Sexuality and Gender Studies Certificate Program

This 3-credit course will provide an introduction into Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ (LGBTQ+) Studies. This course will use texts, articles, speakers, literature, and film to bring students to a deeper understanding of LGBTQ+ cultures and communities. This course will educate students on the central concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity within historical, political, and societal frameworks. Throughout this course, students will work towards an understanding of the intersectional dynamics of privilege and oppression as they relate to LGBTQ+ individuals and culture by exploring the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals and their partners/families. Special attention will be given to each Unit on LGBTQ+ issues within the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communities.

This 3-credit elective course focuses on how sexuality, gender, and culture impact the process of developing and maintaining human intimate relationships of friendship and love. Students will understand how various dynamics impact relationships such as attraction, communication, interdependency, power, stress, and conflict. Students will be able to apply knowledge to better understand and assess clients in the human services field and also be able to apply knowledge and skills to their own lives in developing their identity in their own relationships.

This 1-credit course will focus on foundational knowledge needed to develop a final project in the Sexuality and Gender Certificate Program. They will be exposed to current issues in both the hearing and deaf LGBTQ+ communities through networking and securing campus speakers, attending the speaker events, and then having round table discussions with fellow classmates and/or the student body. They will also stay current on contemporary events in the LGBTQ+ communities and critically analyze the implications of these contemporary events.

This 1-credit course will prepare students for conducting their final certificate program project. Students learn about specific research concerns when working with LGBTQ+ populations. At the end of the course, students will have produced a written literature review on a sexuality and gender topic.

This is a 1-3 credit course, depending on the projected scope of the student project. Creative Work Project is an inquiry, investigation, or creation produced by a student that makes an original contribution to the field of sexuality and gender studies and reaches beyond the traditional curriculum. This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to develop and practice advanced discipline-specific projects in collaboration with faculty members. In the first week of the course, a specific list of responsibilities must be developed prior to approval. Credit is variable, and depends on the quantity and depth of work.

The Internship in Sexuality and Gender Studies is an unpaid, supervised work-and-learning experience of approximately 112 ‘in-agency’ hours and fulfills a core requirement for the Sexuality and Gender Studies Certificate Program. The internship is designed around the unique needs of both the student intern and the internship site. The principal objective of this course is to reinforce career/scholarship goals in fields where knowledge of sexuality and gender studies experiences is pertinent. Course topics will vary with internship placement so the biweekly online seminar helps to frame student experiences within queer and/or feminist theory and practice.

In this interdisciplinary course, students will be introduced to key theories and theoretical frameworks for Sexuality and Gender Theory including queer theory and feminist theory. These theories are themselves already quite interdisciplinary, so students will spend time learning how these theories can work across different disciplines and can be used for both practical and academic purposes. Students will learn how to apply theoretical concepts to: the history of sexuality and gender, terminology that helps describe experiences and oppression including heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia, queer activism, diverse experiences of sexuality and gender, and representations in literature, art, and popular media. We will also take an intersectional lens for our discussion and will discuss how sexual identities intersect with and shape other categories of identity, including gender, race, ethnicity, class, ability status, culture, and nationality.

In Person Courses (15 weeks): BIO 395 - LGBTQ Contributors in Science
DST 402 – Deaf Women’s Studies
DST 311: Dynamics of Oppression
ENG 395: Queer Literature
HIS 353 – History of Race, Gender, and Culture in Latin America
HIS 378 – U.S. Women’s History
HIS 380 – History of Sexuality
HIS 381 – Gay and Lesbian History
PSY 457 – Psychology of Human Sexuality
PSY 436 – Gender Psychology
SOC 250 Gender and Society
SOC 436 – Social Inequality: Race, Class, and Gender
SWK 201 – Social Work Practice and AIDS
SWK 333 – LGBTQ+ Community and Mental Health Practice

Online 8-week courses: SGS 504/PSG 761/PST 381 Intimate Relationships: Sexuality, Gender, Culture, Love, & Friendship (online, 3 credits)
DST 311/PST 202 - Dynamics of Oppression

* 3 credits of a Research course may be substituted as an elective if the class research project focuses on LGBTQ+ issues

In Person Courses (15 weeks): PSY 785: LGBTQ+ Theory & Therapeutic Interventions
SWK 717 - Cultural Competence (3)

Online 8-week courses: SWK 333/SWK 595 – LGBTQ+ Community and Mental Health Practice
SGS 504/PSG 761/PST 381 Intimate Relationships: Sexuality, Gender, Culture, Love, & Friendship (online, 3 credits)

* 3 credits of a Research course may be substituted as an elective if the class research project focuses on LGBTQ+ issues