Women's and Gender Studies is made up of several faculty members within the program, along with more than 30 affiliated faculty members from departments across the university. Their programs include anthropology, art history, communication studies, criminal justice and criminology, English, history, nutrition and health science, philosophy and religious studies, political science, psychological science, sociology, and more.
As a Women’s and Gender Studies student, you have access to a diverse group of teacher-scholars with a remarkable range of interests and expertise, all of whom are committed to your success.
History of Women’s and Gender Studies at Ball State
The first Women’s Studies class at Ball State was taught as an interdisciplinary course in the spring of 1972. In 1975, Richard Burkhardt, the Dean of Faculties, tasked the Women’s Studies Committee with creating a program that would house a minor in Women’s Studies. After facilitating the creation of a sufficient number of relevant courses in several disciplines, the committee submitted the new Women’s Studies minor, which was approved in 1980, and began enrolling students in 1981. In the 1990s, more courses were developed, including classes with Women’s Studies course numbers, which led to the launch of the major in 2004.
Organizational Affiliation
The program is an institutional member of the National Women’s Studies Association (www.nwsa.org), and has had collaborative relationships with several community agencies including the American Association of University Women, A Better Way (a local domestic violence shelter), League of Women Voters, Indiana University Health/Ball Memorial Hospital, Planned Parenthood, Habitat for Humanity, the YWCA, and the National Organization for Women.