Graduate Resources

Upon entering the program, you will be assigned an initial advisor who is available to help you plan your classes, discuss academic issues relating to courses or to your progress through the program, and clarify any confusion that remains for you after you have carefully read the WGSS Graduate Handbook. The WGSS Director of Graduate Studies is also available to answer any questions that remain for you. It is important to consult your advisor when planning your classes, because some classes are offered on a two-year cycle and she can help you plan accordingly.

Additionally, you should begin to develop relationships with other WGSS core and affiliate faculty members, so you can get to know their research better and because they can provide advice and mentoring. These relationships are important because you must select a faculty member to direct your thesis by the end of the second semester of the first year (note: the thesis chair is the student’s main advisor for the thesis). Don’t forget to notify the Director of Graduate Studies once you have chosen your thesis advisor.

The thesis chair must be selected by the end of the second semester of your first year. The thesis chair must be a full-time tenured or tenure-track WGSS faculty member. Under special circumstances and with permission from the WGSS Graduate Director, committee may be co-chaired; however, at least one co-chair must be a WGSS full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member, and the number of co-chairs who are not members of the WGSS cannot exceed the number of co-chairs who are members of the WGSS.

Even if you are still in the process of taking courses, a thesis chair can help you select courses that will best prepare you for your thesis research. However, it is a good idea to take a course with the faculty member you have identified as a prospective thesis chair so that she knows about your work before deciding to be your chair. And, more importantly, having the faculty member for a class prior to asking her or him to chair your thesis allows you to know whether your working styles and personalities are compatible. Students don’t need to be friends with their thesis chairs, but they do need to get along with and respect them. The WGSS Graduate Director and other faculty can also offer advice about which faculty might be a suitable match for an individual student. Don’t be discouraged if your first choice of thesis chair is not able to serve on your thesis project; faculty are often already serving on many other committees. However, they can usually suggest other people who would be equally suitable for your thesis project.

Since WGSS M.A. students are specializing in gender studies, all thesis chairs must have a sophisticated knowledge of feminist, gender studies, or queer theory scholarship. Consequently, thesis chairs must be either Core or Affiliate faculty in the WGSS. Exceptions to this rule are possible on a case-by-case basis. In all cases, the thesis chair must be a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member at Georgia State and must hold graduate teaching status.

You should select your thesis committee soon after you select your thesis chair. Often, your thesis committee will be made up of professors who have taught you in the M.A. program in WGSS. They will help you think through and execute the thesis project. You might have two committee members in mind as a result of taking courses with them. A student can also ask her or his thesis advisor for suggestions of other committee members.

M.A. thesis committees are comprised of a thesis chair and at least two other faculty members who have expertise in the area in which the student plans to conduct research. A thesis committee can have more than three members, but the first three members of the thesis committee, including the chair or co-chair(s), must be full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members. Thesis committee members are almost always graduate faculty at Georgia State. However, in special cases where a compelling reason exists, a faculty member from another university may be invited to serve on the committee. In such cases, the student will request a CV from the external committee member and submit it to the chair/advisor of the thesis committee, who, in consultation with the graduate director, will approve the committee member. The College of Arts and Sciences stipulates that non-Georgia State members must hold a tenure or tenure-track position at their own institution. The student’s thesis chair must write a brief memo to the WGSS director explaining the compelling reasons for having the non-Georgia State faculty member on the committee. At no time shall the number of committee members who are not GSU full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members exceed the number of committee members who are GSU full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members.

WGSS tries to coordinate with other departments to ensure that courses offered in other departments that have a gender component are also listed as WGSS courses. When they are cross-listed with our Institute, they have a WGSS prefix and automatically count toward a graduate student’s 30 hours of required coursework as long as you register for the WGSS prefix. Nevertheless, sometimes gender-related courses in other departments escape our attention and are not cross-listed as WGSS. Additionally, sometimes students wish to take a course highly relevant to their scholarly development in WGSS that does not have an explicit gender component.

In many cases, students can still get WGSS credit for such courses, but they are required to seek approval from the WGSS Graduate Director before taking the course. Be forewarned that there is a limited number of these courses that the Graduate Director will approve per student.

Sometimes a student has a specific idea for a WGSS course that is not offered by the Institute or is only offered at the undergraduate level. Under these circumstances, a student can approach a faculty member to request that s/he do a directed reading course. With prior permission from the WGSS Graduate Director, the student can register for WSt 6999, Directed Readings, attend the undergraduate course, and work with the faculty member to develop extra readings and assignments, which the student must list on the Directed Readings Form.

A student may also do an independent directed reading with a faculty member. Typically, the student will have a well thought-out idea of the readings and assignments for such an independent course and will use these ideas as a starting point for dialogue with the faculty member. If the faculty member agrees to a directed readings course with the student(s), the student will fill out a Directed Readings Form (which includes a list of readings and assignments). Once the form is completed, the faculty member directing the course will review the form, sign it, and pass it on to the Graduate Director for approval. The student must receive approval for the Directed Reading before registering for the course. A directed reading course is not intended to be used as a substitute for a course that is typically offered in other semesters, and should only be used for specialized topics that are not covered in other courses.

Georgia State and the WGSS have a number of resources for students, and we urge all students to take advantage of them as the need arises. The most important factor in successful resolution of an academic problem is seeking out help early.

For academic problems with a particular course, students can and should speak with the course instructor first. The WGSS Graduate Director is also available to counsel students on academic and other issues relating to students’ progress through the program. The Director of the program is another excellent source.

For specific help with writing, we very much encourage you to contact the Writing Studio (call 404-413-5840), located in room 2420 of the 25 Park Place Building to schedule an appointment with a writing consultant or for information about drop-in hours. Writing consultants are available to help students plan and/or edit written work.

Georgia State also offers free psychological counseling to students to help them manage personal crises or relationship problems, or simply to manage the stresses that inevitably accompany the new challenges of graduate work. You can call the Counseling Center at 404-413-1640 to schedule an appointment. Another resource for students with problems arising from interactions with particular offices at Georgia State is the Student Ombudsperson, who can be reached at 404-413-2510.

Attending or giving a paper at a conference is a learning opportunity from which students benefit immensely. The National Women’s Studies Association, regional women’s studies associations (like the Southeast Women’s Studies Association – SEWSA), and numerous small conferences regularly issue calls for papers and encourage graduate student participation. Keep your eye out for announcements on the WGSS listserv, or check the NWSA website.

A caution about conferences, however. We recommend that you propose a conference paper based on a course paper that you have already written and on which you have received positive feedback from the course instructor. A conference provides a good opportunity to revise an existing paper that may become part of your thesis. But it is very stressful to try to write a paper specifically for a conference on top of the demands of a typical graduate course load. Depending on budget considerations, the WGSS is committed to providing funding to offset some of the conference travel costs (i.e., flight, hotel, conference registration). Calls for conference travel funding proposals usually go out at the beginning of the spring semester. Because limited (if any) funds are available from the WGSS, you are advised to be realistic about the cost of attending the conference when you are deciding whether to propose a paper. Finally, if your paper is accepted by the conference, the expectation of the organizers is that you will go to the conference. Because papers are often accepted, only apply to conferences that you can attend. At conferences, be professional and well-prepared, for your own sake, as well as because you are representing Georgia State University’s Institute for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Feel free to discuss conference ideas with faculty members or with the WGSS Graduate Director.