Women’s and Gender Studies Program
Undergraduate Courses
Spring 2010
ARCH 481 Sec. 001
Kuska
Women in Design
TR 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8599
Aim: This course will study historical and contemporary contributions by women to the design
professions related to the built environment. It will seek to examine the roles and values of
women in design and their impact on the assumptions and issues currently held by the
profession. We will evaluate design work by and about women seen in their aesthetic and
intellectual context, and identify a feminist perspective and how it affects the workplace.
Requirements: In-class participation, informal response journal, discussion, brochure,
research project and presentation.
Tentative Reading List: Berkeley and McQuaid, Architecture: A Place for Women; Hughes,
ed., The Architect: Reconstructing Her Practice; selected readings from journals and books.
CRIM 339 Sec. 001
Anderson
Women, Crime and Justice
MW 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 2797
Note: CRIM 339 is a Women’s and Gender Studies course and Women’s and Gender
Studies majors and minors may take this course without the specified prerequisite.
In this course, we examine the various ways women interact with the criminal justice system.
First, we examine the role of gender in society before moving on to women as offenders. One
part of this section deals with women in prison and related societal issues. Additionally, we
examine the issue of pregnancy and the role it plays in the criminalization of acts that women
commit (such as drug use and abortion). Second, we examine the victimization experiences of
women by focusing on the risk factors for victimization (individual and societal), outcomes as a
result of victimization, and criminal justice responses to women. Finally, we examine women as
workers generally and also within the criminal justice system specifically. This final section
focuses on the evolution of the various roles of women, as well as the challenges they face in
traditionally male criminal justice jobs.
Sex Roles in Literature: Gay and Lesbian Literature
ENGL/WMNS 212 Sec. 001
Credits: 3
Schaffert
TR 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Call No. 7829
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor.
In this multi-genre class, we’ll examine the role of the gay and lesbian writer, filmmaker, and
artist in shaping literary and popular culture; we’ll look at fiction, memoir, commentary, comic
book, e-literature, film, and theater. We’ll study how these artists have influenced mainstream
culture, how mainstream culture has appropriated gay and lesbian texts, aesthetics, and
sensibilities, and how gay and lesbian writers have revised classic texts to reflect their own
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
sensibilities and histories. The tentative reading list includes: classics such as "Breakfast at
Tiffany’s" and "The Well of Loneliness"; examples of lesbian pulp fiction of the 1950s; early
essays on gender by Bram Stoker; the theater of Tennessee Williams; and contemporary works
such as "The Danish Girl" by David Ebershoff, and the comic book memoir "Fun Home" by
Alison Bechdel.
ENGL/WMNS 215
Introduction to Women’s Literature
Credits: 3
Aim: Introductory course for undergraduates interested in women’s studies and women’s
literature. Introduces students to a selection of poetry, short fiction, and film texts. The course
is designed to encourage students to reflect on their assumptions about women’s literature.
Sec. 001 - Staff
Sec. 002 – Deb
TR 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.
MWF 10:30 – 11:20 a.m.
Subtitle: Decolonizing Our Voices
Call No. 7830
Call No. 7831
Aim: This section will introduce students to literature produced by women from the fourteenth
to the twenty-first centuries. The earlier writings are mostly drawn from British and American
women writers, while our contemporary cross section of literature will introduce students to a
greater diversity of women writers. As students move through the course, they will grapple with
the significant question about why anthologies of women’s literature become more inclusive of
ethnic literature, lesbian literature, and working class literature as we approach contemporary
writings. What historical events led to the emergence of these voices? How does a postcolonial
frame of reference offer us alternative understanding of the emergence of these voices? How
do we connect our explorations of these issues to our driving questions: Why do we need to
define a course introducing women writers exclusively? Our work will involve considerable time
for discussing our readings using these approaches to women’s literature. This will enable
students to develop their critical thinking and reasoning along new ways of understanding
women’s literature. Students will, in the process, formulate convincing and coherent arguments
about the course material through their writing, oral presentations, and class participation. This
course aims to lay the intellectual foundation for more specialized courses in women’s literature
for students who will later on pursue advanced courses in this terrain. At the same time it will
offer a basic but comprehensive understanding of women’s literature to students.
