The University of Kentucky Department of Gender and Women's Studies offers a Graduate Certificate in Gender and Women's Studies (GWS). Students may complete the certificate as a complement to a graduate disciplinary degree program or as a stand-alone curriculum. The aim of the Graduate Certificate curriculum is to provide a coherent, graduate-level interdisciplinary grounding in GWS scholarship and to create an intellectual community among faculty and graduate students who share a scholarly interest in GWS. 

Students who are currently enrolled as a graduate student in a department at the University of Kentucky are encouraged to apply for the GWS Graduate Certificate program early in their graduate studies so that they can work with their GWS advisor to develop a beneficial program of study. 

Admissions to the Graduate Certificate program are conducted on a rolling basis.

The deadline to apply for completion of the Graduate Certificate will be announced each year to students in the program.

Application Procedures

All students wishing to pursue a graduate certificate in GWS must submit an application through the graduate school's online application, Slate.  Once the student has completed and submitted an application through Slate, please notify GWS Department Manager, Michelle Del Toro [michelle.deltoro@uky.edu]. 

Fees:  Effective Fall 2016, there will be no application fee for currently enrolled UK graduate students.  Prospective students not currently enrolled in a graduate program at UK and applying exclusively for a certificate will be charged the standard application fee set by the Graduate School. 

Students are encouraged to apply for the Certificate either before starting or early in their GWS coursework. Applications for the Certificate program must be made before completion of coursework, and students must be formally admitted to the program to be awarded a Graduate Certificate.  Once students have been accepted, they must identify a GWS advisor and submit a proposed course of study that has been approved by their GWS advisor. Any GWS Core or Affiliated Faculty may serve as graduate advisor for their certificate program. The Chair or Director of Graduate Studies in GWS can help applicants identify a GWS advisor. The Graduate Certificate Course of Study Form is available here.

Gender and Women's Studies Graduate Certificate Course Requirements:

Completion of the GWS Graduate Certificate curriculum requires a minimum of 12 hours of course work, including:

A. Two elective three-credit hour courses (6 hours).  For students currently enrolled in a UK graduate program, at least one of these courses must be taken outside the student's home disciplinary department.  These courses should be chosen from the list of courses taught by GWS and affiliated faculty provided each semester. 

B. GWS 650, Feminist Theory (3 hours). Note: This course is offered once per academic year.

C. A three-credit hour cross-cultural course, chosen from the list of courses taught by GWS and affiliated faculty provided each semester. Courses fulfilling this requirement will contain a substantial component on culture(s) outside the United States and western Europe (3 hours).

Students may select their elective courses and courses fulfilling the cross-cultural requirement from the list furnished by the GWS Graduate Program every semester. Students may petition the GWS DGS to accept a course as fulfilling a requirement for the Certificate. A course may be petitioned for credit toward the graduate certificate if the course materials on the syllabus are at least two/thirds related to gender and/or sexuality studies.  The petition should include the full syllabus (including a list of all readings and required materials) for the course, which will be reviewed by the GWS DGS to determine whether it is appropriate for the certificate. To petition, use the Coursework Petition Form, available here.

Application and Admission Information

Admission to the Gender and Women's Studies Graduate Certificate curriculum requires the following, with all materials submitted online through Slate.  Once you have completed and submitted your application materials online, please notify GWS Department Manager, Michelle Del Toro (michelle.deltoro@uky.edu).  Materials required include:

* an undergraduate degree

* admission to the University of Kentucky Graduate School  **https://gradschool.uky.edu/admissions

* a minimum GPA of 3.0 in all undergraduate work

* minimum GPA of 3.0 in any graduate work

* a scholarly writing sample

* a 500-word personal statement, explaining why the applicant wishes to pursue the Graduate Certificate in Gender and Women's Studies

* three letters of recommendation (applies only to students not currently enrolled in a UK graduate degree program).  Please note:  Even though students enrolled in a UK grad program don't need to submit letters, you will still need to complete that page of the application so the application system will allow you to continue forward. We recommend that you include your own contact information on this page so you can continue filling out the remainder of the application.  

* official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work

* completion of the online certificate application form.  Please note:  you cannot use the same email address that you have used in previous Slate applications.  The Slate system only allows for one application per email address.    
 

**Applicants who are not currently enrolled in a graduate degree program at the University of Kentucky must first secure admission to the Graduate School as post-baccalaureate students. For information on requirements for post-baccalaureate admission to the Graduate School, please contact the Graduate School directly or see the information online. Please send to the Graduate School all and only the materials they require for application.  Please submit online through Slate only the materials GWS requires for the certificate application (see above). Admission to the Graduate School must, in all cases, precede admission to the Gender and Women's Studies Graduate Certificate curriculum. Please notice that some requirements for the Gender and Women's Studies Graduate Certificate curriculum exceed minimum requirements of the Graduate School for Post- baccalaureate status. Admission to the Graduate School does not guarantee admission to the Gender and Women's Studies Program Graduate Certificate curriculum.