College of Letters and Science Faculty Document No. 699
April 7, 2004

Recommendation:

The Academic Policies and Curriculum Committee recommends that the Faculty of the College of Letters and Science recommend to the Dean approval of the request for an entitlement to plan a Master of Arts in Women's Studies, as outlined below.

Program Description:

The Center for Women's Studies, housed in the College of Letters and Science, has offered a major through the College's Committee Interdisciplinary Major (CIM) for more than 25 years, and last year began to offer a formal major in Women's Studies. Currently, 22 students are enrolled in the two different plans for the major, and an additional 24 are enrolled in the undergraduate certificate. The Center also has offered a 15-credit graduate certificate since 1996. Fourteen students are enrolled in the graduate certificate program, combining their certificate with graduate programs in Anthropology, Sociology, English, Curriculum and Instruction, Philosophy, Urban Studies, Public Administration, Architecture, Psychology, and Art. (In addition to the fields in which students currently are enrolled, our graduate certificate alumnæ also have received graduate degrees in Nursing and Social Work.) In all of these programs, students take a combination of courses in the Women's Studies curricular area and in cross-listed courses offered in many departments across campus. In 2003-2004, 12 graduate-only courses were cross-listed with Women's Studies, along with 27 combined undergraduate/ graduate courses; in 2004-2005, 15 graduate-only cross-listed courses were offered, along with 21 combined undergraduate/graduate courses. These courses came from 22 different departments, in 6 different schools and colleges.

In the years that we have been offering the graduate certificate, students have commented that they would have preferred enrolling in a master's degree in Women's Studies, as this was their primary interest. Some of our majors also have expressed a desire to continue studying in the program, and several alumnæ now enrolled elsewhere have noted that they would have continued their studies at UWM had a graduate degree been available. Given strong and continual interest at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the Center for Women's Studies requests entitlement to plan a Master of Arts in Women's Studies.

The Women's Studies MA will be interdisciplinary and will consist of 24 credits, with 12 drawn from Women's Studies courses and 12 in appropriate graduate-level courses offered in different departments. Students must complete at least 12 of their credits in residence at UWM, with a 3.0 or higher GPA in credits attempted, including transfer work.

Students receiving the MA in Women's Studies would be required to begin their program with an introductory graduate-level only course focusing on feminist theory. They then would take the existing Global Feminisms course offered in Women's Studies and a graduate-level feminist methods course. The fourth required Women's Studies course will be an internship/practicum of reflective field experience that could incorporate the students' own work settings or sites arranged through the Women's Studies program. In addition to these four Women's Studies courses, students would choose 12 credits from graduate courses in another department or combination of departments. These might be courses that are cross-listed with Women's Studies, or they might be other courses tailored to fit the student's academic and professional goals. Students would complete their Women's Studies MA with a thesis or a comprehensive examination. The program is thus content- and skills-driven, with classes all offered in the evenings or as hybrid or on-line courses, making it attractive to working adults.

Program Goals and Objectives:

The MA in Women's Studies is an outgrowth of the university mission to provide innovative and comprehensive graduate education. The UWM Women's Studies MA integrates theoretical understanding and practical experience in an interdisciplinary structure that takes advantage of the unique opportunities offered by UWM's metropolitan setting. Students completing an MA in Women's Studies will be able to analyze competing perspectives and integrate various bodies of knowledge across traditional academic boundaries, paying particular attention to gender-based assumptions and their consequences on individual, social, and cultural levels. Students will develop critical thinking skills, becoming active learners and social change agents through discussion, written work, collaborative projects, and real world experience. They will be prepared for further graduate study in the humanities, social sciences, or professions, or for entry into PhD programs in Women's Studies, which increasingly are requiring an MA in Women's Studies for admission. They will be equally well prepared for career fields that require an advanced degree, including non-profit organizations, business, the creative arts, education, government and public policy, journalism, law, medicine, publishing, science, the social sciences, and social work. The MA curriculum draws from the strengths of current course offerings in the Center for Women's Studies as well as methodologies and course offerings in other fields and departments across UWM.

