Global Gender Studies BA

Global Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary degree-granting program that offers courses in three areas: Cultures and Identities, Women and Global Citizenship, and Gender and Public Policy. The courses within each area recognize developing trends in studies of gender in many countries. Our objectives include challenging our students to integrate local and global knowledge and to link theory and practice across a wide range of issues. Our courses analyze the many ways in which gender is affected by the intersectionality of race, class, sexuality, nationality, ethnicity, geography, history and religion.

Upon successful completion of all requirements, the student will have knowledge of:

• Broad thematic periodizations and chronology (from the perspectives of identity; oppression and resistance; and democracy and social justice) of the socio-economic, political, and cultural history of women in the Americas, and their role in the broader history of the Americas up to the present.
• Major descriptive and analytical themes in the current socio-economic, political, and cultural circumstances of the women and men in the Americas.
• The major literary and audiovisual texts — both fiction and non-fiction — that document aspects of past and/or present socio-economic, political and cultural circumstances of women and men in the Americas, from the perspective of gender.
• Major descriptive and analytical themes, from the perspective of gender, in the current socio-economic, political and cultural circumstances of women and men elsewhere in the world.
• Major descriptive and analytical themes, from the perspective of gender, in the sociology of knowledge.
• The role of women in the evolution of U.S. constitutional democracy through their struggles for democratic participation and inclusion.

Global Gender Studies at UB has been a leader in the field for more than three decades. Our program offers today’s women and men courses in three interrelated areas: Cultures and Identities; Women and Global Citizenship; and Gender and Public Policy. Our objective is to inspire critical thinking in our students, challenging them to integrate local and global knowledge and to link theory and practice across a wide range of disciplines. The Global Gender Studies faculty and its affiliated faculty members across the university work together to create an intellectual environment in which the changing roles and relationships of women and men throughout the globe can be studied and understood.

The Department of Transnational Studies is housed in 1004 Clemens Hall and has three dedicated seminar rooms. The department holds classes in centrally scheduled space throughout the campus, which includes traditional classes and lecture halls that can accommodate the program’s teaching philosophies.

This faculty is joined by renowned affiliated faculty from throughout the university and western New York, as well as research collaboration with scholars of women's studies globally. Our faculty have published monographs and articles, edited major journals and served on prestigious scholarly boards in the United States and abroad. They have also been awarded distinguished teaching awards.

Please visit our department website for additional information about our faculty.

Global Gender Studies is valuable for any career choice, because it provides an atmosphere in which intellectual inquiry and high vocational goals are encouraged; it acknowledges and promotes confidence and competence; and it prepares individuals directly for jobs in affirmative action, public policy, and professional and community organizations and social service agencies. It is also excellent preparation for graduate school and other forms of continuing education.

Graduates have pursued some of the following careers:

• Admissions counselor
• Affirmative action worker
• Biographer
• Business manager
• Career counselor
• Community service agency director
• Financial planner
• Health policy planner
• Hospital administrator
• Human service worker
• Investment counselor
• Job developer
• Journalist
• Lawyer
• Legal advocate
• Local policy makers
• Market research analyst
• Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) worker
• Planned parenthood counselor
• Psychologist
• Public relations specialist
• Social worker
• Women's rights advocate

Work Settings include but are not limited to:

• Advertising agencies
• Book publishers
• Childcare/adoption agencies
• College alumnae associations
• Community organizations
• Economic development councils
• Economic research foundations
• Educational institutions
• Government organizations
• Health organizations
• Judicial system
• Labor unions
• Management consulting firms
• Market research firms
• Nongovernmental organization
• Policy institutes
• Newspapers/magazines
• Public relations firms
• Scouting organizations
• Social service agencies
• Television and radio stations
• Women's rights organizations

Post-undergraduate Opportunities:

What percentage of graduates goes on to find related employment?

Our liberal arts curriculum allows our graduates to be employed in numerous areas. Of those not going on for advanced degrees, many were joint or double majors and/or double degree graduates and we estimate about 90% are employed.

What percentage of graduates goes on to graduate school?

Over 50% of our recent graduates have gone on to graduate school in law, education, the Master of Arts in Humanities, and public policy.

The Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Transnational Studies, who is a member of the department's full-time teaching faculty, is available to meet with students throughout the semester. As we cannot provide advisement through emails, please contact the department's undergraduate studies secretary to find out the director's office hours. Students interested in doing a major or minor in the Global Gender Studies program are encouraged to speak with the director to discuss their interests in the program, as well as to plan course sequencing to meet all criteria. NOTE: advisement for general education and other university requirements for the Global Gender Studies degree is provided by advisors in the College of Arts and Sciences Student Advisement & Services.

Please contact the undergraduate secretary to schedule an appointment with our director of undergraduate studies.

Undergrad Secretary: Kathryn Cartwright
Main Office: 1004 Clemens Hall
P: 716-645-0796

We do not have an independent scholarship program; however you may want to explore other avenues of financial assistance within the university described on the Undergraduate Admissions website.