IU to offer 1st gender studies Ph.D. degree

Following the lead of Alfred Kinsey, IU once again is trailblazing the path in the study of gender and sexuality. \nThe IU board of trustees unanimously approved a measure at its Friday meeting in Richmond, Ind., to create a gender studies Ph.D., making it the first and only doctorate degree offered for gender studies in the country. \n"It is an exciting and crucially important field, impacting academic and social concerns ranging from gendered relations in workplaces and families, to HIV/AIDS prevention, to scientific and media representations of bodies," said Helen Gremillion, associate professor of gender studies. "With the Ph.D. in gender studies, (IU-Bloomington) will be on the leading edge of the development of this field." \nWhile several universities in the country currently have a doctorate program in women's studies, none have yet to offer a Ph.D. in gender studies. \n"Most of the existing doctoral programs in women's studies in the country tend to divide on the social sciences or humanities track," said Suzanna Walters, chair of the Department of Gender Studies. "But what we are trying to do, which is quite demonstratively different, is work across or against disciplines in some fundamental ways."\nShe added that working with scientists across the University and utilizing their close connection with the Kinsey Institute, the gender studies department will be able to "forge new ways to conceptualize gender without boundaries of discipline lines" and investigate "the intersection of gender and sexuality."\n"It's a very timely issue," said trustee William Cast. "Application of gender while approaching psychological and social ideas should give IU new opportunities to break more ground in the field."\nThe Ph.D. program is expected to begin during the fall 2006 semester, when Walters said they expect to admit between five and seven students the first year and continue to accept about seven per year during the next several years. \n"We will set the bar very high," Walters said. "And the students we admit will be of the highest caliber." \nWalters said she foresees no major challenges in being the first university to implement the doctoral degree, and instead IU will be used as a comparison to other universities who are developing doctorate degrees in gender and women's studies.\nShe added that she expects many other institutions across the country to follow IU's lead in the coming years. \n"I think it will be the wave of the future," Walters said. "I would guess in another 10 years there will be another half dozen, at the least, new doctoral program in women's and/or gender studies."\nFor the past several years the plan to create the doctorate degree has been discussed widely within the University, but it was not until Walters arrived last year to become the chair of the Department of Gender Studies that it was put on the fast track to be confirmed.\nWalters said the Indiana Commission of Higher Education still has to approve the plan, but there is wide support for the degree, and they expect the program to be ready for next year.