WOMS 508.  Women and the Environment   (3).

On completion of this course, students should be able to appreciate and understand: environmental challenges at a local, regional and global scale; gender and environment; the role of women in the environment; case studies of women's leadership and contribution to environmental custodianship; critical analysis and military-industrial discourse in relation to gender; relationships between environment and interactions with different types of global, illicit trade. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 510.  Hollywood Melodrama: The Woman's Film   (3).

Melodrama, as a "woman's genre," is important to the development of feminist film criticism, which interrogates the contradictory meanings of motherhood and family within this culture. Through readings and films, this course provides a stylistic, literary and cultural/historical background for this 19th-century form with a specific focus on the woman's film and the family melodrama which highlight woman's position within the home. Uses textual analysis and some psychoanalytic criticism to explore and critique the fantasies and desires expressed in the visual excesses of film melodrama. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 511.  Women in Early America, 1600-1830   (3).

General education social and behavioral sciences course. Cross-listed as HIST 511. Focuses on women and gender in U.S. history between 1600 and 1830 by examining the lives, experiences, and interactions with social, political and economic systems of women. Students read articles, books and primary documents that examine women’s experiences from the first colonial contact with Native Americans to the dawn of the first women’s movement in the 19th century. Focuses specifically on colonization, regionalism, the roles of race and ethnicity in the construction of gender, women in religious life, the impact of the American Revolution, Republican Motherhood, and women’s contributions to the public sphere and market economy. In the end, students should walk away with an understanding of women in early U.S. history and of the major historical debates concerning women’s and gender history. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 513.  Issues and Perspectives on African Women and Globalism   (3).

General education humanities course. Cross-listed as ETHS 381AC. For those whose primary notions of Africa derive from little or unconfirmed information. Uses research, writing and other expressions by African women to present women dealing with their postcolonial and globalized national contexts. When possible, a teleconference with an author is arranged for a more global learning experience. Learning through local African communities, dramatic/artistic expressions and group projects is encouraged. Aims to help students develop critical and independent thinking about Africa, African women and their global engagement. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 530.  The American Woman in History   (3).

General education social and behavioral sciences course. Cross-listed as HIST 530. Examines the history, status and changing role of women in American society. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 534.  Psychology of Women   (3).

General education social and behavioral sciences course. Cross-listed as PSY 534. Psychological assumptions, research and theories of the roles, behavior and potential of women in contemporary society. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): PSY 111.

WOMS 536.  Writing by Women   (3).

Cross-listed as ENGL 536. Explores various themes in critical approaches to literature composed by women writers, especially those whose works have been underrepresented in the literary canon. Genres and time periods covered, critical theories explored, and specific authors studied vary in different semesters. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 541.  Women, Children and Poverty   (3).

General education social and behavioral sciences course. Cross-listed as SCWK 541. Addresses the problem of poverty among women in the U.S. today, and examines existing and proposed public policies designed to alleviate the problem. Explores theoretical models of poverty policy analysis and the role of values in their formulation and implementation. Discusses issues of age, race and family; special attention is given to poverty among Kansas families. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): 6 credit hours of social science.

WOMS 542.  Women in Other Cultures   (3).

Cross-listed as ANTH 542. Deals with the place of women globally from an anthropological perspective. It examines women and gender roles and relations in various aspects of culture: political, economic, social, psychological and religious. This course compares and contrasts societies in order to see how different kinds of roles for women are related to different kinds of societies. This course also examines how culture shapes individual and social understandings of gender differences focusing on status and power issues. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 570.  Directed Readings   (1-3).

For students who wish to pursue special reading or research projects not covered in coursework. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): instructor's consent.

WOMS 571.  Contemporary Issues and Perspectives: LGBTQ   (3).

General education social and behavioral sciences course. Cross-listed as SCWK 571. Explores contemporary issues within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities. Explores personal attitudes regarding the social context for LGBTQ persons as well as other issues which have emerged as matters of concern and celebration with LGBTQ individuals and communities. Empowerment principles are employed and used to highlight a positive and affirming framework of the LGBTQ community. Students acquire basic skills in understanding issues of diversity and other contemporary conditions of life and culture. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 579.  Asian Women in Modern History   (3).

Cross-listed as ETHS 579. Examines women's historical and contemporary experiences in Asian America and eight major countries in modern Asia. Covers topics on Asian women's activism in relation to nationalism and women's rights. Investigates Asian women's roles and statuses in the family and society and their educational attainment and contributions to the export-oriented industrialization of the Asia-Pacific region. Examines the intra-regional migration of female guest workers among various countries in Asia. Traces the ways in which the changes in immigration laws during the 20th century affect patterns of Asian women's migration to the United States. Introduces writing that integrates Asian women's lives and Asian American experiences into the discourses on ethnicity, national origin, class, gender and sexual orientation in the United States and the Asia-Pacific region. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 580.  Special Topics   (1-3).

