The Gender Studies Certificate is an interdisciplinary program designed to help students investigate gender issues in a variety of contexts.
One of the primary goals of the program is to strengthen critical thinking skills through the study of global sociopolitical gender concerns, biblical and historical approaches to femininity and masculinity, relationships between men and women, and the complex cultural processes involved in gender construction. The interdisciplinary focus of the program prepares students to become proactive participants in the world by exposing them to economic, political, and cultural realities at home and around the world. Responsible Christian inquiry coupled with increasing cultural sensitivity can help create effective ambassadors for Christ in our rapidly changing world.
The program’s academic home is the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, providing a foundational understanding of sociocultural factors related to gender. The program assumes that solid Christian inquiry is foundational to productive scholarship and problem solving regarding issues that face our world today. As such, we strive to provide students with resources from our Christian heritage that will equip them for local and global leadership in all areas that pertain to human diversity.
Students from any major are eligible for the 24-hour gender studies certificate. Students will complete a ten-hour core of courses that investigate sociological and theological approaches to gender issues, and end their study with a capstone course designed to integrate approaches from several key disciplines. In addition, students will select 14 hours of classes from a variety of offerings from different departments. These classes will be distributed among three main areas: theology and theory; social and historical context; and cultural considerations of everyday life.
- Requirements for a Gender Studies Certificate and Courses Offered (link to the College Catalog)
Core Teaching Faculty
- Beth Felker Jones
- Amy Reynolds
Faculty Teaching Elective Courses
- Amy Black
- Sarah Borden
- Susan Dunn-Hensley
- Melissa Harkrider
- Andrew Hill
- Brian Howell
- Scott Ickes
- Tiffany Kriner
- Christina Bieber Lake
- Emily Langan
- Esther Liu
- Dyanne Martin
- Kristen Page
- Amy Reynolds
- Leah Samuelson
- Greg Schreck
- Michael Stauffer
- Christa Tooley
Find out more about the Network Initiative which is led by Dr. Amy Reynolds.