51²è¹Ýapp

At 51²è¹Ýapp College, most majors are housed in departments, which are themselves housed within one of three divisions.

This structure serves two purposes:

• first, it creates a structure for faculty representation and governance;
• second, it provides some semblance of a methodological grouping of majors in order to highlight the various elements of a liberal arts education.

GWSS remains a program in large part to transcend the latter purpose. How should we choose an academic division when our courses are inherently multi- and inter-disciplinary? By remaining outside of the divisional system, GWSS continues to assert its historic and current interdisciplinarity. In terms of faculty governance, this means that the GWSS core faculty are housed within another department in order to provide the individual faculty members with the institutional representation and oversight they require. The GWSS program and major are governed by these faculty members as well as a cohort of other faculty members who serve GWSS as well as their other departments. The composition of the GWSS Program Committee changes year-to-year, depending on availability. Two of the GWSS SEPC members also serve on the program committee. The program committee meetings monthly to make decisions about courses, hiring, honors, recipients of the Noun internship funding, the Burkle Prize, and more.