Certificate in Women's Studies

University of Akron

Interdisciplinary and personalized, the Women's Studies certificate fosters a critical approach to knowledge about women at the core of its intellectual agenda is diversity. By focusing on cultural practices that have largely excluded and devalued differences in gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, and class, Women's Studies prepares students to appreciate and act in a pluralistic world. The Women's Studies certificate integrates scholarship and research on women and gender from different disciplinary traditions. Students are challenged to debate assumptions, explore divergent viewpoints, and critically examine society's most powerful institutions -- family, religion, education, business, and government. The Women's Studies Program helps students to evaluate what they have been taught and, most importantly, it empowers them to work for social justice after their education.