By-Laws
Mission/Function/Preamble

The CSUB Women's and Gender Studies Program, which oversees the Women's and Gender Studies Minor, also supports research on women and gender, sponsors various events on women and gender, and promotes outreach across the campus and the to larger community.  The Women's and Gender Studies Minor is an interdisciplinary program that provides a series of courses which critically examine the social, historical, psychological, literary, artistic, philosophic, and biological roles of women and gender.  The courses offered in the minor do not focus exclusively on women's issues, but rather they seek to provide a fuller understanding of the multidimensional nature of personhood.  This includes an examination of the ways that gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, nationality, able-bodied-ness, and other facets of embodiment intersect in the construction of identity and experience.  The minor consists of four courses, including one required course, a five-unit interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies class.  The remainder of requirements for the minor are built around other courses that carry credit toward at least one departmental major.  These courses promote critical thinking skills and an understanding of methodologies from a variety of disciplines.

Women's and Gender Studies Associates

Associates of the Women's and Gender Studies Program are faculty who teach courses that count toward the minor (See Criteria for Courses Fulfilling The Women's and Gender Studies Minor), and faculty, staff, and administrators who have an interest in womenâs and gender studies.

Women's and Gender Studies Program Committee

The Program Committee is committed to cultivating a diverse membership representative of participants across disciplines and appointments, and at various stages of their career.

This committee will serve as the on-going decision-making body in the Program, and will be responsible for ensuring that instruction, research, special events, outreach, development, and membership are carried out in keeping with the Program's mission.

Membership of the Program Committee is open to active associates who have been active in the Program Committee for at least one year and who attend quarterly Program Committee meetings and/or participate in Program Committee correspondence.  Associates may include faculty, staff, administrators, and a representative appointed by the Women's Network.

Voting members of the Program Committee consist of the Chair and other active associates who elect to serve on the committee. Ideally, those members would include a senior tenured faculty member, a junior tenure-track faculty member, a lecturer, a representative from a non-academic service, a staff member, and an administrator. Nominations and self-nominations are accepted from any associate, and incoming voting members will be elected by a two-thirds majority of the Program Committee's existing voting members. Each voting member will hold a term of a minimum of two years and not to exceed three years, which may be renewable, ideally after serving at least one year as a non-voting associate. If a voting member is unable to attend a meeting, that member must send a representative.

Women's and Gender Studies Program Chair

Nominations and self-nominations for Chair are accepted from any associate, and will be elected by a two thirds majority of the Program Committee.  Ideally, the Chair should be a tenured faculty member. If not, the Chair should have a tenured faculty advisor. The Chair will serve a four-year term (including two transitional years) and may be re-elected after a term of non-leadership role.  The incoming Chair will be elected in year three of the outgoing Chair's term so as to promote a smooth transition in leadership. The transitional year will count as the incoming Chair's first year, and in that time, the outgoing Chair will take on a lesser role and will delegate more work to the incoming Chair .

The Chair holds responsibilities characteristic of any department chair including but not limited to

-         scheduling, advertising and presiding over quarterly Program Committee meetings; 

-         distributing agenda of Program Committee meetings to all associates;

-         addressing any issues requiring immediate decisions in between scheduled meetings through correspondence with Program Committee members;

-         delegating responsibilities among Program Committee members;

-         coordinating the revision of curriculum for each new catalog;

-         serving as a liaison between the program and the larger campus community; and

-         overseeing the grant writing process for the Women's and Gender Studies Speaker Series.

Ratification and Amendments

These By-Laws will be ratified by a two-thirds majority vote of the Program Committee to be effective for the 2004-2005 academic year.  The By-Laws will be revisited at the beginning of each Chairâs term or any other time deemed necessary.  Suggested amendments to the By-Laws may be submitted in writing at any time to the Program Chair.  For acceptance, amendments must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Program Committee.

Drafted by Karen Stocker, Debra Jackson and Janet Millar and ratified by WGS members.

Goals and Objectives