Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies

Any student admitted to a graduate degree program at West Virginia University may earn a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies. The graduate certificate will consist of 15 hours of graduate-level work in women's studies, using those courses approved by the women's studies curriculum committee as primary or component courses for the program. Component courses are those where at least one-third of the course content deals with women's/gender issues and where students have the option to focus assignments on women's/gender issues. Students must show that they did, in fact, focus their assignments in those areas for the course to count for this certificate. The program is also open to WVU alumni and graduate students with the credential earned being a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies.

A Women's Studies-Directed Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (M.A.L.S.) is also available. (Click here for more information.) Students are advised to design an individual program that may focus on an area of concentration such as Feminist Thought or Women's Health and Sexuality.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
(15 hours) :

WMST 794 Seminar ( 3 cr) (may be substituted for additional 3 hours of Independent Study if student has already completed this course as an undergraduate)

WMST 595/795 Independent Study (3 cr) OR
WMST 491 Field Experience (3 cr)

No more than two 400-level courses

Up to 12 hours of women's studies graduate certificate courses may be double counted for a graduate degree as long as the courses taken are on the graduate level (500 and above). All of these courses may be in the same department as the student's graduate degree program.

In lieu of an exam at the end of the graduate certificate program, students will make a major presentation in the seminar course at the end of the semester in which they take that course.

WMST 170: Introduction to Women's Studies is not required as part of the graduate certificate program. If taken with a special topics graduate number, it will not count as part of the 15 hours for this certificate.

How do I enroll in the Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies?

Contact the Center for Women's Studies at 218 Eiesland Hall (304-293-2339) or Barbara Howe, Director, (at 304-293-2339 x 1155; e-mail barbara.howe@mail.wvu.edu) for an appointment to discuss your program. Check in at least once a semester with the Center to update your progress toward completion of the certificate.