What is Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies (WMST) at UNM? It is a program that centers intersectional analyses of women, gender, and sexuality. It is a program staffed by award-winning faculty who create dynamic classroom spaces for diverse learning styles. It is a program that examines how race, Indigeneity, nation, disability, age, and more intersect with gender and sexuality. It is the hub of feminist, queer, and transgender studies at UNM. 

We are an interdisciplinary program that is committed to educating students about the relationships among identity, power and knowledge toward the ends of social justice and empowerment. We support the development and application of new theories of feminist studies throughout the University and the application of feminist methods in order to evaluate critically scholarship and research in the disciplines. In addition, the program seeks to educate students in ways that enable them to respond to issues that affect the lives of women locally, regionally, and globally. 

Students work closely with dedicated and passionate faculty, and have the opportunity to work on a Departmental Honors Thesis with a faculty member of their choice. In the Departmental Honors Thesis, students develop an original research project under the mentorship of a faculty member. This is great preparation for those who plan to go on to graduate study, or for students who simply want the chance to do innovative research on a topic that interests them in a supportive academic environment.

Our focus areas are Feminist & Gender Theory; Social Sciences; Literature, Film, and Arts; Ethnicity, Race, and Nationality; and Sexuality Studies. Many of our courses are cross-listed in other departments, including Africana Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Chicana & Chicano Studies, Communication & Journalism, Economics, English, History, Latin American Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Spanish and Portuguese.

WMST students develop advanced critical and creative thinking, writing, and leadership skills, as well as experience applying analyses of gender and other factors of identity to local, national, and global issues. This is great preparation for graduate study, business school, or law school, and rounds out a pre-medicine curriculum by deepening an awareness and understanding of how gender and sexuality affect different people in society. WMST graduates have careers in women’s health, health education and advocacy; counseling work with women, girls, LGBTQ youth, and boys and men at risk of committing acts of violence; anger management and diversity sensitivity training in prisons, schools, and other institutions; public policy research and analysis; and private sector careers in workplace policy.   

Our program is one of the oldest in the country. After years of organizing across faculty, students, and staff, the Women Studies Program was launched in 1972. As part of the civil rights movements of the time, Women Studies at UNM offered a radical resurgence of feminist scholarship and activisms. In 1999, Women Studies began to offer a BA major alongside the minor that had been offered for many years.

Undergraduate Program

Departmental Honors

UNM Catalog