The program is designed as an educational forum in which students and faculty explore the parallels of ethnic and gender stratification. The purpose of Ethnic and Women's Studies is to provide students with the skills, intellectual habits, critical attitudes, and broad perspectives necessary to function in, and contribute to, a changing world. In addition, students need the ability to make sound ethnical judgments and to gain a sensitivity to the aesthetic and humanistic dimensions of the changing world. EWS offers a major in Gender, Ethnicity, and Multicultural Studies with two options. The second is a pre-credential option preparing students for Multiple Subjects or CLAD credential programs.
Courses are open to all students in the university.
Enrollment is encouraged for those who are seriously concerned about the quality of life in 21st-century America, and wish to do something about it. Fields in which such concerns can find direct application are teaching, urban planning, social services, politics, recreation, law, the ministry, and others that have a direct bearing on particular ethnic groups. A 2.0 cumulative GPA is required in core courses, including option courses, in order to receive a degree in the major. Students introduced to values associated with academic and scientific exploration. Emphasis on development of critical thinking and communication skills.