GWS SOAR
Academic Advising
Intending to major in or wanting to explore the Gender & Women’s Studies Major, GWS Certificate, or LGBTQ+ Studies Certificate? You can make an appointment with undergraduate advisor, Lachrista Greco through Starfish or email her at lachrista.greco@wisc.edu.
To read about the requirements for all programs in GWS, go here.
AP Credit Equivalencies
Credit equivalencies for all subjects and exams can be found here. You can find more details about these policies in the UW–Madison Academic Guide.
Recommended Courses for First-Year Students
Here is a list of excellent courses for fall 2026 to take as a first-year student at UW–Madison:
Gen&WS 100: Open House Gender Learning Community
Gen&WS 101: Gender, Women, and Cultural Representation (Humanities breadth)
Gen&WS 103: Gender, Women, Bodies, and Health (Natural Science breadth)
Gen&WS 105: Intersectional Approaches to Disability Studies (Humanities breadth)
Gen&WS 200: Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies (Humanities or Social Science breadth)
What is a FIG?
A First-Year Interest Group (FIG) is an academic learning community designed specifically for first-year students at the UW–Madison. Each FIG is a unique cluster of UW classes, linked together to explore a common theme or topic. All FIGs are based on a small seminar and most FIG seminars are connected to two other classes. To find out more information about this program, go here.
GWS FIGs for Fall 2026:
Academic Advising
Intending to major in or wanting to explore the Gender & Women’s Studies Major, GWS Certificate, or LGBTQ+ Studies Certificate? You can make an appointment with undergraduate advisor, Lachrista Greco through Starfish. To read about the requirements for all programs in GWS, go here.
GWS Requirements at UW–Madison
We have three programs: GWS Major, GWS Certificate, and LGBTQ+ Studies Certificate. To read about the requirements for all programs, go here.
GWS Transfer Credits
GWS and LGBTQ+ Studies courses taken at other institutions can be used to fulfill the breadth requirements of the GWS Major/certificate as well as the LGBTQ+ Studies certificate at UW–Madison. If you see courses on your DARS that have been given non-direct equivalencies (any course number that begins with an “X,” (e.g. GEN&WS X150), please speak with the academic advisor to make sure that they will count appropriately toward the major or certificate requirements.
Open Intermediate/Advanced Courses Fall 2026
- Gen&WS 320 (lec 001): Gender & Environmental Politics (Social Science breadth)
- Gen&WS 374: Disability, Gender & Sexuality (Humanities breadth)
- Gen&WS 410 (lec 001): Feminist Art & Visual Culture (Humanities breadth)
- Gen&WS 423: The Female Body in the World: Gender and Contemporary Body Politics in Cross Cultural Perspective
(Social Science breadth) - Gen&WS 441: Contemporary Feminist Theories (Humanities OR Social Science breadth)
- Gen&WS 449 (Lec 001): Feminist Politics of Care (Humanities or Social Science breadth
- Gen&WS 522: Psychology of Women and Gender (Social Science breadth)
- Gen&WS 533 (lec 001): Gender, Race & Botany (Biological Science breadth)
- Gen&WS 533 (lec 002): Gender & Water (Biological Science breadth)
- Gen&WS 539: Reproduction Before/Beyond Roe (Social Science breadth)
You can do anything with a degree in Gender & Women’s Studies!
Gender & Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary (and always timely) field that develops and disseminates knowledge about how gender shapes people’s lives including the lives of women (cis and trans), men (cis and trans), nonbinary & two spirit people, and people with other gender-expansive identities. This is done through the analysis of texts, social and cultural practices, and social institutions, both local and global, historical and contemporary. We explore the diverse empirical realities, embodiments, and creative meanings of gender, including in the arts, culture, medicine and health care, politics, and history in local and global perspective. We examine the structures of inequality and movements for social change, especially attuned to the intersections of gender and gender diversity with other dimensions of difference and inequality such as race, class, sexuality, disability, religion, and national origin.
