History

When We Started and How We Grew

Our History

The University of Texas at Arlington first began activity in the field of Women’s Studies in 1974, creating the UTA Center for Women’s Studies. The Center was established just four years after the opening of the first Women’s Studies program in the country at San Diego State University.

In 1980, the UTA Center for Women’s Studies received a grant from the Texas Council for the Humanities to support the “Woman Fair”, a conference on women’s issues for academic disciplines. The Ford Foundation also gave a small grant to the Center in 1984 for integrating Women’s Studies into UTA’s U.S. History survey courses. By 1991, UTA officially created a Women’s Studies Program offering an undergraduate Minor in Women’s Studies.

Two years after the establishment of the Women’s Studies Program,the program acquired their own departmental course prefix (WOMS)that allowed classes to be cross-listed with other department courses. This step made the program official at UTA, as it designated the course offerings to be Minor specific. A section was also created for Women’s Studies textbooks in the campus bookstore.

Over the years, the course offerings expanded to include approximately 28 cross-listed classes across 14 departments and over 40 faculty members teaching the qualified classes. The program also offered a concentration in Women’s Studies for the Interdisciplinary Studies undergraduate major, and an option in women’s history at the undergraduate level. In 1997, the Women’s Studies Program began offering WOMS 2310, Introduction to Women’s Studies, the only course offered exclusively by the program.


Expanding your horizons

Expanding Your Horizons

For 17 years, the Women’s Studies Program hosted Expanding Your Horizons, a conference designed to encourage young women to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. The program also hosted the Friends of Women’s Studies Luncheon, a fundraiser that recognized and celebrated the achievements of women in society who opened opportunities for future generations.

WHMBanner

Women’s History Month Lecture Series

For 26 consecutive years, the Women’s History Month Lecture Series has been held during March. The lecture series brings local and nationally recognized scholars and performers to UTA to give public lectures, performances and presentations on women’s issues.

Fall 2011 marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Women’s Studies Program at UTA, as well as the moment that the program was reintroduced as the Women’s & Gender Studies Program.

During the next 10 years, more classes developed and by 2021, the WGS Program offered several courses exclusively through the program: WOMS 2310; WOMS 2315, Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies; WOMS 3301, Introduction to Latina/Hispanic Feminism; WOMS 4305, Transnational Feminisms; and WOMS 4307, Evil Women: Witches, Harlots, & Madwomen. 

A WGS Graduate Certificate program was also launched, and the WGS Program collaborates with several departments to offer graduate courses that fulfill the WGS Graduate Certificate’s requirements. 

Join us in growing the GWSS Program as we keep moving forward to the future.