Requirements


For a full description of requirements, please consult the General Announcements.

Ph.D. students enrolled in the CSWGS Graduate Certificate Program must complete:

  • SWGS 501 "Feminist Debates" - taken while other graduate course work requirements are being fulfilled.
  • SWGS 502 "Gender, the Disciplines, & Interdisciplinarity" - taken after completion of SWGS 501.
  • An elective course - students may chose from graduate-level cross-listed SWGS courses or arrange a directed reading (SWGS 503); non-cross-listed graduate courses may be proposed to the CSWGS Director for approval.
  • Participation in the Graduate Colloquia, an annual series of seminars and public lectures with leading scholars invited to Rice.
  • A 500-word description of the connection between the dissertation and the study of women, gender, and/or sexuality (approval by CSWGS Director required for receipt of $5,000 stipend).

What the Certificate Program Offers


Intellectual Support

  • Sustained interdisciplinary engagement with women, gender, and sexuality scholarship as students develop dissertation plans
  • Rapid and sustained acquaintance with faculty, students, and resources across campus
  • Through the annual Colloquium, personal contact with leading scholars in women, gender, and sexuality studies
  • Strengthened intellectual community for students writing dissertations related to women, gender, and/or sexuality

Financial Support

  • Eligibility to compete for $5,000 fellowship the semester students achieve PhD candidacy (upon approval of 500-word description by CSWGS director)
  • Competitive travel support for conferences and dissertation research
  • Competitive teaching assistantships
  • Competitive teaching fellowships for students who have achieved candidacy
  • Competitive dissertation completion fellowships

Core Courses


SWGS 501 - FEMINIST DEBATES
This course identifies and traces interdisciplinary debates about major issues in women, gender, and sexuality studies. While the content will vary, the course will always be attentive to the historical and theoretical context of the debates in question and to the intersection of these debates with others. Designed to introduce students to issues and methods that can help shape their dissertation plans, this course focuses on both influential and cutting edge research in and across the disciplines.

SWGS 502 - GENDER, THE DISCIPLINES, AND INTERDISCIPLINARITY
Structured as a workshop, this course enables certificate students to critically engage cross-disciplinary feminist scholarship in their work by transforming existing seminar papers into works that are of publishable quality. Pre-requisites: SWGS 501

Elective Course


The elective course may come from one of three sources:

  • Graduate courses cross-listed with SWGS (consult Esther for current offerings; consult General Announcements for a comprehensive listing of all course offerings)
  • SWGS 503 - Directed Reading - Taken under the supervision of a CSWGS faculty affiliate.
  • Non-cross-listed courses approved by the CSWGS Director.