It is expected that by January 2011 the Institute of Women and Gender studies department will be renamed “Gender Studies” to better reflect gender interest.

The idea of changing the department’s name began five years ago, but general feelings of not wanting to deflect the original idea of the program deterred the process from progressing. On a system wide level the department is no longer an institute, so the department chose to make its various changes now.

“We are, in a way, reintroducing the program to the campus community. In a way, calling attention to the fact that despite what people might think, this is not a class only about women. We really look at the implications of gender across the spectrum, and I think that was tending to get lost in the title ‘Women and Gender studies,’” Dr. Kathleen Nigro, assistant teaching professor women and gender studies, said. “We would talk about both genders, we would talk about what it means to be a male or female, or a gender that we don’t even recognize as fitting one of those two boxes. I think [that] is also a focus of gender studies is not everybody fits neatly into those categories. That’s also the new direction, I think” Nigro said.

The department is also planning to focus on different cultures, races, and nationalities within its curriculum.

“We have decided that we want to expand our focus so that it’s not like we’re abandoning women, but we think the gender studies is a more appropriate title because we’re looking at also men and women, masculinity, femininity, plus intersections with race and class” Sally Ebest, director of the institute of women and gender studies, said. “We would like to pull in, or invite people of color to be involved- it has been just an old white woman organization. So, we would like to see a greater representation of the different races and genders on campus,” Ebest said.

Also to be included are new courses and new events. Among the events include a women, gender and politics speaker series featuring a different guest speaker each month, a conference in April entitled “Compromising Positions: Race, Gender, and Sexuality,” and a symposium, “Women in Academia: Leveling the Playing Field.”

Ebest believes that courses in gender studies will be helpful in multiple career choices. “I think there are a lot of things we don’t know about the opposite sex, as well as our own, quite often. I think having that greater knowledge of that makes you more prepared for the marketplace, so that you are able to work better with men and women and transgender people,” Ebest said. “I think it’s important for [people] to take gender studies so that they get a better sense of all the different things that affect people of their own race as well as other races and other genders. I think it leads to better understanding in the workplace. The way a lot of our classes are taught is with a very collaborative environment which is something that you’re going to have to be doing in the workplace as well,” Ebest said.