Gender and Sexuality Studies
Overview
Gender and Sexuality Studies has a long and rich history at Princeton. Established in 1982 as Women’s Studies, the program was renamed Gender and Sexuality Studies in 2011 to reflect the trajectory and expanded reach of teaching and scholarship among Princeton faculty and in the field more generally. Faculty and students in the program are dedicated to the study of gender and sexuality in their complex articulation with race, ethnicity, class, disability, religion, nationality, and other intersections of identity, power, and politics.
Certificate
The graduate certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies is designed to help graduate students acquire and develop substantive, methodological, and theoretical expertise in the interdisciplinary field of Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSS). That interdisciplinary training is intended to supplement their work in their primary department and to support students whose graduate work engages gender and sexuality studies.
The GSS graduate certificate program is open to students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Princeton University. Students who are interested in pursuing the GSS graduate certificate are encouraged to meet with the GSS Director to discuss their plans before registering. We encourage students to sign up as soon as possible, preferably in their first or second year, and no later than their fourth year.
Students pursuing the GSS certificate must complete at least two graduate-level courses. Courses must be offered by or cross-listed with GSS, or otherwise approved by the Program Director as a course that meaningfully engages gender and sexuality studies. The following are guiding principles for course selection:
- If a department requires degree students to take a certain number of core courses, these cannot be taken to meet the course requirement towards the certificate in GSS.
- Beyond “core courses,” if a department requires a designated number of electives, students can use those electives to meet the course requirement for the certificate in GSS.
- Of the two graduate-level courses, at least one must be outside the student’s home department.
All students pursuing the GSS graduate certificate are also required to attend the GSS work-in-progress series for at least four semesters. The GSS work-in-progress series helps students develop fluency in GSS theory and methods; it also fosters scholarly community among GSS faculty and graduate students. Attendance is monitored to ensure that students have met this requirement.
Students pursuing the GSS graduate certificate must also participate in the student-led graduate colloquium for at least four semesters. The colloquium meets several times per semester. Certificate students are responsible for two formal contributions to the colloquium at any time in these four semesters: 1) present a dissertation chapter, or a conference paper based on dissertation research; and 2) serve as discussant on another graduate student’s work-in-progress.
Graduate students pursing the GSS graduate certificate must complete a Ph.D. dissertation that substantively integrates questions, concerns, and/or methodologies central to gender and sexuality studies, as certified by the program director. To help ensure that this requirement is met, at least one member of the student’s dissertation committee, either a reader or an examiner, must be an affiliated member of the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Faculty
Director
- Wallace D. Best
Executive Committee
- Elizabeth M. Armstrong, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs
- Wallace D. Best, Religion
- Javier E. Guerrero, Spanish & Portuguese
- Brian E. Herrera, Lewis Center for the Arts
- Tera W. Hunter, History
- Regina Kunzel, History (fall)
- Anne McClintock, Gender & Sexuality Studies Pgm
- Erika L. Milam, History
- Gayle Salamon, English
- Dara Z. Strolovitch, Gender & Sexuality Studies Pgm (fall)
- Wendy Warren, History
Associated Faculty
- April Alliston, Comparative Literature
- Bridget A. Alsdorf, Art and Archaeology
- Leonard Barkan, Comparative Literature
- Wendy L. Belcher, Comparative Literature
- Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús, American Studies
- Ruha Benjamin, African American Studies
- John W. Borneman, Anthropology
- Michael W. Cadden, Lewis Center for the Arts
- Margot Canaday, History
- Ellen B. Chances, Slavic Lang & Literatures
- Zahid R. Chaudhary, English
- Anne Cheng, English
- Divya Cherian, History
- Angela N. Creager, History
- Maria A. DiBattista, English
- Brigid Doherty, German
- Jill S. Dolan, Office of the Dean of College
- Patricia Fernández-Kelly, Sociology
- Su Friedrich, Lewis Center for the Arts
- Diana J. Fuss, English
- Rubén Gallo, Spanish & Portuguese
- Reena N. Goldthree, African American Studies
- Jenny E. Greene, Astrophysical Sciences
- Judith Hamera, Lewis Center for the Arts
- Elizabeth Harman, Philosophy
- Wendy Heller, Music
- Brooke A. Holmes, Classics
- Erin Y. Huang, East Asian Studies
- Alison E. Isenberg, History
- Amaney A. Jamal, Politics
- Melissa Lane, Politics
- Satyel Larson, Near Eastern Studies
- Russ Leo, English
- Sarah-Jane Leslie, Dean of the Graduate School
- Beth Lew-Williams, History
- Christina León, English
- AnneMarie Luijendijk, Religion
- Stephen J. Macedo, Politics
- Gaetana Marrone-Puglia, French & Italian
- Tali Mendelberg, Politics
- Sanyu A. Mojola, Sociology
- Barbara N. Nagel, German
- Jeff Nunokawa, English
- Elizabeth L. Paluck, Psychology
- Imani Perry, African American Studies
- Sara S. Poor, German
- Deborah A. Prentice, Provost
- Jennifer L. Rexford, Computer Science
- Carolyn M. Rouse, Anthropology
- Daniel I. Rubenstein, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
- Esther H. Schor, English
- Janet A. Vertesi, Sociology
- Moulie Vidas, Religion
- Christy N. Wampole, French & Italian
- Judith Weisenfeld, Religion
- Tamsen O. Wolff, English
Professor
- Regina Kunzel
- Anne McClintock
- Gayle Salamon
- Dara Z. Strolovitch
Lecturer
- Alfred Bendixen
Courses
Permanent Courses
Courses listed below are graduate-level courses that have been approved by the program’s faculty as well as the Curriculum Subcommittee of the Faculty Committee on the Graduate School as permanent course offerings. Permanent courses may be offered by the department or program on an ongoing basis, depending on curricular needs, scheduling requirements, and student interest. Not listed below are undergraduate courses and one-time-only graduate courses, which may be found for a specific term through the Registrar’s website. Also not listed are graduate-level independent reading and research courses, which may be approved by the Graduate School for individual students.