About
The mission of the Center of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at The University of Texas at Austin is to promote research, teaching and learning that centers the categories of gender and sexuality, recognizing that experiences of gender and sexuality are also inextricable from race, nationality, caste, disability and socio-economic class. Through rigorous intersectional and feminist scholarship, decolonial and feminist teaching, and creative and public-facing programming, we articulate, analyze, and critique relationships among gender, sexuality, power, knowledge, oppression and liberation. We are a resource for research, teaching and learning, cultivating intellectual spaces where students, faculty and community can produce and proliferate knowledge about gender and sexuality that will create a more equitable and just world.
Our areas of expertise include: feminist theory; intersectional feminisms; LGBTQ+ studies; disability studies; the history of gender and sexuality; gender, sexuality and culture; the socio-politics of gender and sexualities; and the transnational politics of gender and sexuality. This includes transnational Black and indigenous feminisms, feminisms of the global South, and gender and migration. We are committed in all aspects of our work to anti-racist and queer feminisms.
In support of our mission, CWGS works closely with other interdisciplinary programs and research centers on campus. We generate interdisciplinary educational spaces for faculty, students, and community members to create alliances across difference and together to imagine new possibilities.
History
Patricia Kruppa began teaching the first classes focusing primarily on women and women's and gender issues in 1972. In 1978, B.J. Fernea and Betty Sue Flowers approached Vice President William Livingston about creating a Women's Studies program, and later gathered a group of faculty to work out a curriculum.
In Summer 1979, the AD HOC Committee for Women's Studies submitted a proposal to Robert King, Dean of Liberal Arts. Professor Fernea agreed to be the group coordinator, and the first WS seminar, "Sexuality among the Anthropologists and Reproduction among the Natives," was offered in Fall 1979.
In spring 1983, several departments recognize Women's Studies as an appropriate minor field. A version of a Women's Studies concentration was created in spring 1986, but would not be approved until Fall 1987. In spring 1990, the number of faculty affiliates had grown to 60 people. A doctoral portfolio in Women's Studies was the first doctoral portfolio approved.
The Master's degree in Women's and Gender Studies was approved and began in Fall 2001.
In January 2007, the Bachelor's of Arts degree in Women's and Gender Studies was approved.
In Fall 2007, the first dual degree with WGS was approved - Master of Arts in Women's and Gender Studies (MA) and Master of Science in Information Studies (MSIS).
In Fall 2008, a second dual degree program was approved - Master of Arts in Women's and Gender Studies (MA) and the Master of Public Affairs in the LBJ School (MPAff).
The Women’s and Gender Studies Departmental Honors Program became available to undergraduate students in Fall 2012.
In Fall 2013, the College of Liberal Arts Policy and Curriculum Committee approved an Undergraduate Certificate in LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies. The LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies Certificate recognizes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) scholarship and acknowledges widespread faculty expertise in this field. Also a new LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies Track in-house certificate was awarded by the Women's & Gender Studies Portfolio Program.
The transcript-recognized Undergraduate Certificate in LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies debuted in the 2014-2016 Undergraduate Catalog.
The transcript-recognized minors in Women’s and Gender Studies, and LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies became available in the 2016-2018 Undergraduate Catalog.
In the Fall of 2017, Senior Program Coordinator for Academic Affairs Alma Jackie Salcedo, Michelle Broadway of the Office of Graduate Studies, and former CWGS Director Dr. Susan Sage Heinzelman, drafted a proposal for a 5-Year Integrated Bachelors to Masters Degree in Women’s and Gender Studies.
In 2023, CWGS and LGBTQ Studies became part of the newly established Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS). The undergraduate and graduate academic programs are operated by the Department of WGSS, while CWGS focuses on research and programmatic initiatives.
Directors of the Center for Women's and Gender Studies
1978-1979 B.J. Fernia and Betty Sue Flowers
1980-1982 Patricia Kruppa
1983-1985 Jane Marcus
1985-1987 Teresa Sullivan
1987-1991 Laura Lein
1991-1993 Susan Marshall
1993-1994 Laura Lein
1994-1999 Lucia Gilbert
1999-2001 Desley Deacon
2001-2004 Janet Staiger
2004-2008 Gretchen Ritter
2008-2019 Susan Heinzelman
2019-2023 Christen Smith
2023-2024 T. Jackie Cuevas
