Spring 2026 Course Offerings

This flyer includes courses housed in GWS and/or taught by GWS core faculty. Review the full listing of GWS courses, including cross-listed courses, in XE Registration, available at my.uic.edu.

GWS 101: Gender in Everyday Life

An interdisciplinary introduction to GWS that draws on the humanities and social sciences. Emphasizes intersections of gender, race, sexuality, class, and nation. Addresses historical and contemporary debates, focusing primarily on U.S. concerns

Taught by Dr. Esther Díaz Martín

GWS 101
CRN 15130
3 credits

Course Details:
Mondays, Wednesdays 10-10:50am CST, In Person
Friday Discussion Section Times Vary, In Person

Fulfills General Education Requirements:
Understanding the Individual & Society (UIS) &
Understanding US Society (USS)

GWS 102: Global Perspectives on Women and Gender

Examines the ways in which constructions of cultural difference, global capitalism, neoliberalism, the gendered division of labor, the commodification of women’s bodies, and constructions of war and militarism impact the lives of women and LGBTQ people.

Taught by Dr. Gayatri Reddy

GWS 102
CRN 15134
3 credits

Course Details:
Mondays, Wednesdays 2-2:50pm CST, In Person
Friday Discussion Section Times Vary, Online Synchronous

Fulfills General Education Requirements:
Understanding the Individual & Society (UIS)  &
Exploring World Cultures (EWC)

GWS 203: Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies

Introduction to histories, foundational theories, and concepts in LGBTQ+ Studies. Focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer as historically contingent categories of identity that are lived, discursively produced, racially charged, and culturally contested. Explores how these identity categories have served as a basis of community formation and placemaking, as sites of stigma and liberation, and as organizing principles of modern society.

Taught by Dr. Darius Bost

GWS 203
CRN 28370
3 credits

Course Details:
Tuesdays, Thursdays 2-3:15pm CST, In-Person

GWS 204: Gender and Popular Culture

Learn to apply feminist and cultural studies theories and methodologies to unpack popular representations and taken-for-granted notions about gender, race, class, and sexuality as interrelated categories.

Taught by Dr. Manoucheka Celeste

GWS 204
CRN 30324
3 credits

Course Details:
Tuesdays, Thursdays 5-6:15pm CST, In-Person

Fulfills General Education Requirements:
Understanding the Individual & Society (UIS) &
Understanding US Society (USS)

Cross List:
COMM 204, CRN 30325

GWS 248: Afro Asian Solidarities

An exploration of the radical possibilities of transnational alliances and the long history of cross-racial solidarities between Asia and Africa, Asians and Africans, both globally and in the U.S.

Taught by Dr. Gayatri Reddy

GWS 248
CRN 48880
3 credits

Course Details:
Mondays, Wednesdays 4:30-5:45pm CST, In-Person

Fulfills General Education Requirements:
Exploring World Cultures (EWC) &
Understanding US Society (USS)

Cross List:
ANTH 248, CRN 48881
GLAS 248, CRN 48876

GWS 292: History and Theories of Feminism

An introduction to feminist theory and practice throughout the world from the 19th century to the present. Intended to provide students with a foundation in the history of feminist organizing and women’s activism, as well as the theoretical arguments that have developed in conjunction with these social movements.

Taught by Dr. Lynette Jackson

GWS 292
CRN 24653
3 credits

Course Details:
Tuesdays, Thursdays 11am-12:15pm CST, In-Person

Cross List:
HIST 292, CRN 24686

GWS 294: Topics in GWS: Gender and AI

This seminar poses critical questions about technology: how do digital technologies and artificial intelligence reinforce existing hegemonies? How do they subvert them? Can we, as feminists, critically engage with digital tools like AI to make them more democratic, resilient, and empowering? Through readings, website, podcasts, videos, and apps, we will explore the impact of AI and other technologies on gender, sexuality, identity, and community in our digitally mediated worlds.

Taught by Dr. Cindy Tekobbe

GWS 294
CRN 21138
3 credits

Course Details:
Tuesdays, Thursdays 9:30-10:45am CST, In Person

Cross List:
COMM 294, CRN 48291

GWS 390: Feminism and Social Change

In this capstone course, learn how women of color and LGBTQI people of color imagine and practice intersectional feminist social change. We will identify, analyze and debate various strategies that activists, organizations and communities use to realize their visions. We also will explore feminist efforts and develop analytical and practical skills based on feminist methods and analysis.

