How do you study desire or gender?

IU Bloomington, nestled in the Midwest , has long fostered a climate for interdisciplinary research and academic freedom, an idea put to the test in the mid 20 th century during the heyday of controversial sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. Today, IUB gender and sexuality scholars draw on this history and the campus's strengths, including the biological and life sciences, to take an even deeper, transdisciplinary approach to research and teaching in the field of gender studies, drawing not only on biology but also on fields such as psychology, anthropology, and sociology, cultural studies, and literary theory. This year, Indiana University began offering the nation's first doctorate degree in gender studies, addressing the growing complexities of scholarship involving such intertwined subjects as desire, gender identification, and gendered sexualities.

The new degree was a natural next step -- instead of sending students to the various departments across campus in a buffet-style approach to coursework, faculty incorporate these various fields in the new degree's core courses.

“A transdisciplinary approach challenges the traditional framework,” says Suzanna Danuta Walters, chair of the Department of Gender Studies. “ Indiana University is the right place for this doctorate degree to happen. And we're thrilled.”

The Department of Gender Studies has seven full-time faculty members and more than 15 affiliated faculty. With no advertising, the department had more than 60 applicants for the new degree program. They were able to accept nine applicants, who have backgrounds in anthropology, American studies, history, sociology, and other fields. Walters expects the degree to have a strong appeal to students interested in an interdisciplinary analysis of gender; their studies will make them suitable for careers in academic research and teaching, publishing, government, international and community non-governmental organizations, the media, human resource management, and other fields.

On the undergraduate side of things, IU will be host the 19 th Annual Women's and Gender Studies Undergraduate Student Conference in April. This year's theme is “The Global Community of Women,” and the featured speaker is Layli Miller-Muro, founder of the Tahirih Justice Center and co-author of Do They Hear You When You Cry.
The conference gives students the opportunity to learn about the interests and scholarship of their peers at other IU campuses and to hear a prominent speaker on women's issues.

“In the past, faculty have mentored students in diverse topics such as ‘Ethnic Perspectives in Women's Literature,' ‘Women's Path Through U.S. History,' ‘Women, Media, and Art,' and ‘Women's Activism in Local Settings,' says Peg Brand, associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and in the Women's Studies Program at IU-Purdue University-Indianapolis.

To learn more about the conference, which will be held at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne, please visit http://www.ipfw.edu/wost/2007conference/index.html . For more information about the doctorate degree in gender studies and the P.h.D. minor, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~gender/html/graduate_studies.html.