Teaching Method: Reading, writing, instructor led and student led discussions of reading
material, small and large group activities, some short lectures, student presentations , visual
aids like films (subject to availability)
Requirements: Short papers, Proposal/Abstract and Annotated Bibliography of Final Paper,
Final research paper, Class participation, including in-class activities and in-class and take home
informal assignments, Oral Presentation
Tentative Reading List: Schnell, Lisa, Rashmi Varma, & Beth Kowaleski Wallace ed. Women’s
World: The McGraw Hill Anthology of Women’s Writing . New York: McGraw Hill, 2008
Sec. 003 - Castro
MWF 11:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
Call No. 7832
Aim: To explore the complex traditions of British and U.S. women's fiction and various kinds of
literary theory that illuminate those traditions.
Teaching Method: Discussion, small-group work, lecture, writing.
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
Requirements: Weekly papers (250-300 words) in response to the reading; an annotated
bibliography of 5 scholarly sources relevant to the topic of the final paper; a final 10-page
research paper.
Tentative Reading List: Susan Cahill, ed. Women & Fiction: Short Stories By and About
Women; Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847); Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper
(1892); Katherine Mansfield, Stories (1908-23); Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (1929);
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937); Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
(1966); Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970); Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
(1984); Angela Carter, Saints and Strangers (1986)
Instructor contact info: Joy Castro, jcastro2@unl.edu, 345 Andrews Hall
Sec. 004 – Staff
TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Black Women Authors
ENGL/ETHN/WMNS 244B Sec. 001
Honey
MWF 11:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
Call No. 8712
Credits: 3
Call No. 7834
In this course we will examine writings by African American women writers from the nineteenth
through the late twentieth centuries with an eye to reviewing predominant themes and
concerns from this very important group of writers. We will also look at the diversity of these
writers in terms of region, era, class standing, affectional preference, age, genre and other
significant categories of authorial identity. The format of the class will be discussion, with some
small group group work, and a good bit of writing. Each student will be required to give a
presentation on a black woman writer or figure of his or her choice.
Requirements: Response papers on each of the required texts. Two longer papers at midterm and finals time. One oral presentation of 10 minutes. Daily attendance and class
participation.
Required Texts (tentative): Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs; Plum Bun
Jessie Fauset; Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston; The Street Ann Petry; Zami
Audre Lorde; The Color Purple Alice Walker; Song of Solomon Toni Morrison; Kindred Octavia
Butler.
Introduction to Writing of Poetry: Women and Poetry
ENGL/WMNS 253A Sec. 001
Credits: 3
Staff
TR 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Call No. 7835
Contact the English Department for course description.
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
Survey of Women’s Literature
ENGL/WMNS 315A
Sec. 001 Deb
Credits: 3
MWF 12:30 – 1:20 p.m.
Subtitle: Thinking Women and War Postcolonially
Call No. 8985
Aim: In the current context of the war with the Middle East, violence has once again become a
prevalent mode of perception. However, in the undergraduate classroom relatively little
attention has been given to a historical understanding of why violence happens in particular
geopolitical contexts. What has been considered even less is the figure of the woman caught in
wartime violence. However, with new forces like postcolonialism in the field of literary studies,
the examination of world politics through literature is increasingly gaining ground through a
variety of courses at the university level. As a consequence, in recent years the literature
classroom has also become a significant space for the study, through world literature, of the
distinctive situation of women caught in warfare as well as women's writings about war and its
gendered manifestations. This course will use a postcolonial approach to the literary
representations of war and resistance against such violations, but will foreground the figure of
the woman in conflict zones. The philosophical and theoretical apparatus of this course aims to
provide students with an understanding of the logic and uses of violence in conflict zones. Our
work in this class will also bring a transnational feminist perspective by engaging with the issue
of readership. Throughout the course students will critically engage with the following question:
What transnational material effects can reading such literature produce? This class will address
all of these issues and more with the aim of allowing students to develop their critical thinking,
reasoning, and formulate convincing and coherent arguments through their writings and oral
participation.
Teaching Method: Reading, writing, instructor led and student led discussions of reading
material, small and large group activities, some short lectures, student presentations , visual
aids like films (subject to availability)
Requirements: Short papers, Proposal/Abstract and Annotated Bibliography of Final Paper,
Final research paper, Class participation, including in-class activities and in-class and take home
informal assignments, Oral Presentation
Tentative Reading List: Daniela Gioseffi ed. Women on War: An International Anthology of
Writings from Antiquity to the Present . 2nd ed. NY: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2003. Other
texts to be included.
Sec. 002 Staff
ENGL/WMNS 315B
TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Women in Popular Culture
Call No. 7836
Credits: 3
Sec. 001 - Staff
MWF 8:30 – 9:20 a.m.
Call No. 7837
Sec. 004 - Staff
TR 3:30 – 4:45 p.m.
