About Our Programs

Spring 2012

Dear Potential Applicant,

We would like to take this opportunity to tell you more about The Center for Women’s and Gender Studies at The University of Texas at Austin!  We are excited to offer a distinctive graduate school experience through our Master’s Program.


Who We Are:

The Center for Women’s and Gender Studies offers a unique, interdisciplinary program that focuses on understanding women’s experiences from a variety of perspectives and on the role gender plays in shaping society. The program's large and diverse faculty draws on the scholarship of over 290 distinguished faculty from 29 departments and 14 colleges and schools. The wide array of graduate courses we offer provides access to cutting edge scholarship from multiple perspectives and allows our students an unusual opportunity for cross-disciplinary inquiry at the graduate level.

We are pleased to have several award-winning professors and nationally recognized scholars affiliated with our center. Our faculty teach many bright and gifted students, who go on to become political leaders, legal advocates, socially oriented writers, teachers, and artists, as well as scientists and engineers dedicated to addressing the problems faced by women, men, and families.

At CWGS our leadership and support staff is comprised of Dr. Susan Sage Heinzelman (Director of CWGS, Associate Professor of English), Dr. Kristen Hogan (Associate Director of CWGS, Director of Embrey Women’s Human Rights Initiative), Patricia Heisler (Senior Administrative Associate), Nancy Ewert (Program Coordinator), and Alma Jackie Salcedo (Graduate Coordinator). 


Interdisciplinary Learning:

At the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, we actively encourage our students to pursue their varied academic interests, and our interdisciplinary program allows them the flexibility to study their passions – provided it is through the lens of Women’s and Gender Studies.  A complete listing of all Thesis projects created in our MA program is available online.  Here are a few thesis abstracts from our graduates:


Voicing Solidarity, The Ladies Auxiliary: The Retelling of the Empire Zinc Strike
- Sonia D. Montoya; Faculty Supervisors: Dana Cloud, Ph.D., &  Emilio Zamora, Ph.D.
Montoya reexamines the history of the 1950-52 Local 890, Empire Zinc strike in Bayard, New Mexico through the eyes of women.  Her thesis retells the history of the longest strike in New Mexico's history using auto-ethnographic methodology to document life histories of women who participated in the women's delegation, the Ladies Auxiliary, who victoriously succeeded with their strike. In addition, Montoya’s grandparents held key leadership roles within the union and the Ladies Auxiliary, which have not been documented until now.

(Im)Pure Thoughts: Rethinking Women’s Ritual and Physical Impurity
- Rebecca A. Moody; Faculty Supervisor: Faegheh Shirazi, Ph.D.
Cursed, polluted, often ill and aberrant, and at times demonic: across time and space, political lines and religious traditions, menstruating women have been (and are today) described in these and myriad other ways.  Scholars have established intra-cultural connections between the biological process of menstruation and its articulation as impure.  This study is a feminist-centered analysis undertaking a historical-comparative investigation of the interconnection of religious, cultural and political histories with women’s perceived ritual and physical impurity.

Restorative Justice: Is Austin, Texas Ready for an Alternative Approach to Domestic Violence?
- Andria Salucka; Faculty Supervisors: Noël Busch, Ph.D. & Marilyn P. Armour, Ph.D.
What are the practical and theoretical arguments surrounding the application of restorative justice to domestic violence?  What are the most critical factors to consider when deciding whether or not to develop, and how to develop, a successful restorative justice initiative for domestic violence cases within a specific community?  This thesis engages these questions, and, drawing on 18 in-depth interviews with stakeholders and program experts, uses the information gathered as a framework for evaluating the position of the Austin, Texas community to successfully develop, implement, and support a restorative justice initiative for domestic violence.

Publics in Line: The Spatial Organization of the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival
-Kyle Brillante; Faculty Supervisors: Ann Cvetkovich, Ph.D., and Judith Coffin, Ph.D.
The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) is the largest film festival of its kind in the Southwest and the oldest film festival in the city of Austin. An organization that purports to build community, aGLIFF offers a unique archive for investigating the relationship between queer individuals and public cultures. This thesis addresses the tensions between aGLIFF's increasing commercialism and its ability to create a counterpublic sphere. The former problematizes its counterpublic mission to represent the diversity of its constituency and combat the circulation of stereotypical and exclusive representations of queers in public culture.


Alumni News:

Since establishing our Master’s Program in 2001, the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies has granted degrees to over twenty students; and we remain interested and invested in their post-graduate endeavors.  Recently we contacted some of our former graduates to find out where they are now.  The following are a few of their responses:

Kritika Agarwal (MA, 2008) was accepted to a two month United Nations internship program at the UN headquarters in New York City for the summer.

