As gender and sexuality are increasingly recognized as fundamental categories of social and cultural analysis, gender studies has evolved as a dynamic interdisciplinary field, one that bridges the humanities and the sciences and advances the work within them.

Our department is home to the first doctoral program in the country specifically dedicated to gender studies. In both undergraduate and graduate courses, we examine the complex interaction of gender with other markers of identity, such as race, ethnicity, disability, nation, religion, and sexuality.

Our courses connect questions about gender to key intellectual, political, and social debates, as well as to gendered moments in scientific research. We use interdisciplinary inquiry to explore intersections across the spectrum of sexual identity, and to study the history of movements such as feminism, women’s studies, masculinity studies, and queer studies.

Our department changed its name from Women’s Studies to Gender Studies in 1997, reflecting its more comprehensive attention to women, men, and various aspects of gender. Approved by the Indiana University Board of Trustees and the Indiana Commission of Higher Education in late 1996, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Gender Studies was first offered in fall 1997.