Major

Students planning to major in Feminist Studies must formally declare before enrolling for their third year (or equivalent). Students admitted to the University of California with upper-division standing must formally declare their major field during their second term of residency. Students who remain undeclared after the aforementioned deadline will not be able to access AIS for enrollment in their courses.

All students are required to complete the Declaration of Major form, whether you enter UCSC as a proposed Feminist Studies major, another major, or undecided. We recommend that you begin the process as soon as possible. The form must be completed within the first four weeks of the quarter to be effective for course enrollment in the following quarter. There are no prerequisite courses that must be satisfied before declaring the Feminist Studies major. 

Transfer Students are encouraged to declare the major as soon as possible, so that they are assured entrance into the required core courses. FMST 1 and FMST 100 must be completed in the junior year so that students will be prepared to enroll in the senior thesis/project independent study (FMST 195) for one or two quarters of their senior year, a requirement for all students writing a senior thesis or doing a project. FMST 1 and 100 are also prerequisite to enrolling in a senior seminar (FMST 194). The Chair of the Feminist Studies Undergraduate Committee can determine which courses from other colleges will successfully transfer to the major.

Letter Grade Requirement
Effective Fall 2013, letter grades are required for 10 of the 11 courses applied toward the feminist studies major, including course 100 and the senior comprehensive course (194 or 195).

Double Majors
Approximately two-thirds of Feminist Studies majors have a double major or minor in another field. The department welcomes this interest in combining and complicating academic disciplines and offers guidance to students attempting to declare a double major or major/minor. Double majors and major/minors necessitate advance planning and coordination between the departments. For transfer students and students who declare their major(s) later in their academic career, a double major or major/minor requires even greater planning, but it is possible.

If a student wishes to use one senior thesis for both majors, s/he must produce a 50-page thesis using the methodologies and topics relevant to both majors, rather than the 35 pages required for a single major. Students and their academic advisors should meet periodically to determine together which courses will be used for each major.Feminist Studies does not offer a combined major or a minor at this time. All students are welcome in Feminist Studies classes, regardless of their major, though some classes are restricted to FMST majors.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the Feminist Studies major should demonstrate the following skills upon graduation:

Outcome 1: Application of Feminist Approaches to Critical Interpretation

Students should be able to:

• Discuss a diversity of feminist approaches to understanding social, political, cultural and scientific phenomena
• Connect feminist inquiry to a variety of other social phenomena including but not limited to race, nation, class, and sexuality
• Distinguish and evaluate assumptions underlying data and claims
• Place divergent interpretive frameworks in dialogue
• Perform close reading of texts and/or other objects

Outcome 2: Original Research 

Students should be able to:

• Develop specific and detailed research questions 
• Identify appropriate primary sources for feminist research projects
• Collect, evaluate, and analyze source material using appropriate theoretical framework(s)
• Identify key findings and draw conclusions for research and/or application

Outcome 3: Argumentative Communication

Students should be able to:

• Effectively formulate written arguments to frame research questions and analyze source material
• Present appropriate evidence to substantiate claims
• Logically organize arguments over the course of research paper
• Use appropriate mechanics/grammar

Declaring the Major

Petition to declare the Feminist Studies major before you reach your declaration deadline quarter. Students who enter UCSC as frosh or sophomores must be formally declared in a major before enrolling in their third year (or equivalent). Junior transfer students must be declared in a major by the deadline in their second term at UCSC.

For a single major: Familiarize yourself with the content of the Feminist Studies website. Log into MyUCSC and click the link to submit the Petition for Major/Minor.  Before submitting the petition, students are required to meet with Feminist Studies advising to create and/or update their academic planner. Here is a template academic planning form. PLEASE MAKE A COPY OF THIS TEMPLATE AND SAVE IT TO YOUR DRIVE. DO NOT TYPE INTO THE TEMPLATE.

If you are planning to declare a double major or major/minor program, each major advisor will need to approve your academic planner. Please follow the declaration protocol for each major before submitting the declaration of major petition on MyUCSC.

If your proposed program exceeds your expected graduation term (EGT), your major advisor(s) will use the extension section of your academic planner to assign your college advising office to review the extension of enrollment request. Your college advising office will approve or deny the request and update your expected graduation term.

Students should submit a petition to declare as soon as they reach their declaration deadline quarter.

Students petitioning when the campus declaration deadline is imminent (i.e., in their sixth quarter, for students admitted as frosh), will either be approved, denied, or provided with conditions (e.g., completion of some courses with certain grades) that will be resolved within at most one more enrolled quarter.

Major Requirements

Feminist Studies majors must complete 10 courses and a senior comprehensive exit requirement in the feminist studies program (as noted below).