Catherine Bitney (MA, 2004) is currently a Clinical Psychology Doctoral Candidate at the New School for Social Research in New York City. She is conducting research to better understand the dynamics between white therapists and clients of color, particularly how such racial differences affect the therapeutic relationship (both positively and negatively).

Suzanne FreyJadis Chuberka (MA, 2005) is currently a Director at Game Path LLC and the Conference Director of the Game Education Summit (www.gameeducationsummit.com). This conference is the only place where universities and the industry can come together to share course and curriculum ideas, cutting edge research, the latest technology and tools used in the game education classroom, innovative ideas about the future of game design and how best to prepare students for the technological future. Suzanne is also the Editor for the Game Education Network, the sister site to the Game Education Summit where the focus is on articles that discuss program design, increasing student diversity, innovative teaching methods, new publishing methodology and a variety of other topics.

Leah Michelle Ross (MA, 2004) is at the all but dissertation level in the Rhetoric and Language Studies Program in the Department of Communication Studies at UT. Leah has been freelancing as a camera operator and editor for the last two and half years. In addition, a short film she shot on and edited with Hector Galan, The Big Squeeze, premiered at SXSW 09.

Azure D. Osborne-Lee (MA, 2008) is leaving Houston, where she has been teaching theatre arts, to become the New Play Festival Intern at Freedom Train Productions in Brooklyn, New York. Azure will be living in Manhattan for the summer, and will be in New York until further notice.

Susan Todd (MA, 2005) just finished her PhD in Theatre and Dance, specializing in women’s issues in Shakespeare. Her dissertation is titled, MacBird!: A History and Feminist Critique of Barbara Garson’s Radical Play. Susan continues to direct the Weird Sisters Women’s Theater Collective here in Austin, which she founded in 2005 in connection with her MA thesis in Women’s and Gender Studies. Susan also continues to lecture and hold pedagogy workshops for teachers at the Huntington Library’s Shakespeare program in California each summer, where she emphasizes the importance of equal opportunity for women and other marginalized individuals in teaching, casting, and directing Shakespeare.

For more news on what our alumni our doing, please browse our latest issue of the CWGS Newsletter.

What We Look For:

An institution of world-class caliber, The University of Texas at Austin is distinguished by more than a century of intellectual accomplishments.  When first opened in 1883, the university had an enrollment of 221 students and eight faculty members on a 40-acre tract.  UT Austin has grown to a campus of more than 350 acres, with 110 buildings, over 2,400 faculty members and an enrollment of approximately 50,000 students.  There are approximately 12,000 students current enrolled in over 190 graduate degree programs.  The university places a premium on outstanding instruction. Its academic programs and professional schools rank largely among the top 20 programs and schools in the country. The faculty includes members of the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as winners of Pulitzer and Nobel prizes. Each year about 100 faculty members receive teaching excellence awards.

Now in its ninth year, the Women’s and Gender Studies Masters Program is one of the university’s youngest programs.  Every January we sort through dozens of applications to find the right students for next fall’s cohort. We see this as an opportunity to admit a dynamic group of students who will make a difference in the community, both in and out of academia.  Each year CWGS accepts about ten students.  The intimate size of the incoming cohort allows us to provide each student with personal attention and fosters a sense of community amongst our students and faculty.

The Admissions Committee looks for complete applications from a diverse range of students who are committed to Women’s and Gender Studies.  They look for a clear sense of academic goals or drive in the Statement of Purpose, a Scholarly Writing Sample that shows strong verbal and analytical skills, letters of recommendation that can speak to academic performance, and a good GPA. The University of Texas requires a 3.0 GPA in upper-division (junior- and senior-level) coursework and in any graduate work already completed.  The average GPA of students admitted to the WGS program is 3.5.  They also look for competitive GRE scores.  Last year, our top 15% students' Verbal scores were 800 to 650.  Our admissions committee puts an emphasis on the Verbal section and the Analytical Writing section of the GRE.  CWGS depends on our students to be activists and leaders in our community.  The Admissions Committee also looks for students who will do more than just attend class.  They look for students who will attend workshops, conferences, form organizations, volunteer, and participate in extra-curricular activities.


How to Apply (click for detailed instructions):
 
Due to the size and cohort nature of the program, we only offer fall admission.  The application deadline for the next fall admission is December 15th of the previous year.  This timeline allows us to review applications during the winter holidays and contact students in mid-March for admission in August.

