Indiana University announced plans earlier this month to offer the first doctorate degree in the nation specifically in gender studies beginning in fall 2006.
The difference between women's studies and gender studies has become a significant issue with the creation of the school's new gender studies doctoral program.
As reported by Inside Higher Education News, Suzanna Danuta Walters, chair of the program at Indiana University, said she emphasizes the difference between the two programs: "a strong interdisciplinary emphasis, core courses that focus on gender broadly, extensive connections with biology and other hard science departments and courses and research projects on topics - such as sexuality, masculinity and transgendered people - that might not fit as neatly in a women's studies rubric."
With a growing interest in the field, an increasing number of women and gender programs are developing in colleges and universities across the nation. At least ten women's studies doctorate programs have been established in the last decade, according to the Inside Higher Education Web site.
Pending final approval by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, the department of gender studies at Indiana University will offer a doctorate program that will integrate research in humanities and social and natural sciences, according to the Indiana University Gender Studies Web site.
As a part of the College of Arts and Sciences at AU, the women's and gender studies program is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the roles and accomplishments of women, including issues currently facing women in the world today, in addition to the significance of gender in shaping the experience of communities and individuals, according to the program's Web site.
Sarah Baracks, a freshman majoring in Women's and Gender Studies, said she approved of the program.
"I love the subject, it's hard but fun," she said. "It's a small major but everyone knows everyone - it's like a little community."
Next semester, nine courses are being offered in the women's and gender studies department at AU. Of those courses, two are general education courses and one is a graduate level course.
Despite the limited course offerings, Cameron Smith, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, said she is eager to take a class within the department.
"The study of cultural gender roles within society is interesting," Smith said.