Requirements for the Feminist Studies Major:

• Three core courses (must be taken at UCSC)
  • FMST 1, Feminism Studies: An Introduction
  • One FMST 10 – 41 or another lower-division course taught by Feminist Studies Affiliated Faculty (refer to the Department Directory).
  • FMST 100, Feminist Theories
• Seven additional upper-division courses – Courses may be chosen from within the Feminist Studies Department or from FMST-Affiliated Departments. Refer to the Tentative Course List for approved courses.
• One senior exit requirement (FMST 194 or FMST 195). Choices include a senior seminar taught by a Feminist Studies core faculty, writing a senior thesis, or producing a senior project. Check the senior exit requirement section for specific guidelines.

Because feminist studies is an interdisciplinary major and lists courses taught by affiliated faculty in other departments, feminist studies majors must take a minimum of five courses at UCSC taught directly in the Feminist Studies Department, i.e., courses designated FMST, not including internships or tutorials (FMST 193/198 or 199).

One five-unit individual study tutorial (FMST 199) can be used to fulfill a FMST major elective requirement, and one five-unit internship (FMST 193 [on campus] or FMST198 [off campus]) can be used to fulfill a FMST major elective requirement. Subsequent individual studies/internships can be used to obtain credit towards graduation, but not towards the major. 

The individual study tutorial (FMST 199) process is initiated by contacting a FMST faculty member for sponsorship.

For internships (FMST 193 or FMST 198) please refer to the internships list and contact the agencies directly to find out if any current positions are available. If you are interested in an internship that does not appear on the internships list, be prepared to submit a full description of the internship for approval. To initiate the internship for credit process, students should email fmst-advising@ucsc.edu to discuss the process and fill out the petition for Undergraduate Individual Studies Course form to get approval and a code to enroll in the FMST 193 or 198. Please note that students must complete a minimum of 50 hours of work at their internship, certified by their internship supervisor, and also must complete an internship end of quarter report in order to receive FMST credit. 

At most three courses may be transferred to count toward the major, including three Education Abroad Program (EAP) courses or courses from another university.

Letter Grade Requirement

Letter grades are required for 10 of the 11 courses applied toward the feminist studies major, including course 100 and the senior comprehensive course (194 or 195).

All Feminist Studies majors are expected to attend occasional meetings during the year, at which matters of general concern to all majors are discussed.

*Please note, the FMST major requirements were revised effective Fall 2018. Students admitted to UCSC prior to Fall 2018 may abide by old catalog rights or adhere to the new requirements. If you are a continuing FMST major admitted prior to Fall 2018 who has already declared a Concentration in FMST, please refer to the FMST Major requirements for 2017-18. 

Regarding Catalog Rights and FMST Major Requirements: Students may follow the degree requirements from either the UCSC General Catalog published at the time of entering UCSC or subsequent catalog(s). Students need not follow a catalog in its entirety, but may elect to follow different catalog years. Please see your advisor if you have any questions about this.

Senior Exit Requirement

All Feminist Studies majors must fulfill a senior exit requirement. The following section details the three exit requirement options: completing a senior seminar, writing a senior thesis, or producing a senior project.

