Women's and Gender Studies is interdisciplinary by nature and examines the role of women and gender in history, literature, society, science and culture using a variety of methodologies and feminist theoretical perspectives.

A central goal of the department is to strengthen critical thinking and inquiry through a focus on women's experiences and the social construction of gender in its relation to race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability and age in both the past and present. The study of femininity and masculinity, the relations between women and men, and the differential power structures that create these social categories are of central importance to the curriculum.

The program of study frames questions of gender and feminisms in ways that connect the local to the global and promote an understanding of relations of power in multiple contexts. A variety of courses in the department provide frameworks for personal reflectiveness on basic life experiences. Majors acquire the breadth and depth of exposure necessary to appraise different research tools, methodologies and substantive approaches to central questions in women's and gender studies.