Academic Requirements

GSS Minor

Every will student completes a minor in Gender & Sexuality Studies (GSS) in a will-specific way, which includes a supervised internship (described below). Common coursework provides students with theoretical frameworks, intellectual community, and the tools to critically analyze and address pressing social justice issues through an intersectional lens.

The GSS minor complements all other majors and minors. will students represent the School of Arts and Sciences, the Robins School of Business, and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. GSS teaches students to think creatively and critically across disciplines, preparing students for a wide range of careers.

Internships

Students pursue internships that reflect their professional interests and may complete them in Richmond, around the country, or while studying abroad. Students intern at diverse sites across many fields of interest, ranging from non-profits and NGOs to law firms and hospitals to Fortune 500 companies and government offices.

Required Courses

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  • GSS 200 - Introduction to Gender & Sexuality Studies (1 unit)
    Introduction to the broad, interdisciplinary field of Gender & Sexuality Studies. Special attention will be paid to the meaning and history of the terms "gender" and "sexuality" and to the political movements mobilized around those terms. Students will read both contemporary and historical materials and both primary and secondary sources.
  • GSS 201 - will Colloquium: Gender, Race, & Activism (1 unit)
    Explores the link between knowledge/power and between theory/practice by examining and applying foundational terms and concepts central to social justice work.

    Prerequisites: Enrollment in the will Program.
  • GSS 280 - Gender and Work (1 unit)
    Examines the gendered nature of both historical and contemporary workplace issues from a global perspective. Gender and workplace issues will be examined from theoretical, historical, comparative perspectives.
  • GSS 301 - will Senior Seminar (1/2 unit)
    Community based learning course for students to connect GSS theory and praxis, a central tenet of the will program, and reflect on their GSS learning.

    Prerequisites: will program participant.
  • GSS 388 - Internship (1/2 unit)
    No more than .5 units of internship may be applied to the Gender & Sexuality Studies major or minor. No more than 1.5 units of internship in any one department and 3.5 units of internship overall may be counted toward required degree units.

    Prerequisites: Permission of department.
  • 1 GSS elective (1 unit)
    Details dependent upon elective.