Graduate Certificate Program

Students in a classroom

Overview

The Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at URI offers an interdisciplinary certificate based on feminist scholarship and pedagogy. The open curriculum of the certificate allows you to pursue the study of women and gender, along with other social, political, and economic factors to complement student learning in discipline-based programs.

The GWS Graduate Certificate will enhance your education and career opportunities by providing you with knowledge to navigate an increasingly diverse and interconnected world. Graduates with this certificate will be well poised to bridge the gap between academic theory and professional or political practice.

The Graduate Certificate in Gender and Women’s Studies is an elective option for matriculated graduate students or non-matriculated students.

Objectives

The graduate certificate program:

  • Offers courses on feminist theory and analysis and course content on gender in its intersections with race, ethnicity, class, religion, and sexuality.
  • Enables students to learn about the role and importance of social, political, and economic power in the opportunities and limitations of people’s lives.
  • Enables students to complement their program of studies by adding analyses of women/gender to areas of study such as environmental studies, peace and justice studies, inter-national development, health studies, communication, history, library sciences, international relations, English and literature, marine and coastal studies, to mention just a few.
  • Provides the opportunity to work on research projects that will complement students’ discipline-specific courses.
  • Provides a professional credential to supplement other programs of study.

Requirements

The Certificate Program requires 12 credits of course work or experiential learning. Students are required to take a minimum of 6 credits in GWS courses (there is no maximum limit to the number of GWS courses that students can take). Students may take up to 6 credits of courses outside of GWS (with the approval of the GWS director or the director of graduate studies). The types of courses that will be accepted are those with a focus on women/gender, race, ethnicity, class, religion, and sexuality, social justice, social theory, or multiculturalism.

Course Offerings

  • GWS 500: Graduate Colloquium in Gender and Women’s Studies (The colloquium may be repeated if the topic changes.
  • GWS 550: Graduate Independent Study (Variable credits from 3-6 credits. If taken for 3 credits, it can be repeated for a total of 6 credits.)

Students may take 400-level courses to fulfill the requirements for the GWS Graduate Certificate

  • GWS 430: Women and Human Rights Policy
  • GWS 490 Advanced topics in GWS
  • 400 level courses from other departments may apply

FALL 2025 GRADUATE COURSES:                         

GWS 500: Women of Color Feminisms and Queer of Color Critique                Prof. Christine Mok
Short Course Description: This semester’s Colloquium in Women’s Studies explores the intellectual formations of women of color feminisms and queer of color critique, rather than identity categories. This graduate seminar is an intervention in three fields: feminist theory has often centered white/Western discourse, queer theory has a history of assuming whiteness as a default racial position, studies of race and ethnicity have similar histories of assuming cisnormative and heteronormative positions. As Roderick A. Ferguson and Grace Kyungwon Hong note in Strange Affinities, “Women of color feminism and queer of color critique profoundly question nationalist and identitarian modes of political organization and craft alternative understandings of subjectivity, collectivity, and power.” To that end, we will examine theoretical texts, cultural productions, and forms of activism by queer scholars of color who attend to questions of race, class, sexuality and gender as intersecting social practices, in pursuit of a better, more just, and more nourishing world.

How to apply for graduate study at URI

A URI graduate application requires evidence of your ability to do graduate level coursework. Applicants submit official undergraduate transcripts, a professional resume, a small application fee, two letters of recommendation, and a personal statement of interest.

Link to URI Graduate School Application: https://web.uri.edu/graduate-school/admission/

Graduate students currently enrolled at URI fill out the Request to Change or Add a Degree Program form and have it approved by the certificate coordinator.