An umbrella course created to explore a variety of subtopics differentiated by letter (e.g., 580A, 580B). Not all subtopics are offered each semester – see the course schedule for availability. Students enroll in the lettered courses with specific topics in the titles rather than in this root course. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 580J.  Domestic Violence   (3).

Cross-listed as CJ 522, SCWK 590. Deals with the roots of domestic violence embedded in family roles, legal systems, religious beliefs, and the psychology of women, children and men. Also covers the consequences and prevention of family abuse. Includes discussion of literature and films. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 580M.  Coloring Outside the Lines: Exploring Intersections of Race, Gender and Ethnicity   (3).

Reviews historical events and contemporary headlines and engages students in courageous conversations as a means of inspiring them to think critically about race and its role in society. Though the course discusses the popular yet controversial Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that inspires its title, the course spends more time looking at BLM as a statement that describes the sentiment of many Blacks that their lives are insignificant in the eyes of mainstream America. With respect to research connecting academic and professional success with identity, this course also encourages students to reflect and discuss their personal identities as they relate to the discrimination and oppression of Black people in America. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 580T.  Women and Aging   (3).

Cross-listed as PHS 515. Introduces students to issues in aging that are unique to women, to women's diverse developmental patterns, and to research methods appropriate for studying aging women and their life experiences. Topics include physical change, role transitions and adaptation from a life span perspective. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 580Z.  Dangerous Women in Film   (3).

The cinematic body of the woman has long been the central focus for theories of spectatorship and psychoanalytic film theory as well as feminist media and cultural studies. As such it provides rich material for an interdisciplinary conversation not only about socio-cultural and psychological constructions of gender, sexualities, and power; but also on the disparate (oftentimes simultaneously depicted) images of woman as both positively empowering and negatively demeaning. By focusing on the role of empowered female iconography expressed visually and thematically, this course explores various filmic representations of “dangerous” women, and examines how and why these representations are politically, socially, and theoretically significant. We apply various critical methods of analysis (psychoanalysis, ideology critique, close textual analysis, narrative) to approach women’s representation, in particular, the Femme Fatale (dark lady, evil seductress) and the Fighting F-toy (action chick, latex killer) to examine the influential role of the male/ spectator gaze on the creation of the empowered female icon. Because this course is for both new and experienced film students, the curriculum includes both introductory and advanced content. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 587.  Theories of Feminism   (3).

Because feminism is not a single ideological stance or perspective, course examines a variety of ideas underlying feminist cultural critiques and visions for social change. Discusses the contribution of women's studies to various academic disciplines. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): WOMS 287, 387, or 6 hours of women's studies courses, or instructor's consent.

WOMS 588.  Gender, Race and the West/East Divide   (3).

General education social behavioral sciences course. Examines critically the role of gender and race in the making of a supposed essential divide between the West and the East. Students are introduced to Edward Said's concept of Orientalism and the field of critique that targets how Europe and the U.S. craft an identity the West via its other, called variously, the Orient, Islam, the Muslim world, and the Arab world. Questions explored include: What is Orientalism? What is the relationship between colonialism/imperialism and the representation of the Orient or the East? How, for whom, and for what purposes do gender and race matter in this construct of a divide between West and East? These questions are examined across genres and media — i.e., in travel accounts, film, literature, policy making and news reportage. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 599.  WEIS Capstone: Women-Ethnicity-Intersectionality   (3).

Allows students to research and apply their knowledge of women, ethnicity and intersectionality. Provides students a way to delve into their developed interests within the major, conduct research, and apply learning through written and oral communication skills that reflect the previous stages of their acquired knowledge. Students are highly encouraged to use the opportunity of the Diverse Women’s Summit to apply their learning. Course includes diversity content.

WOMS 701.  Selected Topics in Women's Studies   (3).

An umbrella course created to explore a variety of subtopics differentiated by letter (e.g., 701A, 701B). Not all subtopics are offered each semester – see the course schedule for availability. Students enroll in the lettered courses with specific topics in the titles rather than in this root course. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): departmental consent.

WOMS 870.  Directed Readings   (1-3).

For graduate students to pursue research in areas not normally covered in coursework. Repeatable for credit with departmental consent. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): instructor's consent.

WOMS 880.  Seminar in Women's Studies   (3).

An umbrella course created to explore a variety of subtopics differentiated by letter (e.g., 880A, 880B). Not all subtopics are offered each semester – see the course schedule for availability. Students enroll in the lettered courses with specific topics in the titles rather than in this root course. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): instructor's consent.