A growing student interest in Women’s and Gender Studies has caused the department turn to nontraditional teaching positions in recent semesters.
Women’s and Gender Studies is one of the fastest growing majors on campus and nationwide, according to the National Women’s Studies Association via Jessica Jennrich, the department’s former advising, curriculum and programming director. Jennrich will leave MU mid-July for Dartmouth College, to be the [director of its Center for Women and Gender](http://thedartmouth.com/2011/06/01/news/Jennrich).
“Students are realizing they need to have a grasp on relations between men and women, gender relations in society, issues of race and sexuality, that we are complex people,” Jennrich said. “The more you learn as an undergrad about the complex world we live in, the better you can function as a professional.”
Although a program since 1980, Women’s and Gender Studies [became a declared department in 2007](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2007/10/5/women-s-and-gender-studies-becomes-department/). This year, [it celebrated its 30th year as a program at MU](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2010/10/19/womens-and-gender-studies-celebrates-30-years-mu/).
“There’s something about having an identity as a department — a department implies more permanency,” Department Chairwoman Joan Hermsen said. “You have a permanent home in the institution. It implies scholarship in this field and that we would want to hire faculty with expertise.”
Because of an increase in student demand, the department created what it calls the “targeted teaching initiative.” Instructors can be graduate students, faculty from other departments and, via the [Dorothy Haecker Teaching Fellowship](http://wgst.missouri.edu/pdfs-docs/MU_WGST_postdoc_2011.pdf), post-doctoral students. The fellowship is named for the program’s first full-time director. Minnie Chiu was selected for the position in April.
Chiu’s fall course, “Gender and Sexuality in Asian America,” will address what she sees as an inevitable intersection of subjects.
“In this age of globalization, students need to know about the world, about what’s happening, not just here, but in Africa, in Asia,” Chiu said. “What’s happening, how are things different and why is it different. I think those are some of the questions in gender studies.”
When the opening was advertised in January, Hermsen and other faculty noted Asian American studies as one area they wanted to begin to incorporate into the curriculum. Chiu’s Ph.D. research on how cultural practices shape the formation of global communities was appropriate because she focused on Chinese culture. But while enthusiastic about her research, Chiu’s passion is teaching..
“Students love to learn about different ways of seeing things,” Chiu said. “They want to be challenged, and this is a field that really challenges you to look at all sorts of things: literature, pop culture, even why your life is structured a certain way, why you behave a certain way.”
The interdisciplinary nature of the field allows class instruction to include both affiliate and department faculty. Affiliate faculty are responsible for cross-listed classes in the humanities, social sciences and behavioral sciences, which often fulfill General Education requirements. They also attract non-emphasis area students to the field.
“Our classes are our best advertising,” Jennrich said. “Most emphasis area students took a class first.”
Naturally, more classes were necessary to accommodate the now 70 emphasis area students, but new curriculum also serves another demand.
“We have a more diverse student body, so we need to go across the breadth of topics that women and gender studies addresses,” Jennrich said.
Hermsen agreed with this responsibility.
“It’s not just for if you have an interest in Women’s and Gender Studies, but also the global world,” Hermsen said.