Call No. 7840
Aim: To theorize and analyze as a class the representation of women in popular culture,
focusing primarily on television, film, art, and literature.
Contact the English Department for further information.
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
Modern and Contemporary Women Writers: 20th Century Lesbian Literature
ENGL/WMNS 414B Sec.001
Credits: 3
DiBernard
TR 2:00 - 3:15 p.m.
Call No. 7847
Aim: We will read and discuss a wide range of lesbian literature written in the U.S. in the 20th
and 21st centuries, including autobiographical writings, poetry, novels, short stories, speeches,
manifestoes, and essays. [One geographical exception is the British novel The Well of
Loneliness, acknowledged as the first “out” lesbian novel in English.] Our reading will
encompass literature by lesbians of different ages, lesbians of color, European-American
lesbians, Jewish lesbians, lesbians with disabilities, lower income lesbians, and economically
privileged lesbians. We will consider such questions as what is a lesbian? what qualifies as
lesbian literature? how does the author's "politics of location" affect her writing? where are we
located as readers of this writing? The course will be arranged historically so that we can look
at the changes in the definition of “lesbian” throughout the 20th and into the 21st century in the
U.S., moving into transgender and queer identity as well. We will use some ideas from queer
theory to look at issues of identity and pedagogy, but our attention will primarily be on the
personal experience, the human experience, expressed in the writing. I believe, with Adrienne
Rich, that “Theory—the seeing of patterns, showing the forest as well as the trees—theory can
be a dew that rises from the earth and collects in the rain cloud and returns to earth over and
over. But if it doesn’t smell of the earth, it isn’t good for the earth.” (“Notes toward a Politics of
Location,” Blood, Bread, and Poetry, Norton 1986, pp. 213-14).
I expect this to be an exciting, challenging class, characterized by open discussions and a
feeling of community. I hope you will want to join such a group.
Teaching Method: We will do small group work, free writing, round robin discussions,
reading aloud, and other experiential activities. This is a class where you must be active.
Requirements: A weekly reading journal; reports on out-of-class events; a project which
includes an oral report; a final paper.
Tentative Reading List: Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers; Radclyffe Hall, The
Well of Loneliness; Ann Bannon, Beebo Brinker or another “pulp” novel; Audre Lorde, Zami;
writing by Adrienne Rich, including "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence;" Pat
Parker, Movement in Black; Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues; Chrystos, Not Vanishing; Eli
Clare, Exile and Pride; Amelia Montes, stories and theory. Also articles on lesbian and queer
theory on E-Reserve.
Rhetorical Theory: Rhetoric of Women Writers
ENGL/WMNS 475A Sec. 001
Stenberg
M 2:30 – 5:10 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8117
Aim: This semester we’ll examine women’s discursive practices and their relationship to the
2000-year tradition of rhetoric, analyzing how women’s contributions have subverted and
transformed traditional assumptions about rhetorical theory and practice. We’ll focus on some
central questions:
How is “traditional” rhetoric defined? How do women’s contributions work within and
against masculine rhetorical traditions?
What social, political and historical contexts inform women’s rhetorical contributions (or
silence)? What has fostered women’s authority as speakers/writers?
How have women sought to control and revise the construction and representation of their
embodied identities: racial, ethnic, physical, sexual?
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
How have women challenged assumptions about what “counts” as evidence in the
production of knowledge?
What are the implications of women’s rhetorical practices for teaching writing and rhetoric?
What are our ethical responsibilities to speak, write and act? How can women work
collaboratively to contribute to our own communities through discursive acts?
What are our own rhetorical histories? How can we strengthen our
speaking/writing/rhetorical practices in private and public spheres?
With these guiding questions in mind, we’ll explore several specific forms of rhetoric(s) used by
women to challenge, expand or rewrite traditional rhetorical theory and practice: silence,
listening, “talking back,” the body and the erotic, anger.
Teaching Method: Small-group discussions that stem from your weekly writing, full-class
discussions, and student-led facilitations.
Requirements: weekly response writing, analysis of two women’s public speech acts, and two
formal projects that involve a proposal, peer review, and revision (one a more traditional
academic paper, one an "action-rhetoric" project).
Tentative Reading List: Ritchie and Ronald, Available Means: An Anthology of Women's
Rhetoric(s) and other texts available electronically.
HIST/WMNS 225 Sec. 001
Wood Seefeldt
Women in History
MWF 12:30 – 1:20 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 7833
Survey of the role and status of women within Western society from ancient Greece and Rome
to contemporary America, with the major focus upon 19th and 20th century developments.
