Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Department Interdisciplinary
- Academic Division The College
The Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program is a vibrant academic program that links the classroom with the world and offers the theoretical basis for activism and social change.
Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
An invigorating introductory course and disciplinary distribution requirements give students a sound theoretical orientation to defining and articulating concepts and practices in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Course offerings across the disciplines — psychology, English, Romance languages, political science, philosophy, sociology and anthropology — allow students to draw connections between their major fields of study and the evolving work of scholars of gender and sex. Students are encouraged to think broadly about the role of women, gender and sexuality across many dimensions of human life.
Many of our students come to W&L with an interest in gender justice and LGBTQ+ rights and want to pursue their interests via a combination of courses, co-curricular opportunities and activism on or off campus. Many others become interested in questions about gender and feminism during their time at W&L, either because they get interested in the topic through their academic coursework or because they are seeking to understand gender relations on campus. WGSS sponsors and hosts numerous events every year so students can interact with guest speakers, faculty and each other.
The WGSS capstone requirement allows students to pursue their particular interests with the kind of intensity that turns classroom competence into an abiding passion.
Our faculty encourage students to see their studies as relevant to their everyday lives and important for understanding and responding to social justice issues. Students do just that — in a math student’s investigation into why so few women study math in college, in a fraternity member’s paper analyzing how his fraternity brothers’ drinking habits shape male privilege, or in a missionary’s daughter’s attempt to better understand how a feminist might read the Bible.
Opportunities
- Amnesty International
- Gender Action Group
- Multicultural Student Association
- Project Horizon
- Queer Liberation Alliance
- Student Association for International Learning
- Sexual Health Awareness Group
- SPEAK
- Women in Technology and Science
Outcomes
Our students enter a wide variety of careers. Some pursue a Ph.D. in English, history or gender studies, while others attend medical school, law school or work in public policy, nonprofits or the business world. Alumni say that the WGSS program has helped them better understand and navigate the world around them and engage with it as citizens, activists and professionals.
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Hannah Denham ’20 was co-editor-in-chief of the Ring-tum Phi, the student newspaper. She interned at the Washington Post in summer 2019 and won a Randolph Hearst Foundation Journalism Award for her reporting. She completed a capstone on debates over co-education in W&L student media. She is now a reporter for the Washington Business Journal.
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Chase Isbell ’21 was an LGBTQ+ peer counselor and editor-in-chief for The Vigil, an online student journal that serves as a platform for underrepresented students, and co-editor-in-chief for Ampersand, a student-run literary and arts magazine. Chase was also vice president of the Queer Liberation Alliance, the LGBTQ+ rights organization on campus, and received the prestigious Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for the Class of 2021.
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Beverley Xia ’22 is co-president of the Gender Action Group. She has worked to raise awareness on campus about the Equal Rights Amendment, and she helped organize events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in America.
Caleigh Wells ’17 Found Her Calling in Climate Reporting
The reporter and podcast host won a 2023 National Edward R. Murrow Award for her part in BURNED, which investigated failures by the U.S. Forest Service to protect California towns from potential high-risk wildfires.
Washington and Lee Names Four Faculty Members to Endowed Professorships
These faculty have been recognized for their outstanding teaching, scholarship and service to the university.
Professor Nneka Dennie to Discuss Her Recent Book on Black Newspaper Editor Mary Ann Shadd Cary
The assistant professor of history will hold her talk on Feb. 7 at noon in the Harte Center Gallery.
W&L Student Receives Research Grant from the Virginia Academy of Science
Megan Dufault ’24 is studying the risks that environmental pollutants pose to fetal development.
Domnica Rădulescu’s Play “The Town with Very Nice People” Set for World Premiere in New York City
The professor has also published two literary works in recent months.
W&L Celebrates Women’s History Month
The campus community will recognize women’s achievements with various events throughout the month of March.
From Screen to Square Film Screening: Hidden Figures
The upcoming screening is the second installment in the DeLaney Center's ongoing film series.
Katie Shester is an associate professor of economics and a core faculty member for the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability, as well as Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Rebecca Benefiel to Deliver Endowed Professorship Lecture
Benefiel’s talk “Uncovering the mysteries of Pompeii” will be held on Nov. 10.
W&L’s Maggie Hardin ’22 Earns Fulbright to Germany
Maggie Hardin '22 has received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany.
