The graduate certificate program in Gender and Sexuality Studies (GNSS) provides specialized professional training in critical methods informed by feminist, queer, trans, and intersectional approaches to difference. The program fosters a community of scholars dedicated to advancing current conversations in GNSS and developing theoretical frameworks drawing from traditional disciplines as well as from such interdisciplinary fields such as critical legal studies, critical race theory, digital humanities, disability studies, ethnic studies, media theory, new materialisms, performance studies, poetics, poststructuralism, psychoanalytic theory, public health, religious studies, science and technology studies, theories of embodiment, and transnational and postcolonial studies. In monthly meetings, students gather to share readings, discuss research and pedagogy, and workshop manuscripts.
In recent years, the GNSS graduate certificate cohort has ranged from 12 to 18 doctoral candidates working in more than a dozen disciplines, including American studies, anthropology, comparative literature, English, French studies, German studies, history, Italian studies, modern culture and media, music, philosophy, public health, religious studies, and sociology.
Admission to the graduate certificate program is rolling and primarily requires that students articulate a clear research agenda related to the study of gender and sexuality and a course plan.