Primary emphasis on analysis of the evolution of the position of women in society within the
context imposed by cultural milieu, level of technological development, political and economic
structure, family structure, and social class.
Sexuality in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century America
HIST/WMNS 402 Sec. 001
Credits: 3
Holz
MWF 2:30 – 3:20 p.m.
Call No. 7845
This upper-division course is intended to introduce students to some of the key themes in the
history of sexuality in nineteenth and twentieth century America. Among the many topics we
will explore include: Victorianism and “passionless-ness,” contraceptives and abortion, age-ofconsent laws and inter-racial marriage, homosexuality and sexuality in film, music, and
literature, to name just a few. Ultimately, my goal is to encourage a curiosity about the various
ways people have viewed sexuality in the past in the hopes of provoking even more questions
about what this might mean today. Requirements for the course include: extensive reading of
primary and secondary sources (including several full-length books), several papers (both
formal and informal), quizzes, in-class quick-writes, and active participation in classroom
discussion.
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
Women and Gender in the U.S. A.
HIST/WMNS 441 Sec. 001
Jacobs
TR 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8264
This course examines the ways in which women in the area of the present-day U.S. have
experienced and given meaning to their history from around 1500 to the present. The class
also explores gender as a system of power relations that has been integral to the shaping of
American politics and public policy and the development of the American economy.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
 To explore the meaning of women's and men’s status in the U.S. across cultures and
through different historical periods;
 To examine changing conceptions and experiences of masculinity and femininity
 To identify common dilemmas/struggles faced by women and examine how women have
attempted to define, maintain, or gain power in changing historical circumstances;
 To inquire into women's differences based on race, class, sexual orientation, and other
factors;
 To study gender as a system of power relations that manifests itself in many realms of
American history;
 To develop a greater historical consciousness, including:
 the ability to critically examine primary and secondary sources,
 the ability to put events in a chronological framework,
 the ability to identify multiple causes for historical change;
 To improve reading, writing, and analytical skills;
 To promote more active participation of students in their education.
FORMAT OF CLASS:
Lectures on Tuesdays:
On Tuesdays (and sometimes at the beginning of class on Thursday) I will give presentations
on the topic or topics for the week. These lectures offer a broad survey of women and gender
in U.S. history and provide a context for the assigned readings.
Discussions on Thursdays:
On Thursdays, the class will divide into small discussion sections. Each student must come to
class with a prepared discussion guide based on the readings assigned for the week. Each
week, one student from each section will be required to lead discussion based on her or his
guide.
READINGS: Readings will include a textbook -- Ellen Carol DuBois and Lynn Dumenil, Through
Women’s Eyes: An American History with Documents – as well as memoirs, novels, and
interpretive histories, to be announced.
Black and African-American Women’s History
HIST/ETHN/WMNS 456 Sec. 001
Jones
TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8271
This course is aimed at exploring the history of women of African descent in the Americas, with
a particular focus on the United States. We will begin studying black women’s experiences from
their African origins before the rise of the transatlantic slave trade. Then the course will focus
on black women’s history from enslavement to the present day. Since the course will cover a
vast chronological period, this course is designed as an overview of black women’s history. It
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
will address such topics as black women’s resistance, labor, cultural expression, religion, racial
identity (in comparative perspective), and sexuality, through an exploration of a range of
primary sources, secondary sources, films, and documentaries. Pedagogically, this course will
be taught from a feminist/womanist perspective, which recognizes the experiences of black
women as singular and particular, when viewed through the lenses of gender and race. This is
not to say that the experiences of all women in America did not and do not intersect at some
point; rather that the experience of black women is distinct because of the legacy of slavery
and the realities of racism and sexism in American culture and society.
POLS/WMNS 338 Sec. 001
Theiss-Morse
Women and Politics
TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8343
This course examines the expanding role of women in political life. It will survey women’s
ongoing participation in political life, political attitudes, issues of special concern to women both
in the U.S. and internationally, and the varied roles attained and denied women both in the U.S.
and abroad. The course is an investigation of the female experience from exclusion, to protest,
to participation, to policymaking. By the end of the semester students will have a strong
foundation from which to critically evaluate the positions and contributions of women in politics
today.
PSYC/WMNS 421 Sec. 001
Psychology of Gender
Credits: 3
Staff
TR 2:00 - 3:15 p.m.
Call No. 9060
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor.
Prerequisite: 12 credit hours in Psychology or permission from the instructor;
contact the Psychology Department for further information.
