Department of Gender, Diversity, and Social Justice

School: School of Arts and Sciences

The Department of Gender, Diversity, and Social Justice centers an interdisciplinary approach to studying gender, inequality, justice, injustice, power, and cultural difference. It offers two Bachelor of Arts degree programs: Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) and Social Justice (SOJ), as well as three minors: Women’s and Gender Studies, Social Justice, and Race and Ethnic Studies. The majors and minors use an intersectional lens to explore the ways in which gender, race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, and other salient forms of social difference shape both society and the individual, as well as theories of what it means to create a socially just world and practical efforts to do so. The department is committed to a curriculum that integrates diverse perspectives and experiences and offers multiple ways for students to focus their interest in these topics.

As part of their interdisciplinary training, students take courses within the department as well as with affiliated faculty in a number of other departments and programs across the College. Students also have the opportunity to gain experience off-campus in courses that take learning out of the classroom and into the field through internships and experiential learning. WGS and SOJ graduates are prepared for a range of pathways in careers and graduate education. Our students pursue futures in higher education, community engagement/nonprofits, government, policy advocacy, social work, law, psychology, media, human resources, and more.

The Women’s and Gender Studies Major

Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) is an interdisciplinary program that includes gender studies, women’s studies, feminist studies, sexuality studies, masculinity studies, and race and ethnic studies. The major focuses on a multicultural curriculum that integrates intersectionality and diverse perspectives. Women’s and Gender Studies courses emphasize interactive learning in which student involvement, critical thinking, and personal insight are encouraged and made relevant in the learning process.

A degree in Women’s and Gender Studies from Merrimack College equips students with the analytical skills to integrate insights from a variety of fields and disciplines enabling them to become conversant with a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches and apply them to the study of gender.

Women’s and Gender Studies students examine the social, cultural, and scientific construction of gender; the dynamics of gender relations; processes of social change; and the intersection of gender with race, ethnicity, class, nation, and sexuality.

The Social Justice Major

The Social Justice major at Merrimack College provides students with the opportunity to turn their passion for social change, human rights, and a more just world into a fulfilling career. Students will gain extensive theoretical, analytical, and experiential knowledge in the field. This interdisciplinary program has been designed to prepare students for the demands of a world in which our awareness of injustice and our responsibility to address social issues has grown nationally and across the globe.

Students can tailor their degree to their interests, choosing from a range of subject areas to concentrate on such as global justice and human rights, law and justice, immigration justice, health justice, and food justice, and racial justice, to name a few.

Undergraduate degree programs offered by the Department:

Major(s)

Social Justice, B.A.

Women’s and Gender Studies, B.A.

Minor(s)

Race and Ethnic Studies

Social Justice

Women’s and Gender Studies

Department-specific academic policies:

Major GPA

Students must achieve a final grade point average of 2.00 or better within any majors offered by the Gender, Diversity, and Social Justice Department. The GPA for majors will be calculated as the average of all courses taken within the major.