Taught by Dr. Elena Gutiérrez

GWS 390
CRN 15139
3 credits

Course Details:
Tuesdays, Thursdays 12:30-1:45pm CST, Online Synchronous

GWS 409: Women and Gender in the Middle East

What are the possibilities for voicing the complicated intersections of culture, society, history, and politics that shape gendered experience and identity in the Middle East and North Africa? Whose experience is being described, and how does the decision to tell that experience shape how it is told? Explore empirical and theoretical understandings of gendered relations to the state, society, the family, and the self. Focus on questions of gendered self-determination and agency, as well as questions of methods and styles of knowledge production.

Taught by Dr. Norma Claire Moruzzi

GWS 409
CRN 44933 (undergrad, 3 credits);
CRN 44934 (grad, 4 credits)

Course Details:
Wednesdays 3-5:30pm CST, In Person

GWS 410: Race, Gender and Representation: Black Bodies in Media and Mass Culture

Explore scholarship and public conversations around Black representation and Black media production. Topics of study include defining Black popular culture, notions of taste and authenticity, and the socio-political relevance of Black representation to emancipatory projects. Implicit in Black cultural criticism is an analysis of power – power as disciplinary, dynamic, policing, empowering, restrictive, and resistant.

Taught by Dr. Manoucheka Celeste

GWS 410
CRN 47969 (undergrad, 3 credits);
CRN 47971 (grad, 4 credits)

Course Details:
Tuesdays, Thursdays 3:30-4:450pm CST, In Person

Cross-Lists:
BLST 410, CRN 47967 (undergrad, 3 credits),
BLST 410, CRN 47968 (grad, 4 credits)
COMM 410, CRN 47972 (undergrad, 3 credits)
COMM 410, CRN 47973 (grad, 4 credits)

GWS 502: Feminist Knowledge Production

This course examines feminist struggles for social change with a focus on resistance rooted in critiques of knowledge systems and structures that politically govern everyday life and the world around us. Engage in historical, theoretical, philosophical, and scientific perspectives on “feminism” and feminist ways of knowing, assessing, and resisting hierarchical power relations. Examine feminism and gender as they are co-expressed by and through race, class, sexuality, disability, and nationality.

Taught by Dr. Freda Fair

GWS 502
CRN 28371
4 credits (Graduate Course)

Course Details:
Thursdays, 3:30-6pm CST, In Person

This flyer includes Spring 2026 courses for the Social Justice Minor, including SJ core courses and courses that fulfill SJ elective requirements. Review the full listing of SJ courses, in the UIC undergraduate catalog.

SJ 101: Introduction to Social Justice: Stories and Struggles

This course introduces the study of social justice through personal narratives, memoirs, and biographies of individuals engaged in social and political change. Students will explore the advocacy, activism, and theories of these individuals while examining how their lives, identities, and communities shaped their politics and passions.

Taught by Dr. Barbara Ransby

SJ 101
CRN 46142
3 credits

Course Details:
Mondays, Wednesdays 9:30-10:45am CST, In-Person

Fulfills General Education Requirements:
Understanding the Individual & Society (UIS)

SJ 201: Theories and Practices of Social Justice

This course examines the frameworks U.S. social justice activists use to analyze systems of oppression and guide their strategies and goals. Students will focus on intersectional feminist activism, exploring its historical roots and the impact of contemporary efforts led by women, femme, queer, and BIPOC individuals and communities.

Taught by Dr. Elena Gutiérrez

SJ 210
CRN 38305
3 credits

Course Details:
Tuesdays, Thursdays 5-6:15pm CST, Online Synchronous

Fulfills General Education Requirements:
Understanding US Society (USS)

SJ 301: Social Justice Capstone

Explore community organizing for social, economic, and political justice in the U.S. from the twentieth century to today. Engage with historical and contemporary movements, develop critical perspectives on systemic power, and complete 40 internship service-learning hours with local community organizations.

Taught by Dr. Freda Fair

SJ 301
Lecture/Discussion CRN 39595
Practice CRN 40176
4 credits
Please Note: Students must be enrolled in both CRNs.

Course Details:
Fridays 9:30-10:45am CST, In Person & Internship Placement Service-Learning Hours (Arranged)