"I believe in the transformational power of the Gender & Sexuality Studies curriculum. I believe supporting the G&SS program and its curriculum is an act of resistance and hope and an investment in our future."
Heather Lang, PhD (she/her/they/them)
NMSU Gender & Sexuality Studies Alum (BA, 2010)
Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, Writing Coordinator
Susquehanna University
Equity and Excellence: Gender & Sexuality Studies (G&SS) at New Mexico State University (NMSU) is education for everyone.
G&SS is a combined field of study that encompasses interdisciplinary women's, gender, LGBTQ+, and feminist studies. It is a discipline dedicated to reshaping society through education, research and knowledge production, creativity, and social change. G&SS at NMSU offers you indispensable learning that sharpens your critical thinking skills, preparing you for today's world and the challenges and opportunities of the future.
The interdisciplinary degree program in G&SS at NMSU cultivates scholars, creators, professionals, and everyday change-makers. At G&SS, education is both informative and transformative. This program is designed to challenge and expand your understanding, equipping you with the knowledge and skills to critically analyze and engage with our interconnected global society.
With a history spanning over three decades, our curriculum encompasses a wide range of fundamental topics. It fosters specialized knowledge and insight in critical areas in women's and LGBTQ+ studies, intersectional subjectivities, as well as global and transnational perspectives.
In this degree program, you will gain a deep understanding of gender and sexuality studies, developing skills and expertise that are highly sought after across different fields. These include academia and education, creative industries, arts and cultural administration, nonprofit and advocacy work, policy development, healthcare and social services, journalism and media, the legal profession, community organizing, and activism, among others.
Our commitment to creative scholarship and aesthetic appreciation extends to hands-on experiences with audiio-visual creation, zines, digital media and design, cinema, and comics/graphic narratives. This media expertise is further underscored by our course concentration in Media Arts and Cultural Studies (MACS) and Feminist Border Arts (FBA) and its projects Feminist Border Arts Film Festival (FBAFF) and SJZ and other zines, housed within Gender & Sexuality Studies and lead by G&SS faculty.
Your choice to pursue study in G&SS is an affirmation of your commitment to critical and creative worldmaking. Access your untapped strengths. Transform possibilities into realities. The future is now.
Upon fulfilling requirements, students completing a major, minor, or graduate minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies will demonstrate:
- Interdisciplinary Critical Thinking: Demonstrate the ability to apply a wide range of critical and creative methodologies, including feminist, queer, and transgender theories, to analyze complex problems related to gender, sexuality, race, society, difference, and social change. Whether you're dissecting historical documents or analyzing current events, you'll be equipped to contribute to groundbreaking research.
- Transformative Research and Research-Creation: Here, research isn't just about writing papers; it's about sparking change. Engage in a variety of transformative approaches—from ethnography and critical analysis to textual analysis and research-creation projects like digital storytelling and comics inquiry. Plus, you'll have opportunities to participate in special initiatives like the Feminist Border Arts Film Festival and Transnational Solidarity Day.
- Communication for Social Impact: Gain skills to engage, challenge, and forge new and different pathways. You'll learn how to articulate complex feminist, queer, and transgender theories in a way that resonates, whether you're presenting at an academic conference, leading a community workshop, or advocating for change in diverse social settings, including the workplace.
- Effective Writing Across Media and Formats: Write powerful essays, create digital content and media-based projects that explore the complexities of social identity, power, difference, and social change.
- Media Literacy: Critically analyze and engage with different kinds of texts, approaches, and media, understanding their impact on societal constructs and lived experience.
- Advocacy and Civic Engagement: Utilize skills in advocacy and community organizing to effect change in policy and social structures at both local and global levels.
- US, Borderlands, Transborder, and Global Perspectives: Through US, transnational, and transborder perspectives, explore how gender and sexuality intersect with issues like migration, foodways, and environmental justice. Engage in hands-on projects that prepare you to be a changemaker, from documenting oral histories to participating in community art installations. You'll emerge with a nuanced understanding that empowers you to contribute with informed action on transnational issues, borders, and the Borderlands region.
- Transformative Leadership and Professional Development: We offer an education that exceeds traditional academic boundaries, modeling multiple pathways for research, teaching, and community engagement, including digital initiatives. You'll acquire knowledge, approaches, and skills that empower you to be an agent for positive social change, grounded in research-based practices and critical thinking, generated from decades of feminist, queer, and other socially transformative knowledge projects and movements.
"In Gender and Sexuality Studies, student success is not just a goal, but a commitment. The faculty genuinely cares, seeking our voices, championing our triumphs, and investing in our futures. Every professor I've encountered relentlessly asked, 'how can I make sure you succeed?' - and then they did more than just listen, they took action. They see us not just as students, but as a community, guiding our educational paths with relentless commitment and equipping us with invaluable tools and unwavering support."
-Casey L Combs
NMSU G&SS Alum (Minor, 2023)