This course examines psychological research and theory related to gender, with a particular
focus on the ways in which gender impacts people’s day-to-day lives. First, we will consider the
origins of gender in factors such as biology, stereotypes, human development, and the media.
Next, we will consider how gender influences ability and achievement, work, sexuality, and
relationships. Finally, we will discuss the ways that gender relates to interpersonal violence and
mental and physical health. Throughout the course, we will emphasize the importance of race
and culture in understanding gender.
SOCI 200
Women in Contemporary Society
Credits: 3
Sec. 001 - Hagewen
MWF 9:30 – 10:20 a.m.
Call No. 6927
Sec. 002 - Wheeler
TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Call No. 6926
Sec. 101 - Deegan
W 6:30 - 9:20 p.m.
Call No. 6928
Arranged
Call No. 6930
SOCI 200X Online Course:
Sec. 900 – Wheeler
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
Description: This course will focus on the maintenance and change of women's roles in
society through such institutions as the economy, family, education, politics and religion.
Various theoretical explanations of women's status are discussed. These perspectives are
applied to an overview of research on women from diverse ethnic, racial and class backgrounds,
older women, houseworkers, lesbians, and women as victims.
*TXCD 325 Sec. 001
Weiss
Woven and Nonwoven Textile Design
Credits: 3
MW 3:00 - 5:50 p.m.
Call No. Suppressed
*NOTE: For Women’s and Gender Studies credit, the student must complete a
substitution form with the Women’s and Gender Studies Director.
Prerequisites: Junior standing; TXCD 206
Contact the TXCD department for call number: 472-2911
Aim: Creative application of woven and non-loom textile construction techniques. The goals of
this course are 1) to build the student’s textile vocabulary so fibers can be used as a means of
expression, 2) to strengthen the student’s understanding of the design process as one of
exploration and discovery and 3) to build the student’s critical thinking ability in relation to
observing, analyzing and evaluating contemporary textile art, with an emphasis on the
contributions of women artists.
*TXCD 408 Sec. 001
Gregory
History of Textiles
MWF 9:00 – 9:50 a.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 7709
*To obtain Women’s and Gender Studies credit for this course, you could do your
project on a woman, and complete a substitution form with the Director of Women’s
and Gender Studies.
Prerequisites: Junior standing; TXCD 206; AHIS 101 or 102 or HIST 101 (Western Civ).
Aim: Textiles in the context of artistic, social, political and economic developments in the
cultures of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Emphasis on evolution of textile design and
stylistic differences between cultures.
Teaching Method: Slide lecture, experiential labs and discussion
Tentative Reading List: Elizabeth Barber, Women’s Work in the First 20,000 Years and
Jennifer Harris, Textiles: 5,000 Years.
WMNS 101
Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
Sec. 001 Kalisa and Schleck
TR 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 7827
This team-taught course is an introduction to key concepts and debates in Women and Gender
Studies with a special focus on transnationalism and globalization. As the world becomes more
and more connected, we seek to use both local and global lenses to understand women’s
common context of struggle and resistance, as well as the conversations taking place between
women about their goals and methods. How do transnationalism and globalization influence our
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
understanding of women’s status and positions? What is the impact of gender on areas of
global significance, such as the environment, violence and armed conflict, language, the media,
religion, international organizations, reproduction and fertility, sexuality, immigration, human
trafficking, and food production?
In addition to the two main instructors, there will be guest lecturers from multiple disciplines
who will introduce and lecture on course units as well as engage in formal and informal
discussions with participants. We will be engaging with texts from several different disciplines of
study (history, literature, sociology, religious studies, law, political science) and in several
different formats (books & articles, film, images). Although there will be several common
threads tying all of our discussions together, this class is meant to be exploratory in nature,
introducing you to the wide variety of ways in which gender impacts our world, and leaving you
prepared to pursue them in greater depth across your studies at UNL. Our goal is to leave you
more aware, and more curious about the ways in which ideas about gender are shaping our
world.
This course fulfills ACE Learning Outcome 9: “Exhibit global awareness or knowledge of human
diversity through analysis of an issue.” This course continues to fulfill some requirements of the
outgoing general education program as well. If you have questions about which of your degree
requirements this course fulfills, please contact an advisor in the college of your major.
Instructors contact info: Chantal Kalisa (Modern Languages) mkalisa2@unl.edu and Julia
Schleck (English) jschleck2@unl.edu
Sec. 002 Gannon
TR 3:30 – 4:45 p.m.
