The interdepartmental doctoral program in Women's Studies and Psychology is designed to serve students whose interests are not well represented by an exclusively disciplinary program. Such students need conceptual and methodological tools that are grounded in the interdisciplinary perspective of the Women's Studies Program . In this doctoral program, students have the opportunity to work out an interdisciplinary approach to a research problem from an early point in training, with a faculty committee that can provide shaping direction. They benefit from the kind of interdisciplinary mentorship that is necessary to develop and complete an interdisciplinary dissertation. One course in feminist theory.
Specific content varies, depending on the particular interests of the instructor.
Courses in feminist cultural or political theory are alternatives for students with strong undergraduate backgrounds in feminist theory. The Approaches to Feminist Scholarship courses are designed to examine various theoretical, substantive and methodological issues in feminist scholarship in relation to the paradigms of traditional disciplines. WS 891 Advanced Research. WS891 brings students and faculty together both to discuss issues in interdisciplinary feminist scholarship, and to support students' development of their own interdisciplinary research projects. In addition to these core courses, joint doctoral students take 9 additional hours of graduate coursework, chosen from among Women's Studies offerings and cross-listed courses provided by other departments.