Date of Award

1-3-1993

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Teaching & Learning

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study is to gain a more complex understanding of women's studies programs in the selected sample in terms of: the activities of the Director; selected departmental and program information; instructor information; program evaluation methods; and the major strengths and concerns as perceived by each of the responding programs.In addition to the review of the related literature, two methods were used in the compilation and analysis of the data used in this study--collecting information from the selected universities and colleges with a questionnaire designed by the researcher; plus statistical analysis of the data to allow the comparisons to be made.The purpose of women's studies, as illustrated by the related literature, is to change the sexist, racist, classist world while struggling to understand the world as it exists.The data for this study demonstrates some of the similarities of the respondent sample. All programs that made up the sample struggle with faculty issues, administration support and financial support. All are struggling with the issues of being, that is, maintaining whatever level of existence that they now possess. Or, they are struggling with the issue of becoming, that is, moving into a more prominent presence on campus.The primary dissimilarities among the women's studies programs in the sample, are directly related to; (1) the presence, or absence, of a full time coordinator; (2) the level of autonomy of the women's studies program within the institution, and (3) the level of faculty and student involvement.The research data supplies the comparisons between the responding programs with various recommendations with women's studies programs of the selected sample with those discussed in the literature review. The research data provides an opportunity to make comparisons between the responding programs with various recommendations for women's studies programs found in the literature review. Issues for future research emerge from inconsistencies which exist between recommendations derived from the review of literature and the various practices of the research sample of the women's studies programs, as well as other needed sources of data.

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