Call No. 7828
The study of women is the thematic thread that connects all of our learning this semester, and
from which we will branch out to study all forms of identity, social constructions, and
institutions. Being a member of this class does not require you to be a woman, feminist, liberal,
to be forthcoming about personal matters, or to accept all ideas associated with Women’s
Studies. It does, however, require you to think critically and empathetically about your own
experiences and the experiences of others and to be an active participant in every class
discussion. Successful completion of this class constitutes approximately four to five hours of
work outside of class per week (including 30 pages of reading, a typed reading response, an
activity, and a 2-page typed reflection paper weekly.) In addition, you will complete a typed 5page biomythography, as well as a self-designed final project which you will complete over the
course of the semester.
Textbook: Women's Voices, Feminist Visions, editors Susan Shaw and Janet Lee
Instructor contact info: Megan Gannon (English) megangannon@yahoo.com
WMNS 101 X Online Course:
Sec. 900 Burnett and Leichner
Arranged
Call No. 8584
This course is an introduction to basic concepts of the study of women and gender in American
society and transnational contexts. We will examine historical connections and major historical
figures, contemporary topics and debates, and the future of Women’s and Gender Studies. Our
online section of WMNS 101 shares the same philosophy, goals, and objectives as a traditional,
face-to-face classroom setting. However, given that most Women’s and Gender Studies courses
at UNL rely heavily on discussion-based learning and opportunities for students to grapple with
new and challenging ideas (rather than memorization), the online version of the course has a
heavy written component, both in a weekly personal blog and through online discussion on a
social networking website. In addition, students will demonstrate learning through quizzes and
a final exam.
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
Required Texts and Materials:
1. Feminist Frontiers (8th edition), Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier, Leila J. Rupp; ISBN: 9780073404301
2. Articles, web pages, or videos linked through or posted on Blackboard at my.unl.edu
3. A computer with Microsoft Office (Word & PowerPoint), high-speed internet, audio
playback capabilities, and the most recent versions of Quicktime Video, Adobe Flash
Player, and Adobe Reader Software (both are free downloads). Note: the current
version of Microsoft Office (which contains Word) is available for less than $20 at the
UNL Computer store to current students.
4. A working knowledge of basic computer skills, including word processing, web
navigation, email, and audio/video playback.
Instructors contact info: Tamy Burnett (English) tburnett2@unl.edu and Amber Harris
Leichner (English) aleichner2@unl.edu
Applying Social Justice to LGBTQA Programs and Services
WMNS 211
Credits: 3
Sec. 001 Tetreault
R 2:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Call No. 7974
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor
Prerequisites: WMNS 201 or ENGL/WMNS 212 or instructor’s permission (Pat
Tetreault, 472.1752, ptetreault1@unl.edu)
Aim: An overview of social justice education and the social change model of leadership
development with an emphasis on developing the ability to apply this information to LGBTQA
Programs & Services on a university campus. The information provided will be applied through
development and implementation of an individual and group project. This course will also
require personal reflection consistent with the social change model, which emphasizes seven
core essential elements: Consciousness of self, congruence, and commitment (at the individual
level); collaboration, common purpose, and controversy with civility (at the group level), and
citizenship (the community level). Change is the goal of the social change model of leadership
development, which gives purpose to the 7 C’s listed above.
Requirements: Participation in class, development and implementation of an individual project
related to social justice education, social change and LGBTQA Programs and Services; and
participation in a group or classroom project that also exemplifies or explores how to apply
social justice to LGBTQA Programs & Services. The individual project will also be presented to /
shared with the class and written summary or report will be turned in. The group project will
have a brainstorming session, a timeline, idea development, group participation in
implementation, and an evaluation component. A written report will also be turned in. Research
and outreach may be required to implement the individual and/or group project.
Course Objectives:
▼ To develop an understanding of the theoretical perspectives of social justice education
and the social change model of leadership development
▼ To examine concepts of multiple identities and the social change model of leadership
development as they relate to LGBTQA Programs & Services
▼ The opportunity to develop, with the assistance of faculty, staff and/or community
members/organizations, and implement a program or service for the LGBTQ community
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
▼ The opportunity to work on a collaborative project with classmates that utilizes the
social change model of leadership development as a framework and provides a program
or service for the LGBTQA community
Overview: Students will have the opportunity to clarify values, consider the theoretical
underpinnings of social justice and apply their knowledge in the development and
implementation of a program and/or service on campus or in the community that will benefit
the LGBTQA population and fit within the social justice model. Students will have the
opportunity to work with LGBTQA Programs, Services and the LGBTQA Resource Center to
develop and provide a program and collaborative project or work with a community-based
agency that utilizes a social justice model and apply their coursework to benefit the LGBTQA
community.
