To view GWS courses offered during a specific semester, visit the online University Course Catalogue. Select the semester desired from the drop-down menu, then type "GWS" in the Course Prefix box or select GWS from the drop-down menu. There may also be GWS courses listed under the general "A&S" prefix or as Discovery Seminar Program "DSP" courses. Note that actual course offerings are subject to change, but this guide will provide the most current information available.
FALL 2026 COURSES
GWS 595-001 (same as WRD 569/HIS 569): ISSUES IN GWS: COMPOSING ORAL HISTORY: BOURBON ORAL HISTORY
INSTRUCTOR: JAN FERNHEIMER
MEETING TIMES: TR 2:00-3:15pm
In this course students will learn about the rhetorical constraints and affordances of oral history as a mode of historical preservation and cultural production. Have you ever wanted to make history? In this class we will do just that! We will build the historical bourbon record by interviewing women and other bourbon industry experts, leaders, insiders. Students will learn about oral history as a method, bourbon as an industry, and the art of interviewing itself. By semester’s end students will know how to craft a strong set of questions, conduct an original oral history interview, reflect on their process, and create persuasive materials aimed at public audiences. Interviews will be archived in the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History as part of the Women in Bourbon Oral History Project. Note: Students who have enrolled in the past have gone on to launch their own bourbon brands; become distillers at Willet, Bulleit and other distilleries; become Bourbon educations, or work at Heaven Hill learning about bourbon law as paid interns. This course fulfills part of the requirements for the Certificate in Distillation, Wine, and Brewing (DWB). Students must be 21 or older to enroll in this course. This course counts as an elective for the GWS major or minor.
FALL 2026 COURSES
GWS 595-001 (same as WRD 569/HIS 569): ISSUES IN GWS: COMPOSING ORAL HISTORY: BOURBON ORAL HISTORY
INSTRUCTOR: JAN FERNHEIMER
MEETING TIMES: TR 2:00-3:15pm
In this course students will learn about the rhetorical constraints and affordances of oral history as a mode of historical preservation and cultural production. Have you ever wanted to make history? In this class we will do just that! We will build the historical bourbon record by interviewing women and other bourbon industry experts, leaders, insiders. Students will learn about oral history as a method, bourbon as an industry, and the art of interviewing itself. By semester’s end students will know how to craft a strong set of questions, conduct an original oral history interview, reflect on their process, and create persuasive materials aimed at public audiences. Interviews will be archived in the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History as part of the Women in Bourbon Oral History Project. Note: Students who have enrolled in the past have gone on to launch their own bourbon brands; become distillers at Willet, Bulleit and other distilleries; become Bourbon educations, or work at Heaven Hill learning about bourbon law as paid interns. This course fulfills part of the requirements for the Certificate in Distillation, Wine, and Brewing (DWB). Students must be 21 or older to enroll in this course. This course counts as an elective for the GWS major or minor.
GWS 600-001: POLITICS OF MEMORY
INSTRUCTOR: MEL STEIN
MEETING TIMES: M 3:30-6:00
Selected topics of theoretical or substantive interest in women’s studies with special attention to topics of contemporary relevance.
This course will interrogate the politics of memory, an issue with considerable contemporary resonance and urgency—including contestations over history curriculum in U.S. schools, the removal of confederate statues, efforts to combat Holocaust denial, legislation to ban critical race theory, and the creation of markers at sites associated with slavery such as the Take Back Cheapside movement here in Lexington, to name just a few examples. It will consider how we remember—or forget, bury, or deny—difficult moments from our collective histories, and the ways that the present shapes our interpretations of and narratives about the past, particularly in regard to race and gender. Other topics include generational trauma and epigenetics, the gendered politics of the archive, and public memory. This course counts toward requirements for the GWS graduate certificate, PhD, and other degrees as appropriate and meets the cross-cultural requirement for the graduate certificate.
INSTRUCTOR: MEL STEIN
MEETING TIMES: M 3:30-6:00
Selected topics of theoretical or substantive interest in women’s studies with special attention to topics of contemporary relevance.
This course will interrogate the politics of memory, an issue with considerable contemporary resonance and urgency—including contestations over history curriculum in U.S. schools, the removal of confederate statues, efforts to combat Holocaust denial, legislation to ban critical race theory, and the creation of markers at sites associated with slavery such as the Take Back Cheapside movement here in Lexington, to name just a few examples. It will consider how we remember—or forget, bury, or deny—difficult moments from our collective histories, and the ways that the present shapes our interpretations of and narratives about the past, particularly in regard to race and gender. Other topics include generational trauma and epigenetics, the gendered politics of the archive, and public memory. This course counts toward requirements for the GWS graduate certificate, PhD, and other degrees as appropriate and meets the cross-cultural requirement for the graduate certificate.
GWS 650-001: FEMINIST THEORY
INSTRUCTOR: CAROL MASON
MEETING TIMES: T 3:00-5:30
An interdisciplinary course addressing issues in contemporary feminist theory (such as intersections of race and gender, the body, ideology and representation, sexuality, etc.). This course is required for GWS PhD and GWS graduate certificate students.