About the Center
Mission Statement
The Center for Gender Studies at the University of Chicago was established in 1996, after a decade of faculty and student self-organization. It now consolidates work on gender and sexuality, and in feminist, gay and lesbian, and queer studies. Along with fostering teaching, research, and discussion at the University, the Center seeks to reach out into public areas where gender and sexuality come together with other political, artistic, and intellectual concerns. The Lesbian & Gay Studies Project is housed at the Center and actively collaborates in the planning of activities and initiatives.
The Center is located at 5733 South University Avenue, and shares space with the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, with which it also collaborates on diverse intellectual and social programs. Ongoing activities of the Center include weekly brownbag presentations featuring local faculty and as well as scholars, artists and activists from the Chicago community; the Gender and Sexuality Studies Workshop; The Feminist Lives and Queer Trajectories Series; lectures, conferences and symposia; speaker's and film series; and arts programming. The Center offers fellowships to graduate students working on dissertations and, at the undergraduate level, the Center offers major and minor degrees in Gender Studies. The affiliated faculty are deeply committed to pedagogy, and Gender Studies' courses provide graduate students with the opportunity to work as co-teachers with faculty. For both undergraduates and graduate students, the Center crosslists courses on gender and sexuality across the curriculum. A quarterly Newsletter provides detailed information on events, fellowships, and initiatives.
Areas of faculty interests can be viewed on the website, and include gender and sexuality studies in the fields of literature, history, sociology, anthropology, cinema and media studies, law, medicine, and many other disciplines. The Center's mission is in constant transformation and expansion growing with the active involvement of faculty, staff, and students who are committed to the shaping of thought in gender and sexuality. All members of the University and Chicago communities are encouraged to participate in the present and future of the Center.