About Us
Since its inception as Women鈥檚 Studies in 1991, WGSS has become a space for intersectional, multidisciplinary, and transnational inquiry, urging students to critically examine power, privilege, inequality in all their forms. We offer a WGSS major, minor, and graduate certificate, as well as an LGBT Studies/Queer Studies minor.
Our program draws its vibrancy from the dynamic global energy of Houston, one of the most diverse cities in the world. We celebrate the brilliance of Houston鈥檚 diverse communities while challenging students to explore the ways that their intersectional identities鈥攕haped by gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, dis/ability, citizenship and more鈥攊nform their realities and the lives of those around them.
We challenge students to understand how categories of gender, sexuality, race, class, dis/ability, and citizenship have shaped not only their own lives but also the lives of people in their communities and around the world.
WGSS/FWS Studies Timeline
202510 Year Anniversary of the WGSS Major.
2019
Launch of Institute for Research on Women, Gender & Sexuality.
2015
WGSS major approved by the State.
2011
Women鈥檚 Archive is endowed and renamed the Carey C. Shuart Women鈥檚 Archive and Research Collection.
2010
Program is renamed the Women鈥檚, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program.
2009
Women鈥檚 Studies Program introduces a second minor in GLBT Studies.
1999
Postdoctoral Fellows Program inaugurated.
1996
FWS opens the Women鈥檚 Archive and Research Center.
1991
The UH Women鈥檚 Studies Program is initiated, and the Friends of Women鈥檚 Studies (then known as the 鈥淐ommunity Outreach Board鈥�) is established.