Collection Development Policy Statement: Women's and Gender Studies  

Curricular/Programmatic Needs

The Women's and Gender Studies collection supports the curricular and research needs of the undergraduate and graduate students and faculty from the MSU Center for Gender in Global Context (GenCen). The GenCen "is an interdisciplinary center in International Studies and Programs focused on gender, feminist, and women's studies. Its affiliated faculty and students study how women and men from diverse racial, ethnic, national, and sexual backgrounds live in and engage with the world and how processes of global change affect gender relations locally, nationally, and internationally. Working in conjunction with the academic colleges, the center promotes outstanding undergraduate and graduate education, facilitates research and scholarship of the highest caliber, and undertakes innovative outreach and active learning initiatives" (quoted from the MSU Center for Gender in Global Context mission statement).

The GenCen programs are highly interdisciplinary. Undergraduate students can declare a major in Women's and Gender Studies through the College of Arts & Letters or in Global and Area Studies: Gender and Global Change through the College of Social Science. The GenCen also offers the Women's and Gender Studies minor. Women's and gender studies undergraduate specialization include those in Women, Gender and Social Justice (with eight content area options: Gender, Race, and Ethnic Identity, Gender and Sexuality, Gender, History, and Narrative, Gender and Conflict/Violence, Gender and Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts, Gender and Public Policy, Gender and Urban Spaces, and Gender and Health) and in Gender and Global Change. The following women's and gender studies graduate specializations are also offered: Gender, Justice and Environmental Change, and an Interdisciplinary Graduate Specialization in Women and Gender.