CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

This proposal for a certificate program in Women's Studies at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School and University Center (Graduate Center) provided the purpose and objectives, need, and curriculum for such a program. The author asserted that the proposed certificate program was a response to a clear need for graduate education in New York City in Women's Studies, which had established itself as an independent and interdisciplinary field of inquiry internationally for fifteen years. The CUNY Graduate Center's certificate program would be offered to students matriculated in any of its doctoral programs. The certificate program set out to provide students with the skills and knowledge to integrate women's studies in their doctoral studies and generate research and scholarship that reflected this skillset. At the time, the Graduate Center offered a concentration in Women's Studies within interdisciplinary studies, but this had proven inadequate and did not lend itself to a secure course of study. Students who wished to enroll in the certificate program were required to either have a Women's Studies undergraduate major or submit a description of their previous work in the subject with their application. Required courses for the certificate program would include Classical Feminist Texts, Proseminar in Women's Studies, Guided Research and Guided Reading in Women's Studies, and two or more electives, for a minimum of twelve credits. The faculty would be drawn from various doctoral programs at the Graduate Center. The students would have access to all CUNY libraries, the New York Public Library, and a number of collections of archives throughout New York City. This proposal was approved by the Graduate School Council on March 5, 1987, and was set to begin in the Spring 1989 semester.