For Faculty

How to Crosslist with WGSS

Mission

In the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at Macalester College, students investigate key questions raised by scholarship on women and gender. The department has a strong focus on understanding women’s and men’s lives and the meaning of gender in the context of major interlocking systems of cultural and political differences based on race, nation, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. In addition to courses in the discipline of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, students engage in coursework across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and fine arts. We seek to develop theoretical sophistication, historical depth, and broad disciplinary methods in our students.

Guidelines

We are looking for courses that fulfill one or more of the following criteria:

  • It focuses substantially on the roles and contributions of women or QLGBTI individuals in a range of cultures and time periods.
  • It applies gender and/or sexuality studies to the analysis of texts, discourses, and creative writing.
  • Materials covered in the course address gender and sexuality in relation to other categories of difference, such as race, nation, class, disability, religion, and so on.
  • Its critical framework includes theoretical perspectives from feminism, gender studies, sexuality studies or other critical approaches that support our mission.
  • It engages students in creative and artistic work involving gender, sexuality, and/or embodiment.

Procedure

Each term, the chair will send out an email inviting cross-listings for the upcoming semester (usually around 1 October and 1 March). Please send a a course description; a paragraph or two describing how your course complements the WGSS mission statement; and a syllabus or reading list. Send to the Chair of WGSS by email.

The materials will go to the WGSS steering committee, who will be very happy to learn about your course. The Chair will relay that decision to you by email. The committee may have further questions or suggestions about how your course complements the mission of WGSS.

If your cross-listed course has been offered before, please note: The Registrar requires a regular course number (not a topics course number) for a class taught more than twice, even if the same course is offered again only occasionally (e.g., every other year). If you would like to crosslist your course on a long-term basis, WGSS would be very happy to help in the process. You’ll need to get a course change proposal form through the Registrar, and attach it to the course description materials. After the Steering Committee looks at it, you and the Chair of WGSS will forward the materials to EPAG.

For Students

How to Request WGSS Credit for Non-Crosslisted Courses

(from campus, study away, study abroad, and ACTC schools)

  1. Please check the announced crosslistings from the WGSS department to establish whether the course already has been approved for crosslisting. Check the class schedule for that semester, the catalog copy, and on the courses listed on the WGSS website.
  2. If not, please submit a copy of the syllabus along with a 200-word rationale describing how the course a) supports the WGSS mission statement
    b) follows upon the courses you have taken in the WGSS department, both in content and methodology
    c) fulfills the goals you have in taking the WGSS major or minor.
  3. Send to the Chair of WGSS, by campus mail. The department mailbox is in Old Main 409.
  4. The materials are submitted to the WGSS steering committee. Please allow 2-3 weeks for a decision. The Chair will relay that decision to you by email. The committee may have further questions or suggestions about the match as stated above.
  5. If you believe the crosslisting of this course with WGSS would benefit other students, please direct the faculty member teaching the course to the guidelines in the section above.