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Certificate Program

The Certificate in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is designed for doctoral students in other departments at Emory. Graduate students must obtain consent from their advisor before beginning the program, which constitutes the equivalent of one of the student's fields for the doctorate. Students are strongly encouraged to begin the program by their second year.

To enroll in a certificate and be eligible to receive the certificate degree at graduation, students must declare their intention to complete the certificate by filing this Certificate Declaration Signature Form.  Declare early: this should be done as soon as a student has started the work towards the certificate (follow the LGS Certificate Declaration and Certificate CompletionPolicies and Procedures).

All certificate students are required:

  • WGS 751 Feminist Theory or WGS 752 Queer Theory
  • Three (3) other WGSS graduate courses (12 hours total). These may be WGS courses or courses cross-listed with WGSS. Courses relating to women or women's issues which do not have WGS course numbers must be approved by the WGSS DGS. A syllabus should be submitted with the request for approval.
  • An interdisciplinary paper, which may develop out of a research paper for a course and which should be about the length of a publishable article (20-30pp). This paper is typically approved by a member of the Core or Associated WGSS Faculty (a dissertation chapter may be submitted in place of an interdisciplinary paper.)
  • Attendance at four events (i.e. research workshops or major lectures, etc.) over the course of one academic year.*

* To get credit for attending an event:

  1. Students must submit to the Graduate Program Coordinator a one-paragraph summary including a header which contains the student's name, event title, event location, and event date.
  2. Submissions will be reviewed and validated by the Director of Graduate Studies and will be stored in student files maintained by the department as part of the record of completion of the certificate.

Students may choose to submit four summaries at once or to send them in one at a time as they are completed. If a student is considering attending an event but is unsure about its eligibility for this requirement, he or she is responsible for contacting the Graduate Program Coordinator to find out whether or not the event qualifies.