations like Artists Creating Together and the Great Grand Rapids Women's History Council or shadowed alums in their workplaces.

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Alumni Profiles

Hear what students in the Women's and Gender Studies Program have to say about their experiences in their own words and see where they landed post graduation.