Central Components

The academic foundation provides students with a common intellectual framework through coursework in women, gender, and sexuality studies. As a result, students come to their work and conversations both in and out of the classroom with a similar knowledge base that ensures a nuanced understanding of feminist concepts and theories. Having a shared intellectual background allows students to delve deeper in their interactions as they work together to build and implement their ideas through the student leadership organization.

At UR, each student earns a minor in women, gender and sexuality studies (WGSS) in a will -specific way:

• Students take two will-only courses: one at the beginning of the program (will Colloquium: Gender, Race and Activism) and one the semester before they graduate (will Senior Seminar). The will experience is thus "bookended," creating intellectual community and continuity over the course of the four year-program.
• Students are required to take the course Gender and Work, which examines the gendered nature of both historical and contemporary workplace issues from a global perspective.
• Students are required to complete an internship either simultaneous with or subsequent to Gender and Work.

will cultivates student leadership and informed activism with an intentional focus on inclusive process. will gives students the tools to take initiative and integrate their classroom learning with out-of-the-classroom engagement — both on their own and as part of the student leadership organization. This dedicated space for students creates community, engenders leadership, centers intersectional analysis, and offers a structure conducive to activism.

The student leadership organization is one of the key features that distinguishes membership in will from completing a major or minor in WGSS. will students have the organizational structure to take action on the issues they study in the classroom. Theory and practice are thus connected and mutually enhanced. Students have an elected leadership team, which plans required educational meetings and community engagement events, as well as optional social activities for the entire membership. Students form a deep sense of community as they support one another and work together to achieve their goals.

Students engage with the broader campus community and greater Richmond community through their participation in a wide range of activities and actions. These include lobbying for women’s and LGBTQ issues at the Virginia General Assembly, mentoring in local schools, and working at local domestic violence shelters.

Students also complete a gender action project as part of their coursework, generally as first year students, in order to gain the tools necessary to successfully bridge classroom learning and engagement on campus and in the local community. Recently, students raised awareness about the school to prison pipeline while organizing to stop the building of a youth prison in Virginia, created a documentary on being Muslim at the university, and produced a collection of monologues on sexual assault and violence.

Students form deep connections and close friendships with one another across their four years in the program. will ’s holistic theory-to-practice model, which engages students both in and out of the classroom, allows them to draw on a strong base of support that enables them to stand up for their beliefs and put their WGSS knowledge into practice.

Collective experiences both in and out of the classroom also build a shared intellectual community among students. To further cultivate this community, will brings scholars, activists, and/or performers to campus as part of an annual speaker series. These programs, open to the entire campus and Richmond community, spark campus-wide discussion, and often action, on important social justice issues. These co-curricular events work hand-in-hand with the will curriculum to create integrative learning experiences for will students. For example, will students often meet with the speaker in small groups; read the person’s book in class; and/or attend a workshop facilitated by the speaker in addition to a public lecture.

will takes career preparation seriously. Students learn to translate their academic experience into job preparation by participating in a series of skills-building workshops, including salary negotiation, budgeting, op-ed writing, and public speaking. Additionally, will’s supervised internship prepares students for the world of work.

In place since 1980, the internship epitomizes connecting theory and praxis, a central goal of will. Internship sites reflect student interests; whatever the site, students must examine the experience, in all its complexity, through a WGSS lens. Students record their observations and analysis in a required journal and subsequent paper. Through this experience, students learn to navigate workplace culture and to better understand structural issues related to work-life balance.