Gender Studies
Gender Studies is an exciting interdisciplinary program with a strong presence on campus through invited speakers, discussion panels, performances and other events. Students will develop a variety of skills to analyze and integrate theories, concepts and real-world evidence. You will learn how to become activists and advocates for gender and LGBTQ equality. The program fuses a strong academic program with co-curricular programming and activist goals, and challenges students to rethink their own understandings of how the world works. A wide range of courses allows students to focus on their particular study interests to fulfill the minor's requirements.
Why Gender Studies at Stetson University?
Gender Studies students will carry out independent research projects in the capstone course for the minor. The program supports other high-impact learning practices such as internships and teaching apprenticeships.
Our program gives several awards annually, including:
- The June Brooks Award for Activism: presented to students who demonstrate significant activist work on behalf of causes related to gender, race, class or sexuality.
- The Ann Morris Essay and Creative Writing Awards.
- The Jacquelyn Hogue Gentry Award: presented to a graduating senior with a demonstrated commitment to the advancement of women's issues.
- Outstanding Senior Award.
Our Gender Studies program supports and works with student organizations such as the student chapter of the National Organization for Women, and we facilitate connections for students with local organizations such as the League of Women Voters, which in 2012 sponsored two students to attend the League Legislative Summit in Tallahassee to help lobby state legislators. The program also cultivates connections and collaborates with the Daytona Beach chapter of the American Association of University Women, and regularly recommends students to participate in the AAUW's annual National Conference for College Women Student Leaders.
To supplement its academic focus, Gender Studies organizes significant co-curricular events. Speakers in recent years have included:
- Norma Ramos, an anti-trafficking activist.
- Julia Serano, a transgender activist and performer.
- Eve Ensler, author of the acclaimed play "The Vagina Monologues."
- The Guerilla Girls, an activist performance group.
- Jackson Katz, an anti-sexual violence activist, educator and cultural theorist.
- The Core Ensemble, a music theatre troupe that chronicles the lives and times of powerful African-American women.
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"We have a lot of (resources) available for undergraduates to pursue to pursue independent research, if that’s something they’re interested in."
Sarah Hollman ’18 Political Science with a minor in Gender Studies, currently PhD candidate at University of Florida
Career Outcomes
The minor in Gender Studies is an excellent preparation for various academic programs and career opportunities. Students gain perspectives and critical reading, writing and thinking skills that will help them in graduate school, including women's studies or gender studies programs, any liberal arts graduate degree, law school, business graduate programs and more. The perspectives students encounter in gender studies are useful preparation for careers in business, education, legal fields, social service or the arts.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, graduates with a cultural and gender studies degree find work in management, educational instruction and library services, business and financial operations, office and administrative support, and legal fields. The median annual wage in 2019 for workers with a cultural and gender studies degree was $55,000.
Faculty from across the university teach in the program and are recognized scholars and commended classroom instructors:
- Melinda Hall, PhD ,Vanderbilt University, Director of Gender Studies
- Asal Johnson, PhD, MPH, Florida State University
- Danielle Lindner, PhD, University of Central Florida
- Emily Mieras, PhD, College of William and Mary
- Susan Pepper-Bates, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
- Elisabeth Poeter, PhD, University of California at Berkeley
- Mary Pollock, PhD, University of Texas
- Kelly Smith, PhD, Northcentral University
Students in the Gender Studies minor will take such classes as Studies in Gender, Race, Class and Sexuality in the U.S.; Global Perspectives on Women and Gender; Gender and Film; Teaching Apprenticeship; or Social Issues (which examines a range of contemporary gender issues with topics changing each year and possibly including gay or lesbian history, women's health, the gender construction of children, the glass ceiling, gender roles in music, or gender, race, and sports). Other offerings include Internship in Gender Studies, Research Seminar and more.
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