By Andrea Estrada

The University of California has approved a proposal by UC Santa Barbara to establish a graduate program in feminist studies that offers Master of Arts and doctoral degrees. The Women’s Studies program now has become the Department of Feminist Studies. The program’s first graduate students are expected to be admitted and enrolled for fall quarter 2009.

With more than 50 core and affiliate faculty members, UCSB’s feminist studies department is one of only two within the UC system and one of only 15 or so at public universities across the country. “UCSB is definitely at the forefront of this area of study,” said Eileen Boris, Hull Professor and chair of feminist studies.

The program has three areas of emphasis, including race and nation, genders and sexualities, and productive and reproductive labors. All are approached from intersectional and transnational perspectives and with a focus on social justice and public policy. “We offer a critical lens into understanding the social, economic, and political life of women and men, and apply a feminist perspective,” Boris said. “It’s a broadening of women’s studies.

A truly interdisciplinary effort, the feminist studies program has faculty associations across the social sciences, humanities, and fine arts.

“The inauguration of the feminist studies Ph.D. reflects not only the strength of our faculty in this area, but also the massive investments we have made in feminist studies throughout the social sciences and humanities at UCSB,” said Melvin Oliver, the SAGE Sara Miller McCune Dean of Social Sciences.

The addition of graduate classes will bolster an already strong program that currently serves hundreds of undergraduate students.