WGSS Undergraduate Program

WS Major

WS Minor

What Our Students are Saying About Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Alexandra T. Milspaw I have experienced many exciting adventures and accomplishments over the years. Completing the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program at Lehigh University is one of them. The program provided the opportunities that lead me to my passions and growing career today.  My internship brought me to the LU Women's Center, through which I founded "Break the Silence" (BTS) and produced the world-renown "Vagina Monologues" (VM) raising over $10,000 for local women's shelters. Through BTS, I learned how to deal with women in crisis. Today, I deal with women in crisis every day and I am so grateful to have had the experience that I did at Lehigh. Through the VMs, I learned how to run empowerment and healing workshops for women. Today, I'm running women's workshops internationally. The WGSS courses gave me the solid foundation I needed to explore my career options and prepared me for the challenges I face. More specifically, the program taught me: to think critically about existing research; to adequately and eloquently express my opinion in a way that would encourage the opposing side to listen; the history of how far we've come, and how far we have yet to go. Consequently, the WGSS program turned my Lehigh experience into my most fulfilling educational endeavor, which has lead me to my current position as Director of Counseling at the Allentown Women's Center. I also work with Chronic Pelvic Pain patients through a local OBGYN using hypnotherapy and mind/body relaxation to decrease their stress and pain levels. I am also currently working on my Ph.D in Human Sexuality at Widener University. I work in one of the most challenging environments in America: an abortion clinic. Thanks to great support from friends, family, and Lehigh mentors, I continue to accomplish my goals and help make a difference in women's lives every day.


I Never Told Any One by Professor Lucy Gans
 
Michelle Harris As I begin my second year post-Lehigh, I still find myself reflecting on the time I spent there. I feel very prepared for grad school and life after college, and use the knowledge and skills I learned at Lehigh and from the Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies program often. I am currently beginning my second and last year of my MSW at the BU School of Social Work. Last year in addition to classes I had an internship working with 8th grade students at a middle school in Boston. This year, I begin my more intensive practical year, where I will be interning at an agency that does intervention, prevention, and advocacy work with domestic violence and dating violence. I will be helping to develop and present programs for healthy relationships geared towards teens and college students. Once I graduate in May, I will be looking for a job doing program development in the general field of Sex Ed, in the Greater Boston Area. I miss all of you, and wish luck to the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies majors, minors, and certificates!


I Never Told Any One - Guilt by Professor Lucy Gans

Lauren Ostaszewski As a sophomore at Lehigh, I was convinced I was going to get a Bachelors of Science in Psychology, and one of the required classes was Intro to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Prior to the start of classes that semester, I viewed this class like any other – as a stepping stone to earning my B.S. However, my perception changed once the class was in session – my eyes were opened to a whole new way of looking at and thinking about women, and the various trials and tribulations we all still faced on a daily basis. It was this class that was responsible for changing my course of study at Lehigh, and I made the decision to double major in Psychology and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. As I look back on my college experience, adding the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major was one of the best things I could have done – it allowed me to take classes such as Gender and Psychology, Feminism and Philosophy, and Feminist Theory. These classes, and the many others I took, have given me such an appreciation of all those women who came before me, as well as the drive to finish what they started!


I Never Told Any One by Professor Lucy Gans

Alisha Gonzales After I tell someone I earned a degree in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Psychology, their next question is usually, “And what can you do with that?” My answer? A LOT. In college I always thought of psychology as my career and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies as my passion, but wasn’t sure how I would incorporate both into my future. Now, as a graduate student working towards my PsyD in Clinical Psychology and MEd in Human Sexuality, I use my knowledge and experience from Lehigh every day! My first Human Sexuality course picked right up where my Lehigh classes with Dr. Karen Hicks left off. I have opportunities to use empowerment-based therapy with clients. Everything I learn I examine with critical eye. And most importantly, I know I have a community of supportive, intelligent women that I can call on and look to for guidance and validation when I need it. I’m so grateful for the people and experiences at Lehigh and in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program and feel so proud to have been a part of it!