What is the WGSC?

The University of Wisconsin System Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium, housed at UW-Madison in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, works to ensure the continued development of Women’s, Gender, and LGBTQ Studies in the UW System, to maintain our current national prominence in the field, and to create a unique inter-institutional model for educational innovation. Since 1989 the WGSC has been leading the effort to raise the profile and expand the resources devoted to Women’s and Gender Studies programs, certification, scholarship, teaching, and curriculum in the UW System.  The Consortium serves as the formal organization of the fourteen campus-based Women’s Studies programs and UW Extension. Advised by the Women and Gender Studies Consortium Advisory Council, the WGSC:

  • Focuses on initiatives in instruction, research, outreach, library resource development and international programs.
  • Encourages all the UW System Women’s and Gender Studies programs and departments to fulfill central goals of the mission of the University, leading to the continued growth and development of education by, for, and about women in the State of Wisconsin.
  • Offers, through its Women’s and Gender Studies programs, approximately 300 courses to over 8,000 students yearly.
  • Promotes communication and collaboration among the System’s Women’s Studies departments, programs, research centers, faculty members and scholars.
  • Building a Wisconsin Women’s and Gender Studies Learning Community for over forty years through the annual Wisconsin Women’s and Gender Studies Conference.  Since 2016 the WGSC has collaborated with the UW-Madison 4W Initiative to offer the conference annually as the 4W Summit on Women, Gender, and Well-being, under the auspices of the auspices of the UNESCO Chair on Gender, Wellbeing, and a Culture of Peace as part of a global United Nations Platform on education, science, and culture.

Administrators and staff welcome suggestions for new programs and comments on existing ones. The Consortium can also assist in fund raising activities on campuses.