Wendy Kozol
Director
Women's Studies
Frances Hasso
Assistant Professor
Women's Studies
Jessica Grim
Reference Librarian
Introduction
The Women's Studies Program has struggled throughout its history with staffing problems and other instabilities. For the first time, we have two tenure-track positions that enable the program to coordinate our pedagogical goals. As part of our efforts to establish a rigorous academic program, the Women's Studies Program proposes to revise our core curriculum in order to incorporate information literacy at all course levels.
Our goals are three-fold: 1) to teach students how to identify and refine interdisciplinary research questions; 2) to introduce students to the range of resources available and to determine which resources or types of resources are most appropriate for a given research project; 3) to foster critical thinking about feminist research methodologies. We believe these pedagogical goals are best met through a development model that introduces different skills and analytical perspectives in stages. Central to Women's Studies is its interdisciplinary approach to the study of gender and sexuality as these factors intersect with other core axes of identity such as race, class, ethnicity, and nation. This interdisciplinary approach necessitates in-depth coordination with the reference librarian in order to ensure that we introduce students to the breadth of feminist scholarship while maintaining academic rigor in their acquisition of research skills. We plan to work with Jessica Grim, the reference librarian for Women's Studies, to determine which skills are most appropriately introduced in which classes, and then to develop assignments that adequately reinforce students understanding of this knowledge. We intend these assignments to be designed around specific skills, rather than content, so that each instructor will be able to adapt them to her syllabi.
Women's Studies Program Curriculum
The Women's Studies major consists of five program courses and five elective courses taken from throughout the curriculum. The required program courses include Introduction to Women's Studies, Feminist Methodologies, Practicum in Women's Studies, an advanced seminar, and one other program class. We plan to use this grant to restructure the academic courses (excluding the Practicum) that comprise the core requirements of the major. Given the nature of interdisciplinary study and the very different approaches of the core faculty in Women's Studies, we do not intend to coordinate content throughout the curriculum. Instead, by incorporating research skills throughout the curriculum, we can ensure that our majors graduate with necessary skills irrespective of the instructor. The benefit of this approach is that it does not tie the curriculum to individual faculty and their research interests. Thus, if the Women's Studies program gains an additional faculty member, and/or there are personnel changes, the incorporation of information literacy into the curriculum can and will remain in place.
We plan to address the sequential nature of skills acquisition through a two-tiered approach.
Tier One
WoSt 100: Introduction to Women's Studies
This course examines basic analytical constructs and key issues in the field of feminist knowledge.
This class is the gateway to our major and therefore covers a range of materials and issues. Here
we plan to introduce many of the general bibliographic and research skills that are covered in
bibliographic instructions.
Intermediate Program Classes
Majors are required to take an additional program course, and we recommend that it be one of the
200-level courses focused on feminist theory. Our aim in these courses is to build on the skills
learned in WoSt 100, including an assignment that introduces students to specific library-based
research tools.
Basic Competencies will be taught at the 100 and 200 level courses. These include:
Tier Two: Advanced Competencies
WoSt 300: Feminist Methodologies
This course explores feminist approaches to research practices in the disciplines of the social
sciences and the humanities. The class encourages students to think critically about research as
we introduce them to research skills that include interviews, oral history, case studies, archival
research, visual and literary criticism, survey/content analysis, and field work.
This course has been the primary location through which Women's Studies faculty introduce our majors to information literacy. Our aim is to begin this process in lower level classes so that here we can concentrate on the specific requirements of interdisciplinary feminist research. Since both core faculty teach this course, this grant will enable us to establish continuity of coverage. In the past, this class has required students to complete a major research project, which they are often not yet be prepared to undertake. We plan to redesign the course around a series of assignments that employ different research skills including a literature review and a research proposal that requires students to address the methodological, ethical and logical issues necessary to bring an original research project to fruition.
Senior Seminar
Women's Studies majors are required to take an advanced seminar with one of the core faculty. Our
objective in these seminars is to draw on skills developed throughout their course of study that
has prepared them to do an independent project. Here we anticipate assignments that work towards
a final research project, and will encourage students to work both independently and with the reference
librarian on their projects.
Advanced Competencies to be taught in the upper level classes:
Work Schedule
We are requesting summer stipend for Wendy Kozol and Frances Hasso. Our plan is to work in consultation with Jessica Grim on a weekly basis throughout the summer. We will divide the work into three stages. During the first stage, the two faculty members will assess the different pedagogical goals of each course in relation to the overall curriculum. The next stage will be to work with the reference librarian to determine the skills and resources necessary for each level of course work in Women's Studies. In the final stage, we will design the assignment sequences, again in consultation with the librarian. The faculty plan to work together on the introductory course and the methodologies course. We expect that revisions of other courses will entail individual discussions with the librarian to design assignments that relate to specific course content. We anticipate on-going assessment and revisions over a four-year period, since an evaluation of the effectiveness of this project can only be determined as students proceed through the curriculum.