Graduate Certificate
The Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies is a nine (9) credit interdisciplinary concentration open to students in all UH graduate and professional degree programs. The Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies adds interdisciplinary breadth to a student's course of study while increasing the depth and coherence of students' work on women and gender within their primary fields. Given the growing importance of women and gender issues in both scholarship and social policy, many students find this formal recognition of their work in Women's Studies to be a valuable credential in both academic and non-academic job markets. Students who have earned or are pursuing the Graduate Certificate also receive first consideration for Women's Studies graduate fellowships and assistantships.
Explanation of Certificate
The Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies is a 9-credit interdisciplinary concentration open to students in all UH graduate, professional degree, and post-baccalaureate programs.
Requirements for the Graduate Certificate include three (3) Women's Studies graduate courses (9 credit hours), including the required core course in Feminist Theory and Methodology (WOST 6301) and two (2) cross-listed courses, one of which must be from outside the student's home department.
Students may petition to substitute for one of the cross-listed courses one of the following options:
- Taking a graduate course that is not cross-listed but in which they can focus their individual work (e.g. research paper) on women, gender, or feminist theory. Such a course must be taught by an affiliated Women's Studies faculty member who will certify that the student's work in the course satisfies women's studies requirements.
- Taking an undergraduate course cross-listed in Women's Studies for graduate credit. Additional requirements will be determined by the instructor in accordance with university policy.
How to Apply for the Certificate
Individuals interested in the Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies can fill out the online application:
Submit the printed application to the Women's Studies Office, Room 624 Agnes Arnold Hall. Applications are also available in our office. Contact the student advisors Holle Canatella and Luziris Turi at 713-743-3214 for more information, or e-mail us at wost@uh.edu.
Why Certificate
The Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies adds interdisciplinary breadth to a student's course of study while increasing the depth and coherence of students' work on women and gender within their primary fields.
Given the growing importance of women and gender issues in both scholarship and social policy, many students find this formal recognition of their work in Women's Studies to be a valuable credential in both academic and non-academic job markets.
Students who have earned or are pursuing the Graduate Certificate also receive first consideration for Women's Studies graduate fellowships and assistantships. There are also opportunities to take advantage of essay contests. The fellowships, contests and assistanships process begins spring semester and awards are made in May.
In addition graduate students are notified of Women's Studies events--speakers, panels, the Living Archive series, etc.
Course Listings
View a full list of regularly and currently offered courses.
Petitioning a Course for Approval
Courses that are not-crosslisted but deal with over 50% women or gender in topics, assignments, and readings may be petitioned for credit for the certificate. Adhere to the following process:
1. Print a “General Petition” from the Academic Forms website.
2. Fill in sections A and B of the petition completely.
3. Have your professor sign section C.
4. Attach a course syllabus to the completed and signed petition and bring it to the Women’s Studies office, AH 624.
5. WOST will complete the remaining steps and contact you when the process is finished.
NOTE: 4000 level courses may count for the WOST graduate certificate if the student completes extra work and completes a signed agreement with the professor beforehand.
Guest Teaching Opportunities
Each semester, students who have completed the Graduate Certificate may be selected to teach one class period of the undergraduate Introduction to Women's Studies course (WOST 2350). Guest lecturers receive a stipend.
Fellowships
View a listing of our fellowships.
Catalog
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) online catalog
Graduate Certificate Ceremony
The Women's Studies Program holds a commencement ceremony and luncheon each April for students who have completed the Graduate Certificate that year.
Pictures from the April 2007 ceremony coming soon!
Graduate Certificate Holders
2007
Elizabeth Cummins-Munoz * Modern and Classical Languages
Jaqueline Davis Gilmore * Post-Baccalaureate
will be pursuing doctoral studies in Social Psychology specializing in the interpersonal dynamics and concepts of African-American women. She holds a B.A. from Prairie View A&M University in Speech Communication and an M.A. in Speech Communication Interpersonal Behavior from Texas Southern University. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and a contributing business writer for The Houston Insider Newspaper. Currently, she is working on two books: Communication And Business Skills, For Women Only, and Women's Issues, It Is What It Is. She is the Founder and President of Jolan & JD Communications, which focuses on assisting all women with public speaking, soft skills, leadership, anger management, and conflict resolution skills personally, socially, and professionally. She is a Board Certified Anger Therapist. She is married to Reverend Dr. Robert M. Gilmore, Sr.
