Angela Davis standing at a podium in front of a microphone wearing a gray and black shirt and black sweater.
Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies

Former Vassar faculty member and social justice icon Angela Davis spoke to a packed crowd at the Vassar Chapel in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Women’s Studies Program. Photo: Karl Rabe

Brenda Feigen, wearing a black shirt and black and purple sweater, Amy Pullman, wearing a white shirt and multi colored scarf and Monica Vachher wearing a black shirt and green jacket.
Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies

Brenda Feigen ’66 Accepts Spirit of Vassar Award: “There are so many issues that matter—women’s rights, climate change, racial inequality, disability, LGBTQ, and others—and I compare them to spokes on a wheel...and to be a feminist, you have to embrace them all.” 
Photo: Karl Rabe

Kimberle Crenshaw wearing a black shirt and red hair scarf and Luke Harris wearing a blue shirt, jacket and tie.
Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies

Kimberle Crenshaw and Luke Harris (Department of Political Science): Crenshaw’s talk, “Against Normalization: Intersectionality and Social Justice in the Age of Trump,” was the keynote address for the fourth annual Women of Color Conference. Photos: Karl Rabe

Black and white photo of Urvashi Vaid standing at a podium in front of 2 microphones pointing in front at Union Square Park in NYC.
Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies

Urvashi Vaid ’79 at the Lesbian & Gay Pride Rally at Union Square Park in NYC, June 23, 1990. "She was, almost certainly, the most prolific L.G.B.T.Q. organizer in history." - The New Yorker 
Photo: Morgan Gwenwald

Female students relaxing in their dorm rooms, c1950s
Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies

Female students relaxing in their dorm rooms, c1950s

Group black and white photo of Vassar’s 1896 women's basketball team wearing black long skirt and long puffy sleeved shirts with the number 96 on them
Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies

Vassar’s 1896 women’s basketball team

Vassar’s Calestheneum opened in 1866 showing women in old style gym suits working out on white mats and a hanging bar in front of a large mirror
Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies

Vassar’s Calestheneum opened in 1866

The Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies Program—open to all students—teaches students to think critically about the multiple systems of power through which sexual and gendered identities are constructed and to engage with real-life political and ethical issues from diverse perspectives.

The program offers courses that examine the lives and experiences of women in a variety of historical, cultural, and political contexts, as well as courses that explore the intersections of feminist theory, queer theory, and activism.

Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies is an exciting multidisciplinary field, bringing together faculty from many departments who share the conviction that gender and sexuality are fundamental categories of analysis in all disciplines.

Students interested in Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies may select from team-taught integrative courses at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels, as well as from a variety of courses cross-listed with other departments. Students who wish to declare a concentration or a correlate sequence in Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies work with program advisors to plan a course of study tailored to their particular interests. Students take an introductory course, courses from at least three disciplines, at least one course in feminist theory, and other courses germane to their self-designed programs. A senior thesis or project is required. Recent topics include “Global Feminisms” and “Feminist Approaches to Science and Technology.”

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News

A magazine cover with a painting of a person sitting. The cover has the text “Fourteen Hills: The San Francisco State University Review. No. 29 / 2023”

Hiram Perez is the author of “John Travolta vs. Farrah Fawcett”

Hiram Perez, Associate Professor of English and Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies Faculty member, is the author of “John Travolta vs. Farrah Fawcett,” a work of memoir published by the literary magazine Fourteen Hills in their Summer 2023 issue. Fourteen Hills recently nominated the piece for a Pushcart Prize in Nonfiction.

Headshot of Kimberly Williams Brown

Kimberly Williams Brown is co-author of a new book Say, Listen: Writing as Care

Kimberly Williams Brown, Assistant Professor of Education, is co-author of Say, Listen: Writing as Care, a new book by The Black | Indigenous 100s Collective. A project of seven scholars working within Blackness and Indigeneity, the Black | Indigenous 100s Collective takes a new approach to thinking, writing, and practicing care.

Headshot of Ashanti Shih

Ashanti Shih is a 2023 Sinnott Award recipient

Ashanti Shih, Assistant Professor of History, is a 2023 Sinnott Award recipient. Ashanti’s scholarly work, which brings issues of race and indigeneity into dialogue with histories of science and environment, will focus on the colonial histories and legacies of the Arboretum’s vast collections of temperate woody plants from North America and East Asia.

Mootacem Mhiri wearing a light blue collared shirt and gray jacket against a gray background.

Vassar Will Host a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant in Arabic, Professor Mootacem Mhiri Will Serve as the Academic Advisor of the FLTA.

Thanks to the efforts of Professor Mootacem Mhiri, Senior Lecturer in Arabic, Vassar has been selected to host a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) in Arabic. Professor Mhiri will serve as the Academic Advisor of the FLTA. “As part of the Fulbright Foreign Student Program, the Fulbright FLTA Program is designed to develop Americans’ knowledge of foreign cultures and languages” (Fulbright Foreign Student Program).