Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Women’s Studies? What is Feminist Transnational Studies? What is Women's Studies at UCI?
• What is Queer Studies?
• What classes do I need to take for the Women’s Studies major?
• How do the new major requirements/courses correspond to the old ones?
• What classes do I need to take for the Women’s Studies minor?
• How do the new WS minor requirements/courses correspond to the old ones?
• What classes do I need to take for the Queer Studies minor?
• How do I declare the major in Women's Studies?
• How do I change my major to Women’s Studies?
• How do I declare the minor in Women’s Studies or Queer Studies?
• What are the requirements for the Graduate Feminist Emphasis (GFE)?
• How do I become a GFE student?
• When will Womn St 50A (or another class) be offered next?
• How do I contact my professor?
• How do I add, drop, or change the grading option for a class?
• How do I petition?
• What can I do with a degree in Women’s Studies?
• Do you have any information about applying for graduate school?
• How do I get a letter of recommendation from an instructor?

What is Women’s Studies? What is Feminist Transnational Studies? What is Women's Studies at UCI?
The Department of Women’s Studies at UCI is an academic unit that offers scholars and the community access to cutting-edge academic services and resources. We are the only academic unit in the world with a programmatic focus on feminist transnational studies. Please read About our Department, About Feminist Transnational Studies at UCI, About our Teaching & Research, and contact us for more information.

What is Queer Studies?
The Department of Women's Studies offers a minor in Queer Studies, providing students with an opportunity to study sexuality as a complex historical and cultural formation, rather than merely a feature of intimacy or an outcome of universal and unchanging biological forces. UCI’s minor was established in 2005, and is one of a growing number of similar degrees being offered at universities and colleges internationally. Queer Studies scholarship addresses a number of central questions: What constitutes the history of sexuality? How is gender related to sexuality? How are cultural norms of sexuality linked to assumptions about the proper desires and capacities of bodies? How is sexuality linked to processes of racialization? By what means and to what ends is sexuality policed?

Queer Studies is a relatively new field, emerging in the 1990s. It draws upon concepts and methods from anthropology, history, geography, psychology, sociology, literature, philosophy, political theory, biology, art, and art history, religious studies, science and technology studies, performance studies, and visual studies. Queer Studies focuses on the study of how norms are produced and come to be taken for granted, and, conversely how they are destabilized either through their own internal contradictions or through the interventions of activists seeking social justice. Thus the field shares intellectual affinities with the interdisciplinary fields of women's studies, gender studies, ethnic studies, critical legal studies, and cultural studies.

What classes do I need to take for the Women’s Studies major?
Current requirements are listed in the UCI catalog. Please note: the major requirements changed in Fall 2005. If you started the WS major before Fall 2005, you can fulfill the old requirements.

How do the new major requirements/courses correspond to the old ones?

OLD
- Women's Studies 50A, plus two selected from 50B, 50C, 60A, 60B, 60C
- Women's Studies 140 and 197, plus either 159 or 160
- Four courses from Women's Studies 139-164
- Three courses from Women's Studies 170-188

NEW
- Women's Studies 50A, plus two selected from 50B, 50C, 60A, 60B, 60C
- One course each from Women’s Studies 100 series, 110 series, and 120 series, plus 197.
- Four courses from Women’s Studies 139-168.
- Two courses from Women’s Studies 170-190

What classes do I need to take for the Women’s Studies minor?
Current requirements are listed in the UCI catalog. Please note: the minor requirements changed in Fall 2005. If you started the WS minor before Fall 2005, you can fulfill the old requirements.

How do the new WS minor requirements/courses correspond to the old ones?

OLD
- 3 courses from Women's Studies 50A, 50B, 50C, 60A, 60B, 60C
- 2 courses from Women's Studies 139, 140, 150, 155, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164
- 2 courses from Women's Studies 170-188

NEW
- 3 courses from Women's Studies 50A, 50B, 50C, 60A, 60B, 60C
- 2 courses selected from Women’s Studies 100, 110, 120, 139, 155, 156, 157, 158, 165, 166, 167, 168
- 2 courses from Women's Studies 170-190

What classes do I need to take for the Queer Studies minor?
Current requirements are listed in the UCI catalog.

How do I declare the major in Women's Studies?
Contact the Humanities Undergraduate Dean’s office (143 HIB; 949-824-5132) to declare the major in Women’s Studies.