Tentative Reading List: Peaks and Valleys by Spencer Johnson, MD and A Social Change
Model of Leadership Development, Version III, Higher Education Research Institute (UCLA).
WMNS 399 Sec. 001
Jacobs
Independent Study
Arranged
Credits: 1-6
Call No. Suppressed
Prerequisite: PERMISSION OF WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES PROGRAM
DIRECTOR, MARGARET JACOBS, 472-9300.
WMNS 399H Sec. 001
Jacobs
Honors Thesis
Arranged
Credits: 1- 6
Call No. Suppressed
Prerequisite: Open to candidates for degree with distinction, high distinction or
highest distinction in the College of Arts and Sciences; junior standing or above,
with the consent of the instructor.
This course allows WGS majors and minors and LGBTQ Sexuality Studies minors to get credit
for their work on an honor’s thesis. For more information, contact the Women’s and Gender
Studies office at 472-9392, or Margaret Jacobs at mjacobs3@unl.edu
WMNS 400 Sec. 001
Senior Seminar
Credits: 3
DiBernard
W 2:30 – 5:10 p.m.
*Call No. Suppressed
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor.
*Note: This course is required for all Women’s and Gender Studies majors; you
cannot graduate without taking this class. Women’s and Gender Studies minors and
LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minors are also welcome. If you plan to graduate in May,
August or December 2010, you should take the Senior Seminar this semester. The
call number will be suppressed in the Class Schedule, so you must contact Professor
Barbara DiBernard at bdibernard2@unl.edu to obtain the call number before you
register for the class.
Aim: The Senior Seminar is meant to be a “capstone” experience for students. For probably
the first time in your college experience, you will be working with only Women’s & Gender
Studies students. That will give us the opportunity to form a WGS community and to delve
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
more deeply into topics and issues than might be possible in a class where the majority of
students have other majors. One of the main goals of the course is to give you the opportunity
to do a major research project in WGS. I will be working with each of you to choose a topic
and develop your research plan early in the semester (in fact, I’ll be contacting you about it
even before the semester begins). We will also integrate the research and writing/creation of
your project into our class activities, so that you receive regular feedback from your classmates
and me.
Teaching Method: Expect to be active in this class. Our mode will be discussion, in-class
exercises that involve reading aloud, writing, performing, and using our creativity.
Requirements: Weekly response journals; attending and reporting on WGS events on
campus and in the community; informal oral reports, and a major research project. Tentative
Reading List: Vandana Shiva, Earth Democracy, sections from Cynthia Enloe, The Curious
Feminist, Melody Berger (ed.), We Don’t Need Another Wave. Additional articles through
Blackboard. We will also integrate WGS-related speakers and programs into our discussions and
readings.
It’s a real honor to teach the WGS Senior Seminar. I look forward to working with each of you,
and invite you to contact me at any time before the class starts, at bdibernard2@unl.edu. My
office is Andrews 337C, and my office hours for fall are M 2-3 p.m., T 12:30-1:30 p.m., and
Th. 3:30-4:30 p.m. I’d be happy to see you anytime!
--Barbara DiBernard
Internship in Women’s and Gender Studies
WMNS 497 Sec. 001
Credits: 1 - 6
Jacobs
Arranged
Call No. Suppressed
Students may gain practical knowledge in applying concepts learned in WGS classes in a
service-learning opportunity with such organizations as Voices of Hope, Friendship Home, the
YWCA, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU. The internship will engage students with particular
issues including workplace discrimination against women, prejudice faced by lesbian and gay
couples, violence against women, and women’s reproductive health. Together with an on-site
internship supervisor and a WGS faculty member, students will design and sign a contract that
defines the number of hours to be spent at the organization, types of work, assignments, and
how the student will be evaluated and graded. For more information, contact the Women’s and
Gender Studies office at 472-9392, Margaret Jacobs at mjacobs3@unl.edu, or Rose Holz at
rholz2@unl.edu.
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
OTHER UNDERGRADUATE
COURSES OF INTEREST
These courses may or may not count toward a Women’s and Gender Studies
major or minor. Please consult a Women’s and Gender Studies advisor
before registering.
Pro-seminar in Latin American Studies -- Women in Latin America
ANTH 478 Sec. 001 (cross listed in several departments)
Credits: 3
Sanchez
T 2:00 – 4:20 p.m.
