Academic Departments. Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department Records
The Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGS) department at Wake Forest University offers interdisciplinary courses that examine and analyze cultural, biological, political, and social constructions of femininity and masculinity. The department first offered an interdisciplinary minor beginning in 1983, as Women's Studies, and began expanding in the 1990s. Collection materials include course listings, and materials memorandums, symposium agendas, department newsletters, and two volumes of bean, a literary journal supported by the department.
Biographical and Historical Note
The Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGS) department at Wake Forest University offers interdisciplinary courses that examine and analyze cultural, biological, political, and social constructions of femininity and masculinity. Students can earn a major or minor in the field. The department supports an annual Student Research Symposium on Gender and Sexuality and sponsors the Elizabeth Phillips Award for the Best Essay in Women's and Gender Studies every spring. The award is a tribute to the late Elizabeth Phillips, Professor Emerita of English, for her scholarly commitment to the advancement of the discipline.
The department began in 1982 as the Women's Studies Committee, a group of 60 faculty, administrators, and librarians from across WFU. The group met monthly and proposed an interdisciplinary minor that was accepted in spring 1983. Mary DeShazer, Professor of English and Women's Studies, was hired as the first Women's Studies Coordinator in 1987. Linda Nielsen, Professor of Education, joined the faculty and established student internships in 1991. Susan Borwick, Professor of Music and one of the founding members of the program, directed the program from 1996 to 2000, and has been followed by a succession of women. In April 2003, the program changed names to Women's and Gender Studies. The department director as of 2017, Wanda Balzano, was hired in 2004 as a visiting professor from University College in Dublin, Ireland. A major was approved in 2011, and in August 2013 the program's name changed again to its current form, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The program officially gained departmental status in 2015.
Source: "Program History." WFU Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. 2017, www.college.wfu.edu/wgs/about-us/program-history/.
Collection Overview
This collection documents the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department at Wake Forest University. Materials include course listings, memorandums, symposium agendas, department newsletters, course materials, and two volumes of bean, a literary journal supported by the department.
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Processed by Stephanie Bennett, 2015 December
- Revision Description
- Revised by Tara Coady; Katie Lawrence; Ashelee Gerald Hill and Stephanie Bennett, 2017 March, 2018 September, 2019 November
- Access Restrictions
- This collection is open for use.
- Copyright Notice
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department Records (RG16.30), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.