Domnica Rădulescu’s ‘Exile Is My Home’ Debuts on RCI’s Studio Stage
Rădulescu's plays capture the challenges and triumphs faced by immigrants and refugees.
W&L Hosts 16th National Symposium of Theater and Performance Arts in Academe
Highlights include presentations from scholars from around the world, staged readings and keynote speaker Martha Kebalo, a UN representative for the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations.
Meet the Faculty
At W&L, students enjoy small classes and close relationships with professors who educate and nurture.
Sarah Horowitz
Professor of History
Horowitz teaches courses on modern European history and specializes in French history and the history of gender in Europe. She is writing a book on the politics of gender and sexuality in the Steinheil Affair of 1908-1909.
Melina Bell
Professor of Philosophy and Law
- P: 540-458-8899
- E: bellm@wlu.edu
Bell is a part of the faculty in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability, and the Law, Justice, and Society Program. She also teaches at the Law School. Professor Bell’s primary research interests are in political philosophy, philosophy of law, and feminist philosophy.
Jenefer M. Davies
Department Head, Theater, Dance and Film Studies; Professor of Dance and Theater
- P: 540-458-8281
- E: daviesj@wlu.edu
Davies teaches courses on contemporary European dance, dance composition, movement for actors and aerial dance techniques. Her research focuses on modern dance composition and the feminine aesthetic.
Megan Fulcher
Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science
- P: 540-458-8107
- E: fulcherm@wlu.edu
Dr. Fulcher teaches courses on child development, the development of gender roles, and socioemotional development. Her research focuses on children’s gender role development, toy play and their visions of their future selves.
Genelle Gertz
Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Thomas H. Broadus Professor of English
- P: 540-458-8763
- E: gertzg@wlu.edu
Gertz teaches courses on Milton, the Tudors and the Bible. She is currently working on methods of social network analysis as they apply to our understanding of the rise and fall of women mystics in English literary history.
Sascha L. Goluboff
Professor of Cultural Anthropology
Goluboff teaches courses such as Food, Culture, and Society, and Gender and Sexuality. Her research focuses on the anthropology of emotion in a variety of geographic and historic contexts.
Wan-Chuan Kao
Associate Professor of English
- P: 540-458-8345
- E: kaow@wlu.edu
Professor Kao’s teaching and research interests include medieval literature, especially Chaucer; whiteness studies; critical theory; race and ethnicity; gender and sexuality; queer studies; hotel theory; affect; and cute studies.
Robin LeBlanc
Professor of Politics
- P: 540-458-8305
- E: lepagea@wlu.edu
LeBlanc is a political anthropologist focused on the civic engagement of non-elites in rich democracies. She teaches classes on global politics, urban politics, gender and politics, and political theory.
Ellen Mayock
Ernest Williams II Professor of Spanish
- P: 540-458-8816
- E: mayocke@wlu.edu
At Washington and Lee, Mayock has taught courses in Spanish, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her research focuses on gender and its intersections in literature and film, feminist theories and practice, and representations of conflict and violence. Mayock also writes poetry and creative nonfiction.
Dominica Radulescu
Edwin A. Morris Professor of Comparative Literature
Radulescu teaches upper-level French and Francophone literature, theater, and the representations of women, gender, and sexuality in literature. She researches feminist theater and is an award-winning novelist/playwright.
Katharine L. Shester
Associate Professor of Economics
- P: 540-458-8607
- E: shesterk@wlu.edu
Shester teaches courses on urban economics, women in the economy and U.S. economic history. Her research interests include American economic history, urban and labor economics, demography and education.
Taylor Walle
Associate Professor of English
- P: 540-458-8362
- E: wallet@wlu.edu
Walle is a W&L alumna who teaches courses on Jane Austen, Mary Shelley and other topics in British literature. Her research interests include orality and literacy in the 18th century, women’s writing, and women’s and gender studies.
Lesley Wheeler
Henry S. Fox Professor of English
Wheeler teaches courses in poetry, creative writing and speculative fiction. Her research interests include 20th- and 21st-century poetry in English, especially as it involves sound, gender, politics and world-building.
Julie Woodzicka
Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science and Department Head
Woodzicka’s courses include Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination, Social Psychology, Psychology of Humor, and Research Design and Analysis. She studies the effects of disparagement humor (specifically sexist and racist humor) and subtle strategies to confront discrimination.