*Call No. Suppressed
*To obtain call number, contact Professor Carleen D. Sanchez, 472-3925,
csanchez2@unl.edu
Latin America has experienced significant social, political, economic, and cultural change over
the past 50 years. Women’s roles in society have also changed and traditional perceptions of
Latin American women as passive elements of society are currently under scrutiny. Emerging
from new explorations of women’s political agency is a growing body of literature that
recognizes the critical role of women in struggles for political and social change. In this course
we will explore women’s political agency in Latin America from 1950 to the present. We will be
examining the various ways that women contribute to political discourse and change as
revolutionaries, mothers, workers, peasants, members of Indigenous communities, lesbians,
and feminists. Particular attention will be paid to the historical conditions of Latin American
women’s oppression by contextualizing Latin American society in terms of social hierarchy based
on differences of race/ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality.
Current Issues: Gender, Economics and Social Provisioning
ECON 389 Sec. 001
Credits: 3
May
TR 8:00 – 9:15 a.m.
Call No. 8861
Course Description: In the past several decades, feminist economists have made significant
contributions to our understanding of household decision-making, the care economy,
international migration, development, the economics of globalization, feminization of labor
markets, and macroeconomics. What began as a critique of orthodox thinking and attempt to
expand the debate in economics in the 1970s and 1980s, has now become a lively and
important element of what counts as knowledge in almost every field in the discipline of
economics.
Aim: To gain a deeper understanding of economic theory and policy by focusing on gender
analysis. The course will explore important current topics in economics, challenging mainstream
economic perspectives that treat women as invisible, economic outcomes as simply a matter of
choice, and economic theory as objective and unbiased. This course examines contemporary
critiques of gender inequality, economic life, and policy-making, offering an alternative
framework to explore arrangements surrounding economic provisioning.
Instructor contact info: amay@unlnotes.unl.edu
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
OTHER COURSES OF INTEREST cont.
ENGL/ETHN 245D Sec. 001 Chicano/Chicana Literature
Credits: 3
Staff
TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Call No. 3456
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor when a significant
portion of the course content is related to LGBTQ studies.
Contact the English Department for a description.
Online Course:
GPSP 399 Sec. 796
Buller
Women of the Great Plains
Arranged
Credits: 3
Call No. 9104
Contact instructor for course, section and call numbers.
Who is a woman of the Great Plains? Such a question frequently conjures up an image of a
female with specific characteristics regarding her race, class, ethnicity, and religion as well as
the place and time in which she lived. But these perceptions are often inaccurate. This new,
interdisciplinary online course—framed by humanistic and post-colonial perspectives-- examines
gender throughout time and space in the American and Canadian Great Plains. Various
disciplines—such as anthropology, communication, economics, geography, history, literature,
and sociology–inform explorations of gender in relation to the community, environment, politics,
popular culture, social justice, work, and violence.
The course will use personal narratives; print and digital copies of scholarly works, such as
articles from Great Plains Quarterly and Plains Song Review; images from the Joslyn Art
Museum website; digital projects from the Plains Humanities Alliance; and online resources from
the Library of Congress and South Dakota State Historical Society Archives.
Instructor contact info: Rebecca A. Buller at rbuller@huskers.unl.edu
PSYC 471 Sec. 001
Esseks
Human Sexuality and Society
Credits: 3
TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Call No. 6737
Crosslisted as EDPS 471 and SOCI 471
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor.
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of human sexuality in terms of the psychological,
social, cultural, anthropological, legal, historical, and physical characteristics of individual
sexuality and sex in society.
SOCI 225
Sec. 001 – Staff
Marriage and Family
TR 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 6946
This course will provide an overview of the family from a sociological perspective. The family is
considered to be one of the most private and pervasive social institutions in society. All of us
have had contact with at least one family, and many of us will be involved in several different
families during our lifetime. We will focus on current changes in the American family ideals. We
first look at changes in the family, theoretical and research frameworks in studying the family
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses
OTHER COURSES OF INTEREST cont.
and what the concept of family has meant historically. Throughout the course we’ll look at how
social structures shape and restructure the family: gender and family, ethnicity and family,
social class and family, family violence and other crisis-related issues. We will also focus on
contemporary families and examine love, courtship, sexuality, cohabitation, marriage and
divorce.
TXCD 123 Sec. 001
McLeod
Clothing and Human Behavior
TR 1:00 – 2:20 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 7653
Analysis of social, cultural, aesthetic, and economic influences on clothing and human behavior.
Spring 2010 Undergraduate Courses