The age of information technology and international communication necessitates that urban citizens become global citizens. Community-specific and cross-cultural knowledge is no longer the province of one or several well-bounded disciplines. Looking ahead, global and metropolitan contexts will be explored best within interdisciplinary educational and research programs, such as Women's Studies, which by definition cross disciplinary boundaries as well as draw on traditional disciplines. Finally, in the twenty-first century, educational and research programs must be tailored to explore and impart interdisciplinary knowledge in a manner that emphasizes the relationship between theoretical and practical learning. This is a clear goal of the Women's Studies MA Program.

Relation to Institutional Mission:

The initiatives and future plans of the Women's Studies program at UW-Milwaukee contribute substantially to the goals of the College of Letters and Science and the University, particularly the commitment to metropolitan diversity. An MA in Women's Studies fits well with Chancellor Santiago's recent initiatives to expand and enhance graduate education at UWM, particularly graduate education in interdisciplinary fields.

As the UWM Strategic Plan states, UW-Milwaukee is the major urban campus in the UW System, and as such, it has a "special opportunity and responsibility to provide postsecondary education to a diverse population." A recent Report of the Academic Planning Committee recommends that the University "increase the representation of diverse populations in its student body, faculty and staff." In addition, women currently constitute more than half of the UWM and UW System student population. As a discipline, Women's Studies is built on a wide range of scholarship and instruction that addresses women in all their diversity, including race, class, sexuality, age, and ability. Women's Studies graduate courses offer all students, particularly returning students, attractive alternative curricular options that allow them to understand their diverse cultural experiences within an intellectual setting that supports their educational success. Currently one section of the Introduction to Women's Studies and several upper-level courses in the Women's Studies curricular area always are offered in the evenings, making the program more accessible to working adults. The introductory course(s) for the MA in Women's Studies also would be offered in the evening or as hybrid or on-line courses. Many current graduate-only and U/G cross-listed courses are offered in the evening, a practice we anticipate will continue.

According to UWM's Strategic Plan, in order to expand UWM's urban mission, the University should "intensify efforts to use the university's metropolitan location to expand the student educational experience by providing more internships, fieldwork, co-op programs and other learning opportunities in the community." In Spring 1999, Women's Studies began offering a seminar-grounded undergraduate internship course entitled "Feminism in the City: Internship in Women's Studies." This course, currently taught by the doctorally-prepared former coordinator of the federally-funded Safe at Home Project of the Milwaukee Women's Center, has enabled Women's Studies students to apply their knowledge of Women's Studies scholarship to the practical experience of working in a local women's organization in the metropolitan area, such as the Milwaukee Women's Center, the YWCA, and the Women's Fund, among others. In Spring 2002, the Center for Women's Studies implemented a program in collaboration with Women's Studies Programs throughout the UW System that permits undergraduates to participate in an Urban Semester at UWM during which they take courses at UWM, including the Internship in Women's Studies. Students from UW-Stevens Point enrolled in Spring 2003 and students from UW-River Falls enrolled in Spring 2004. The MA program would build on both of these successful undergraduate programs, requiring a graduate-level practicum/internship for all students, and offering the possibility of enrollment for students from other UW-campuses, through classroom-based courses, hybrid courses, and on-line courses.

Need

A significant gauge of the marketability of a Women's Studies degree is the track record of our graduates. Most of the alumnæ with graduate certificates in Women's Studies currently are employed in teaching at either the high school or college level; those at the college level have appointments in Nursing, Anthropology, Medicine, Ethnic Studies, and English, and often teach courses cross-listed with Women's Studies at their current institution. Two of our alumnæ, Florence Kyomugisha and Rosamaría Chacón, have tenure-track appointments at Cal-State Northridge, Florence in Women's Studies and Rosamaría in English. Alumnæ working in the community include one who runs a counseling center and another who runs community-based athletic events.

We also have kept track of many of our undergraduate alumnæ, most of whom stay in Wisconsin. Of the 16 we found who graduated since December 2000:

3 are in graduate school (sociology, architecture, MFA)

3 are owners of small businesses (2 of a bookstore, 1 of a restaurant)

3 work for non-profit groups (marketing director at the Girl Scouts; program director, Milwaukee Jobs Initiative; health care advocate for Community Advocates)

2 work in government (HIV case manager, City of Milwaukee; paralegal, US Attorney's office)

3 are teachers

2 are self-employed (1 as a filmmaker, 1 as an etiquette consultant)

In a few cases, students found employment as a direct result of their participation in the Internship in Women's Studies. Angela Viola, for example, did an internship at Community Advocates in 2000, and she has been working there as a health care advocate since then. Angela comments that she finds "great satisfaction by assisting individuals and their families to gain access to medical care and to ensure that their health care providers are offering quality care."