1. Senior Seminar
   • Students may fulfill the senior exit requirement by participating in a specially-designed and approved senior seminar and completing a substantial, 20-page paper for that seminar. Senior seminars are offered by Feminist Studies faculty (FMST 194) and expressly designed to fulfill the senior comprehensive exit requirement. Students are encouraged to select a seminar that converges with their own interests and to make arrangements before or in the fall term of their senior year for enrollment in that seminar. Topics and instructors vary widely from year to year.
2. Senior Thesis
   • NOTE: For this option, your faculty advisor may require that you complete a FMST 194 first, which you can apply toward one of your 7 upper division FMST courses.
   • General Information
     A senior thesis (FMST 195) must be of substantial length (35 pages), on a subject relevant to feminist studies, and completed in two quarters. Double majors may write a 50-page thesis over three quarters to fulfill the comprehensive requirement for both majors. It is assumed that students will have completed, or are concurrently enrolled in, coursework in the relevant field. For example, a student who has no coursework on Japan cannot write a thesis on women in Japan.
   • Content Guidelines
     A senior thesis generally consists of the following: a review of the literature relevant to the student’s subjects and a statement of purpose describing the central theme(s) and its intended audience; a discussion of the methods of work employed in research (often including new methods devised to access subjects’ lives and experiences where traditional approaches proved to be inadequate, as well as a representation of the interview process, statistical data, or other research techniques relevant to the student’s essay or project); two or three chapters or sections in which the body of ideas is presented and analyzed; a conclusion in which an interpretive synthesis is brought to bear upon the material and future avenues of inquiry may be proposed; reference notes for each of the chapters or sections; and a bibliography (in MLA or APA bibliographic format). The order and character of these five components vary from thesis to thesis. Feminist Studies encourages a flexible and creative approach in keeping with the nature of this discipline; we therefore adapt these components to the student’s topic in a manner most appropriate and helpful to it.
   • Timetable
     Students who plan to write a thesis are urged to begin thinking about it early in their studies and certainly by their junior year. They are encouraged to take courses that will contribute toward their senior thesis. In spring of the junior year, students are expected to select and meet with a thesis advisor to discuss their topic. The FMST Department Advisor can assist students (via email: fmst-advising@ucsc.edu or phone: 459-2757 or in person) in selecting a thesis advisor. Students are strongly encouraged to take at least one and preferably two courses with their prospective advisor to establish a working relationship prior to the senior thesis. Students cannot write a thesis without a thesis advisor. Students are required to have one thesis advisor, but may have a second reader/thesis advisor if desired. A preliminary focus for the thesis, a statement of purpose, and an outline should be completed by the end of the junior year. Students should plan to do bibliographic research during the summer between their junior and senior years. During the senior year, students planning to write a senior thesis are required to enroll in FMST l95, an independent study under the supervision of their thesis advisor.Completing the Thesis
     Students nearing completion of a thesis should contact the thesis advisor for a final draft due date, usually two-three weeks before the end of the quarter. Two copies of the approved, completed thesis are required, one for the thesis advisor and one for the Feminist Studies office. The thesis must be submitted by the last day of instruction for the quarter the student plans to graduate. Due dates for 2023-24 are December 8, March 15, and June 7. The thesis must be typed, double-spaced and bound, and approved by your thesis advisor. Ask your thesis advisor to call or email the Feminist Studies office with their final approval of your thesis.
   • Awards
     Students may apply for the Dean’s and Chancellor’s Undergraduate Awards. Application forms are available in winter quarter at your college office or from the Feminist Studies office. Since the submissions deadline is early April, students applying for this award must complete their thesis by mid-March. Please contact your faculty advisor if you are interested in applying.
   • Thesis Library
     There are over 400 theses in the Feminist Studies Library which contain excellent bibliographic sources in numerous fields and are available for two-week loan. Hundreds of other theses in American studies, anthropology, community studies, history, sociology, etc. are available at Special Collections in the McHenry Library.
3. Senior Project
   • NOTE: For this option, your faculty advisor may require that you complete a FMST 194 first, which you can apply toward one of your 7 upper division FMST courses.
   • General Information
     Examples of senior projects (FMST 195) include a series of paintings, a photographic exhibit, original music, choreography, or theater. Students who elect to do a senior project must have completed prior coursework in a relevant field. For example, a student who has never taken a creative writing course cannot do a creative writing senior project. The project must be accompanied by a written component, a critical analytical essay of 20 pages with appropriate reference notes and bibliography. A project may also be a literary piece, e.g., poetry, fiction or autobiography, in which case an additional written component is not required. However, at the discretion of the advisor, an introductory essay to the work may be required. During the senior year, students planning to do a senior project are required to enroll in at least one FMST l95, an independent study under the supervision of their project advisor.
   • Written Component Guidelines and Timetable
     See Thesis – Content Guidelines, Timetable, and Completing the Thesis above, and note the following: Students wishing to do a senior project in creative writing must choose a Feminist Studies affiliate faculty member from the Literature Department or the Writing Program as their project advisor. Students may also choose a second project advisor appropriate to the subject matter.

Applying for Graduation

A note to all majors: You are encouraged to schedule an appointment with the FMST Undergraduate Advisor (fmst-advising@ucsc.edu) for a graduation check of your major requirements in the first quarter of your senior year. This allows time to complete all requirements by the projected graduation quarter.

Apply for Graduation via your portal (myUCSC) at the beginning of the quarter you plan to graduate. Deadlines for 2021-22 are:

• Fall Quarter – October 22
• Winter Quarter – February 4
• Spring Quarter – April 29
• Summer Quarter – July 29

Students who apply after the deadline are billed a $75-100 late application fee. If you do not graduate in the quarter for which you announced, you must re-file for the updated graduation quarter.

Senior Celebration – The Feminist Studies Department hosts an annual celebration, which includes presentations by graduating seniors and a reception. Feminist Studies seniors, other majors, faculty, graduate students, teaching assistants, and family and friends of graduating Feminist Studies seniors are invited. Check the News and Events section of this website in mid-May for details.