The Department of Women's, Ethnicity, and Intersectional Studies (WEIS) at Wichita State University offers the major and minor in WEIS through courses and curriculum. It is a campus resource / research center for scholarship concerning the intersection of ethncity, gender, race, and sexuality. Unique in Kansas, WEIS at Wichita State is the only urban-serving department of its kind in the Kansas Board of Regents system. It is also one of the longest-standing, degree-granting, and autonomous women's studies centers in the country.
WEIS is the academic home for analyzing gender in relationship to and situated within forms of power in society such as race, class, sexuality, domestically and geopolitical and national in terms of the world in which the US sits. Students learn to think critically about social institutions - family, work, and education, media, the state– and images and ideology – cultural commonsense, ideas about what is accepted as “natural and dominant concepts of knowledge and reality. Students and faculty investigate change in women’s lives emerging in different national and cultural contexts as well as the women’s professional and domestic contributions to culture and society.
WEIS provides a balanced and comprehensive view of women’s historical contributions to present day society. It offers a vision of future possibilities for women as they reach their full human potential, both in traditional occupations and in newly-achieved positions of responsibility throughout the world.
Within the major, a student selects from core areas combined with required core courses with the aim of producing an interdisciplinary understanding of women.
In addition to WEIS courses, cross-listed courses from such fields as Philosophy, Sociology, Social Work, History, English, Anthropology, Political Science, Aging Studies, Psychology, and Communication compose the curriculum.
If you are considering this major, you should be advised by a WEIS faculty member regarding your academic program and career goals. Women's Studies may also be pursued as part of a dual major or as a minor if your intellectual or career interests are best served by a concentration with another academic field.
If you major in WEIS you'll enhance your preparation to work in areas such as social media, social work, international humanitarian organizations, education, business, medicine, politics, law, psychology, social justice and others which concentrate on human behavior.
Related Opportunities
In pursuing a WEIS major, you may be employed - through the University's cooperative education program - in work related to WEIS and earn credit hours for the experience. You may participate in Equality in Action, a student organization that sponsors student based activities. You will interact with nationally and internationally known visiting speakers for Women's History Month and other extra-curricular programming.
In addition, scholarships are available for WEIS students. Majors and minors are given priority in awarding funds. Inquire in the WEIS department offices in 528 Lindquist Hall, phone 978-3358.
Why pursue a WEIS degree?
A WEIS major or double major is ideal for students who are:
- interested in a focused interdisciplinary degree that crosses departmental boundaries
- interested in pursuing scholarly work on women, ranging from literary criticism to clinical psychology
- planning careers which can be enhanced by a focus on women's concerns, such as medical practice law, administration, counseling and guidance, psychology, social work, personnel, labor and industrial relations, communications and advertising, health care, teaching and business
- pursuing graduate school in women's studies or related fields or leadership positions in community organizations
The WEIS minor is ideal for students who:
- wish to supplement their major with information and experience related to women
- desire formal recognition of their course work in women's studies.
- seek formal contact with faculty members who share a scholarly interest in women's experiences and lives