PhD in Global Gender Studies

GGSs students touring the Albright Knox art gallery.

GGSs students touring the Albright Knox Art Gallery

UB's Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies is one of only 12 doctoral degree-granting Women/Gender Studies departments in the U.S., and offered the first doctoral program in women's studies in the SUNY system. We build collaborations among faculty and students by exploring the intersections of gender, race, class, and disability to produce innovative scholarship.

About the PhD Program

Global Gender and Sexuality Studies attracts a wide range of PhD students into a welcoming and diverse community. Students work on their dissertations in close collaboration with hands-on faculty mentors who represent a diverse array of disciplines, and take advantage of opportunities outside the classroom such as conferences, community activism, and writing workshops.

PhD students experience a competitive doctoral program with particular strengths in the areas of literary analysis, gender and global citizenship, gender and public policy, art and cultural production, sexuality studies, and feminist and queer theories. Our department has successfully placed PhDs in Global Gender Studies in academic careers as well as jobs in public policy, the non-profit sector, government, and more.

Student Voices

The faculty at GGS took incredible time to mentor me. I took classes in research methods and ultimately conducted my own study that was later published.

Degree Requirements

Coursework
A total of 72 credits are required for the PhD degree in Global Gender Studies, out of which at least 36 credits must be taken in the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies. Students usually take between five and seven years to complete the doctoral program.

Core Requirements
All doctoral students are required to complete the following:

  • One 3-credit theory course such as GGS 518 – Readings in Feminist Theory
  • One 3-credit quantitative methods (Quantitative Research Methods) or one 3-credit qualitative methods (Ethnographic Methods)
  • An additional six seminars in Global Gender Studies
  • Comprehensive exams, a dissertation prospectus, and an oral defense of the written dissertation

Major Concentration
The PhD program requires a student to design, in consultation with their academic advisor(s), a coherent interdisciplinary program. Students can take courses from a wide range of other UB departments and schools.

For additional guidelines and specific information regarding academic planning, doctoral students should consult the GGSs Graduate Student Handbook and their academic advisors.

Meet Our Students

Contact Us

With questions about the PhD program, please contact:

Gwynn Thomas with student at 2017 commencement.