There are several different markets for individuals with advanced degrees in Women's Studies. One is college teaching. Florence Kyomugisha has indicated that she would not have gotten her faculty appointment had she not had a graduate certificate in Women's Studies and that her candidacy would have been further enhanced had she had an MA. Several former Women's Studies affiliates who received their doctorates in the English Department at UWM now are teaching in women's and/or gender studies programs around the country, but these programs are increasingly requiring formal graduate training in Women's Studies. Another market is local and regional agencies that address women's issues. To gauge this market, we currently are surveying the broad-based group of employers and agencies that appear in our Milwaukee Area Women's Resource Directory. (We have published this directory since 1978; it is now in its 11th edition, listing over 200 organizations, agencies, and companies that serve the needs of women in the greater Milwaukee community.) This survey asks about hiring preferences and patterns, and the comments and suggestions we receive will help shape the final form of this program. Thus the MA program will be tailored not only to meet national and international demand for individuals with a strong understanding of gender issues, but also specific local demands for the same sort of individuals.

Comparable Programs

In Wisconsin: Women's Studies has long been supported at the System level. In accordance with a Regents-level mandate, Women's Studies programs exist throughout the University of Wisconsin System. Each of the thirteen four-year schools in the UW System offers at least a minor or certificate in Women's Studies, while three programs, UW-Madison, UW-Whitewater, and UW-Milwaukee offer a permanent major in Women's Studies. Only UW-Madison offers an MA in Women's Studies, but this program is designed primarily as a two-year full-time sequence, and thus it does not meet the needs of many graduates and working adults outside the Madison area.

Outside Wisconsin: The only other Women's Studies MA program within a reasonable driving distance of Milwaukee is at Loyola University of Chicago, which offers a predominantly daytime program. In addition to UW-Madison and Loyola, there are roughly 30 other universities in the US that offer Women's Studies MAs, but very few of these offer any on-line or hybrid courses.

Collaboration

As noted above, in Spring 2002, in collaboration with Women's Studies Programs throughout the UW System, the Center for Women's Studies implemented a program that permits undergraduates to participate in an Urban Semester at UWM during which they take courses at UWM, including the Internship in Women's Studies. This arrangement will serve as a model for a similar program at the master's level, in which students take some U/G courses at their home institutions, and their grad-only courses at UWM, either on-campus or through on-line or hybrid courses. UWM has a very successful record of offering BA degrees in this way through the Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Administration program, which provides an additional model.

Use of Technology/Distance Education

One section of the "Introduction to Women's Studies" has been taught completely on-line each semester since the fall of 2004. In designing these courses, we have relied on the expertise of Women's Studies affiliated faculty members in several departments who already were teaching on-line or hybrid courses as well as on the advice of a local online instructional design firm, Quality Online Connections. In the Fall of 2005, one of the required courses for the Women's Studies BA, "Women's Studies Research Methods," will be taught as a hybrid course offered to both graduate and undergraduate students, and in Spring 2006 we will offer one of the Advanced Topics courses as a hybrid course. In addition, several cross-listed courses, including "Gender and the Media" and "Sociology of the Family," currently are taught on-line, and many of the faculty members active in Women's Studies teach hybrid or on-line courses regularly. On-line and hybrid courses will be an important part of the MA program; as we develop its specific contours, we will benefit from the experience of the faculty members who have taught on-line undergraduate courses, the professionals at Quality Online Connections, and the faculty of the College of Nursing, which has offered a completely on-line PhD program for several years. Several Nursing faculty members are active in the Women's Studies program. Nursing PhD students often include a gender component in their research and take Women's Studies graduate courses or call on Women's Studies faculty members in other departments for their expertise. We therefore have strong existing lines of collaboration on which to build a successful MA program.

Resource Needs

All resource needs will be met by reallocation of existing funds.