Dec 03, 2024  
USC Catalogue 2016-2017 
    
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USC Catalogue 2016-2017 [ARCHIVED CATALOGUE]

Gender Studies

Return to: USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences  

The Gender Studies major is designed for students drawn to the interdisciplinary study of gender and sexuality. In exploring how gender and sexuality have operated across time and cultures, students will engage with the approaches and methodologies of established disciplines: sociology, literature, history, political theory, religion; as well as interdisciplinary fields like queer studies and ethnic studies. Our curriculum analyzes how gender and sexuality operate in politics, popular culture, the workplace, health, science, sports, intimate life, and the very production of knowledge itself. Our classes emphasize that gender and sexuality are not stand-alone categories but rather take shape through their intersection with outer relations of power, including race and ethnicity, religion, class, and nationality. Majoring in Gender Studies prepares students for graduate school in the social sciences and the humanities as well as in law, business, and education. In addition, the major and each of our several minors prepare students for work in governmental and non-governmental organizations, communications and the media, arts and public service.  

Mark Taper Hall of Humanities 422
(213) 740-8286
FAX: (213) 740-6168
Email: gender@dornsife.usc.edu
Director: Alice Echols, PhD*

Faculty

Barbra Streisand Professor of Contemporary Gender Studies and Professor of History and Gender Studies: Alice Echols, PhD* (History)

Professors: Joseph Boone, PhD (English); Jack Halberstam, PhD* (American Studies & Ethnicity); Sharon Hays, PhD (Sociology); Michael Messner, PhD (Sociology); Rhacel Parrenas, PhD (Sociology); Sherry Marie Velasco, PhD (Spanish and Portuguese)

Associate Professors: Tim Biblarz, PhD (Sociology); Sheila Briggs, PhD (Religion); Ange-Marie Hancock, PhD (Political Science); Sunyoung Park, PhD (East Asian Languages and Cultures); Karen L. Tongson, PhD (English)

Assistant Professor: Katie Hasson, PhD

Gender Studies Advisory Board

Professors: Elinor Accampo, PhD (History); Lisa Bitel, PhD (History); David Cruz, PhD (Law); Diane Ghirardo, PhD (Architecture); Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, PhD (Sociology); Janet Hoskins, PhD (Anthropology); Eunice Howe, PhD (Art History); Peggy Kamuf, PhD (French and Italian); Susan McCabe, PhD (English); Azade-Ayse Rorlich, PhD (History); Eliz Sanasarian, PhD (Political Science); Hilary Schor, PhD (English); Ellen Seiter, PhD (Cinematic Arts); David Sloane, PhD (Public Policy); Melora Sundt, PhD (Education); Ruth Wallach, MLS (USC Libraries); Holly Willis, PhD (Cinematic Arts); Diane Winston, PhD (Journalism and Religion)

Associate Professors: Marjorie Becker, PhD (History); Bettine Birge, PhD (East Asian Languages and Cultures); Kim Buchanan, LLM, JSD (Law); Tracy Fullerton, PhD (Cinematic Arts); Alice Gambrell, PhD (English); Sharon Gillerman, PhD (Hebrew Union College); Kara Keeling, PhD (Cinematic Arts); Paul Lerner, PhD (History); Tara McPherson, PhD (Cinematic Arts); Lori Meeks, PhD (Religion); Sunyoung Park, PhD (East Asian Languages and Cultures)

Assistant Professors: Katie Hasson, PhD (Sociology); Diana Williams, PhD (History)

Lecturer: M.G. Lord, PhD (Professional Writing)

Administrative Associates: Susan Harris, PhD (Joint Educational Project); Brie Loskota (Center for Religion and Civic Culture)

*Recipient of a university-wide or college teaching award.

Undergraduate Degrees

Internship

A special feature of the undergraduate program is the internship, a required class for majors in which students gain valuable job skills and professional connections. Students have chosen internships related to gender and sexuality at health clinic, Hollywood studios, law offices, and the ONE Archives, the world’s largest LGBTQ archive. The major also includes a capstone class, which offers students the opportunity to study intensively with a professor in her or his current area of research. 

Minor in Gender and Social Justice

The minor in Gender and Social Justice is tailored for students interested in careers in the area of social policy. The minor is unique in its focus on the ways in which large-scale social and economic processes such as neoliberalism, globalization, and economic precarity are connected and gendered. Topics include gender and violence; human trafficking; migration; reproductive rights; global human rights in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity; the prison state; prostitution and sex work. Students will examine the difficulties of translating feminist theorizing into social policy.

Minor in LGBTQ Studies

The interdisciplinary minor in LGBTQ Studies establishes sexuality as a critical category of analysis for humanists and social scientists. The minor enables students to explore the shifting social organization and cultural meanings of same-sex sexuality and cross-gender identification.

Graduate Degrees

Gender Studies also offers a graduate certificate, a credential that is increasingly necessary for tenure-track positions in gender and sexuality departments and in disciplines searching in the area of gender and sexuality. We encourage graduate students to participate in conferences and to organize campus lectures. Travel grants are available through the program as well. Students can apply to mentoring workshops run by the program and the Center for Feminist Research.

 

Programs

Bachelor’s Degree

Minor

University Certificate

Courses

Gender Studies