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE DEADLINE!  The new online requests for letters of recommendation do not go out until you submit the online application.  If you wait until the deadline, your letters of recommendation will be submitted after the deadline - and therefore LATE.  Our recommendation is to submit your application 2-3 weeks before the deadline, so that your references will have plenty of time to write.  Late applications will not be considered.

The Application is divided into two sections: Graduate and International Admissions (GIAC) and CWGS Admissions.  You are responsible for both sections.  Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

The GIAC portion of the application includes, but is not limited to electronic GRE scores, transcripts, and the Texas Common Application.  Letters of recommendation should be sent electronically via the Texas Common Application.


MA Degree Requirements:
Graduate Catalog, 2009-2011 Women's and Gender Studies
http://registrar.utexas.edu/catalogs/grad09-11/ch04/la/grad09.wgs.ch.html

The requirement for the MA in Women's and Gender Studies is divided into two options: The MA thesis and the MA report.

In addition to these course requirements, students are also required to present at the Annual WGS Student Conference at least once during their course of study.

The MA thesis route requires successful completion of 36 course hours to be divided as follows:
•    9 hrs of WGS Required Courses (WGS 390, WGS 391, WGS 392)
•    6 hrs of Minor Courses (2 courses)
•    15 hrs of Elective Courses (5 courses)
•    6 Thesis hrs

The MA report option requires successful completion of 36 course hours to be divided as follows:
•    9 hrs of WGS Required Courses (WGS 390, WGS 391, WGS 392)
•    6 hrs of Minor Courses (2 courses)
•    18 hrs of Elective Courses (6 courses)
•    3 Report hrs


New Dual Degree Programs:

The Center for Women's and Gender Studies and the School of Information offer a dual degree program combining training in information studies with study of the role that gender plays in shaping society.  Graduates of the program are awarded a Master of Arts in Women's and Gender Studies and a Master of Science in Information Studies.

This Center for Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) and the LBJ School (LBJ) offer a dual degree program that  responds to an increased need in the public, nonprofit and private sectors for specialists who have advanced training in policy analysis and leadership and management skills, as well a comprehensive understanding of women’s and gender issues.

Students seeking admission to the dual degree program must apply through the Graduate and International Admissions Center. Students apply to each individual program's graduate offices in order to be admitted to the dual program.  Potential students may apply to the Dual Degree program using the dual degree code on the online (Apply) Texas Common Application website.  

Applicants must be accepted by both admissions committees in order to attempt the dual degree.  (Students could potentially apply to the School of Information or the School of Public Policy for Spring admission - and then later change their major to the dual degree with WGS.  If accepted - students could begin MSIS or MPAff coursework in January, but would have to wait until the next fall to begin WGS MA coursework with the new cohort.)

There is not a special application for the dual degree program (besides marking the appropriate program/major code on the Apply Texas website). Like all other graduate applicants, the student is responsible for submitting any additional information required by the Graduate Studies Committee for each program.

Each program (MSIS, MPAff, and WGS) has its own separate requirements in addition to the (Apply) Texas Online Application.  Each program needs to be individually sent all the information for its own program.  Since the MSIS, MPAff and WGS programs all have separate admissions committees, they cannot accept only one application with all the materials. Please keep them separate.

We apologize if this creates an inconvenience with making duplicate copies, but the School of Information, the LBJ School of Public Policy, and the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies are housed in separate offices across campus, and our timelines are different as well.


Destination: Austin, Texas!

Austin is a vibrant, varied city, with numerous educational, business and leisure resources.  In 2007, Austin numbered amongst the top ten U.S. cities for business vitality, including being ranked as one of the hottest job markets for young adults and one of the best cities for relocating singles. Austin is also considered one of the cleanest and healthiest cities in the U.S.  Prevention magazine named Austin as the second best city in the country for fitness, citing the city’s good air quality, mild weather, beautiful parks and safe streets; and with Austin Energy’s GreenChoice program, Austin leads the nation in renewable energy usage.  In addition to being the Capital of Texas, Austin has a justified reputation as the “Live Music Capital of the World.”  So what’s not to love about Austin?

More information:

To learn more about UT’s Graduate School, please visit:
http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/publications/gradguide2010.pdf

If you would like more information about our programs, please read through our publications on the web.  Our newsletters are available online as PDFs here.  The CWGS MA Programs Student Handbook is also available online.

If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me.  I wish you the best of luck in your academic endeavors.

Sincerely,

Alma Jackie Salcedo
Graduate Coordinator
CENTER for WOMEN’S & GENDER STUDIES