SU Now Offers Minor in LGBTQ Studies

Seattle University’s Women and Gender Studies Program is offering a new minor in LGBTQ studies. Approved by the Board of Trustees’ Academic Committee in Fall 2018, 14 students were enrolled in the minor by the time it was operational in winter quarter, says Program Director Theresa Earenfight.

The minor examines the intellectual, cultural and political experiences and knowledge of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ)-identified individuals and groups. Students study LGBTQ lives in historical and contemporary contexts; examine LGBTQ politics in terms of policies, practices and activism; analyze ways of seeing and telling the stories of LGBTQ communities; and apply LGBTQ epistemology to better understand the social, economic, historical and political production of sexualities.

The minor requires six courses, including Introduction to LGBTQ Studies, Queer Theories, Research Methodology and three electives from approved courses in the humanities, social sciences, sciences and policy and professional studies including nursing, health sciences and business.

With the new minor in LGBTQ Studies, the Women and Gender Studies Program, which itself began as a minor in 1992, becomes a stronger interdisciplinary program that builds on a history of intellectual studies and creative work linking the campus to the community.