In short, we have specific skills that we seek to impart to our students, specific content that expands awareness of women and gender issues, and a set of activities that incorporates skills and content. We expect that students will be able to interpret primary and secondary source materials, analyze social and cultural factors that shape gender experience, use feminist methods of inquiry, understand different cultures and the influence of one's own culture, and have developed a self reflective habit of mind. They will develop advocacy skills through service learning and community work. They will develop information competencies, including information acquisition, critical reading and analysis, resource integration, written communication and oral presentation skills. They will apply electronic technological skills, including building their own web sites and gain familiarity with internet resources.

Our assessment strategies include both specific ones for courses and more general strategies for the program as a whole. There is a progression in the curriculum from introductory level courses through senior level courses. The lower division course, WMST 205: Women’s World Movements, is a general overview of women's movements in a global international context. A second lower division course, WMST 202: Women and Careers, introduces sophomore level students to work issues and career opportunities without requiring a discipline-based core of knowledge. Both courses introduce students to the academic and practical application of women's studies methodology and approach. The first required class in the major, WMST 302, reinforces the programs' goals and outcome objectives as it presents the overview of the discipline. WMST 320, Gendered Technoculture, provides students with web-based analytical tools and builds on knowledge of the scope of the discipline as presented in WMST 302. WMST 350, our methods course, introduces students to research techniques that are utilized throughout the rest of the student's career. WMST 450, our capstone course, allows the opportunity for assessment of student performance as they reach the final stage of their academic experience. 

All courses in the Women's Studies curriculum contain built-in assessment strategies to measure student progress. Initial assessments measure prior experience and level of sophistication. Mid-course assessments evaluate student progress toward the objectives of the specific course, and final course evaluations--in every course--provide feedback to both student and instructor about progress toward stated course objectives. Multiple assessment strategies are employed in all classes, including "traditional" examinations, extensive writing assignments, practical applications of specific tools, research projects, and oral presentations.