How do I change my major to Women’s Studies?
Information about changing your major is available from the Division of Undergraduate Education and the Humanities Undergraduate Dean’s office.

How do I declare the minor in Women’s Studies or Queer Studies?
Minors are officially declared when you complete your Application for Graduation. Before then, you can let us know that you are working on a minor, and, if you want, join our email listserv to keep up-to-date on news and events in Women’s Studies. To let us know you are interested in the minor, contact us or sign up on the Women’s Studies minor mailing list or the Queer Studies minor mailing list .

What are the requirements for the Graduate Feminist Emphasis (GFE)?
Current requirements are listed in the UCI catalog.

How do I become a GFE student?
The application process is described in the UCI catalog.

When will Womn St 50A (or another class) be offered next?
Download the tentative schedule of classes for the current academic year, available on our Resources/Links page.

How do I contact my professor?
Visit the People page for contact information.

How do I add, drop, or change the grading option for a class?
To add, drop, or change a grading option for one of your classes, you must first contact your instructor to request a signature. Policies for the School of Humanities are listed here and campus-wide policies and procedures are listed here.

How do I petition?
Visit the Humanities Undergraduate Counseling office (143 HIB; 949-824-5132) for the necessary forms; some are also available online through their website here. You may want to discuss your options with an advisor in the Humanities Undergraduate Counseling office, or talk to the Women’s Studies Academic Coordinator for more information.

What can I do with a degree in Women’s Studies?
Please see our webpage, What can I do with a Women's Studies degree? .

Students of Women’s Studies at UCI learn to think in flexible and rigorous ways. Our courses integrate many aspects of learning, allowing students to apply what they learn in school to the world around them. For example, they learn to decode signs and ideological messages in popular culture, they come to appreciate the value of using intellectual tools to interpret elements of everyday life, and they gain an ability to understand how knowledge production is linked to power. These insights are beneficial in many dimensions of life before and after graduation. Graduates of Women’s Studies bring unique skills and knowledge to the professions of law, academia, science, medicine, social work, philanthropy, business, diplomacy, counseling, and government service, all of which increasingly require expertise on issues concerning women and gender.

Visit the UCI Career Center for career counseling, information about job opportunities, a career library, and workshops on resume preparation, job search, and interview techniques.

More information on career opportunities for Women’s Studies students:
http://www.msu.edu/%7Ewmstdy/wsmjr1.htm
http://www.brockport.edu/wms/careers.html/

Do you have any information about applying for graduate school?
UCI’s Career Center has a lot of information about applying for graduate school; visit them in 100 Student Services I or at www.career.uci.edu. Additional information is available at www.gradschooltips.com. You can also make an appointment with the Women’s Studies Academic Coordinator or Undergraduate Coordinator.

How do I get a letter of recommendation from an instructor?
Instructors need at least 3 WEEKS notice before they write your letter, but more time is better. Please send multiple reminders as the deadline approaches.

You should use the letter Writing Service through the UCI Career Center

List of the items to be sent electronically as well as in hard copy to the instructor, and please include ALL the information requested.
1)Personal statement for graduate school & scholarships/fellowships.
2)A resume/c.v. Provide complete information, abbreviations should be spelled out.
3)A copy of your transcript. An unofficial one is okay.
4)List of courses you took with the instructor. Some instructors require you to have taken at least two courses with them. Provide the quarter and your grade for the course.
5)If you wrote research papers for the instructor's classes, provide her with the titles of the papers. Write a note about the topic(s) in the classes that interested you the most, and remind her of particular contributions and perspectives you brought to the class discussion.
6)Your test score(s) for graduate school applicants.
7)If you are applying for a very specialized kind of grad school, you can give the instructor a one page hard copy of info on the grad program/fellowship/scholarship from their catalog or web site. For those seeking employment, please provide a brief job description.
8)List of graduate schools where you will apply and their deadlines.
9)Please e-mail a list with complete addresses of the schools or places of employment where you want letters to be sent.
10)Put a note on the front of the package with the deadline for mailing your letter.
11)If there are FORMS that need to be sent with the letter, fill them out carefully:
a) Double check the form and provide your SIGNATURE (a requirement of every form).
b) Check the box that states “I hereby waive my right of access to this recommendation” or some such similar statement.
c) Also, type / print ALL the instructor's information on the form as well (leave the evaluations section blank for the instructor to fill out).