Ann Kapp * History
is a Latin Americanist Ph.D. candidate, studying 19th century Mexican peasants and how the multiple changes in government following Independence impacted their lives. She holds an M.A. from Texas State University - San Marcos, where she studied women in the antebellum south. She is continuing her graduate studies in order to be a full-time professor at a small liberal arts university. She is married to her husband Roger, they have no kids, four cats, and currently reside in Pearland.
Erin Makulski Sandler * English
holds a B.A. in linguistics from Rice University. She will graduate this semester with an M.A. in 18th century British literature and then plans to return this fall to pursue a Ph.D.. She would like to thank her family for being so supportive of her return to school to pursue graduate studies, and in particular her husband, Daniel.
Amanda Martínez * Mass Communications
holds a B.A. in Multinational Organization Studies from St. Mary’s University, with a concentration in Spanish and a minor in English Communication Arts. She realized her strong passion for studying underrepresented groups of people, including women and minorities, and decided to pursue a graduate certificate in women's studies. She is currently working on her M.A. thesis : "Examining televised advertisement influences on eating habits, eating disorder risk, and body image identity: A narrative analysis among ethnically diverse college women." Upon graduation with an M.A. in Mass Communication, Amanda will begin doctoral studies at Texas A&M University in the Communication Department with the goal of becoming a professor and researcher.
Ana-María Medina * Spanish
is a Ph.D. Candidate in Peninsular Literature and recipient of the UH Teaching Excellence Award (2007). She was president and vice-president of the Spanish Graduate Student Association and LACASA. She holds an M.A. in Peninsular Literature from Saint Louis University and a B.A. in Hispanic Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She has published in La revista del cosmonauta, y la Voz del valle and has presented at national conferences . She is a member of the Sigma Delta Kappa Spanish Honor Society. She dedicates this certificate to the women that have made her who she is: her sister, Angela-Jo Medina; her mother, Jo Ann Medina; and her wonderful grandmother, Angelina Touza-Medina.
Sylvia Morin * Spanish
April Patrick * English
completed her M.A. this spring, with her thesis entitled “ ‘[S]he that lives must mourn’: Elegiac Performances in the Legacy of Victorian Women Poets”. After receiving her B.A. in English from Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, April began her M.A. at the University of Texas in San Antonio before transferring to the University of Houston. She will pursue a Ph.D. at Texas Christian University in the fall, where she will continue to focus on Victorian women's literature.
John Pluecker * Spanish
received his Masters Degree in Spring 2007 in the Modern and Classical Languages Department with a focus on Literature in Spanish. He completed his undergraduate work at Yale University in two interdisciplinary majors: Women's and Gender Studies and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration.
Alberto Rodriguez * History
is a second year Ph.D. student studying American History from 1860s to 1975. He specializes in Black/Brown relations on the South Texas Borderlands and the West, with an emphasis on gender and identity formation. As he puts it, he wants to understand how Blacks and ethnic Mexicans got along or did not. Alberto’s research interests include Chican@, Latina/o, African American, BlacXican history, race/ethnicity, Gender, and Queer Theory. His dissertation will use theories of hybridity and transculturation to analyze relations between Blacks and Mexican/Mexican Americans on the border in order to conceptually Blacken the Borderlands and move South Texas into our understanding of the West. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in History from the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, Texas.
K. Denea Stewart * English
2006
Susan Bogar * English
Cecilia Bonnor * English
Tiphanie Yanique Galiber * Creative Writing
Erin Graham * History
Lauran Kerr * History
is a fourth year, All But Dissertation, doctoral candidate in the department of history where she studies twentieth-century history with a focus on women and race/ethnicity. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees at Sam Houston State University. Her dissertation examines African American female physicians in the urban South. Currently, she works as an advisor in Women's Studies at UH.
M. Angela Kirby-Calder * History
Kimberly Magill * Creative Writing
Amy O'Neal * History
Lisa Tait * English
Millie Thompson * Anthropology
David Vance * English
Maria Teresa Vera-Rojas * Spanish
2005
Carmen Yvonne Carroll * Philosophy
LaGuana Gray * History
If you would like to update your information, please email us at wost@uh.edu.
