INDEPENDENT STUDY AT WOOSTER
Howard Lowry, who founded the Independent Study Program at Wooster, saw it as an invitation to "all students to come to their best in terms of their own talents." J. Garber Drushal, Robert Bonthius, and James Davis summarized the philosophy underlying Lowry's challenge in The Independent Study Program in the United States (NY: Columbia Univ.., 1957):
The Purpose of higher education is to stimulate and assist growth...Facts may stimulate thought, but thought is not imparted. That is the individual's reaction. Education is an active, not a passive, process, in that it does not consist in receiving but in reacting to information, ideas, and concepts. Independent Study is a difficult art but it is the primary goal of the educative process. (vii)
Today, Wooster's Faculty Handbook cites "the capacity for individual inquiry and expression" as "a mark of a liberally educated person" and views the Independent Study program as the "opportunity through which this capacity may be nurtured in every student at the College."
INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WOMEN'S STUDIES
The Women's Studies Program views Independent Study as an opportunity for students to use the methods and perspectives of feminist interdisciplinary scholarship to pursue questions of their own design that have emerged from their prior work in Women's Studies and from their own gendered experiences. As an area of academic inquiry, Women's Studies places particular emphasis on intellectual and personal growth through the active critique of information and ideas and the active construction of new knowledge in with a view toward the creation of a more equitable society.
JUNIOR INDEPENDENT STUDY
Women's Studies 401 (Independent Study Methods in Women's Studies) is a prerequisite for enrollment in Independent Study Thesis, Women's Studies 451-452. Women's Studies 401 focuses on epistemological and methodological issues that are of particular significance to scholars working in the field of Women's Studies. Completion of the disciplinary methodology course required for the major is a prerequisite for enrollment in Women's Studies 401; in exceptional circumstances, students may be permitted to take this methodology course and Women's Studies 401 simultaneously.
Women's Studies 401, designed to be taken in the spring of the junior year, meets as a seminar for the first half of the semester. (Students who plan to be off-campus in the spring of the junior year must take the course in the spring of the sophomore year). Students complete a common set of readings and a series of short exercises and/or papers that introduce them to both the theory and practice of the central methodologies of feminist inquiry. They are also introduced to the library and to bibliographical resources in Women's Studies.
At the same time, students complete a series of preliminary stages in the design of an individual project. This project is developed in conjunction with the particular focus that each student has defined within the major, using the methodological tools that have been developed in the seminar. After spring break, students meet in weekly tutorials with the professor of the course to complete their independent projects. In most cases, 401 projects should not require resources beyond those available in Andrews and/or elsewhere on campus.
THE I.S. TOPIC
The topic of your Independent Study Thesis should be developed within the context of your prior course work and of the focus you are pursuing within your major. This is not the time to begin entirely new work for which you have no prior preparation. Similarly, your project should draw upon your methodological training, both in a particular discipline and within the interdisciplinary context provided by WS 401.
In selecting and defining a topic, you and your advisor will wish to pay careful and explicit attention to the distinctiveness of Women's Studies as an area of inquiry. You should be able to articulate how the work that you propose to do differs from feminist research within a particular department. Research projects in Women's Studies are expected to be interdisciplinary and to be informed by a feminist perspective. Women's Studies acknowledges women's and men's interpretations of their own gendered experience as appropriate sources of knowledge. Projects will focus on the complex construction of gender as it intersects with race, class, culture, and sexuality. Although writing will no doubt play a role in the design and development of all projects, the written thesis is by no means the only format in which research in Women's Studies may find its most appropriate expression.
RESEARCH ETHICS
Research in Women's Studies often involves direct or indirect contacts with a variety of people who function in some sense as research subjects, whether we interview them, ask them to complete a questionnaire, observe their behavior, or analyze their written work. As researchers, we have important responsibilities in relation to the people we study. If you plan to use human research subjects, you and your advisor will wish to consider carefully the ethical implication of your proposed project, both in terms of its methodology and its potential results.
ADVISOR AND SECOND READER
The Coordinator of Women's Studies, who continues to function as your academic advisor throughout your senior year, meets with all senior majors, usually on the first day of the semester, for a preliminary discussion of Independent Study Thesis. It is the role of the Coordinator to assure that students construct research projects that are based on the focus they have defined within the major and to identify for and with each student Women's Studies faculty members who are especially qualified to direct particular projects. Subsequently, students are strongly encouraged to discuss potential projects not only with possible advisors but with other Women's Studies faculty as well, many of whom can provide assistance in clarifying ideas and in locating resources. The final choice of IS advisor and topic must be approved by the Coordinator of the Women's Studies program, preferably by the end of the first week of classes and in all cases by the end of the second week. Students should be aware that Women's Studies faculty often have advising obligations in other areas as well and should therefore be approached about directing Women's Studies theses as early as possible. When appropriate, students may wish to discuss plans for Senior Independent Study with their academic advisor in the spring of the junior year.
It is the responsibility of the independent study advisor to encourage the student to attempt an inquiry or project of appropriate academic rigor within the limitation of the student's prior preparation, the time available, and the student's access to resources. The advisor and the student are strongly encouraged to discuss openly and explicitly their mutual expectations of each other and of the independent study process as a whole; in most cases, the advisor and the student will find it useful to renew this discussion periodically throughout the academic year. The advisor and student will meet weekly.
You and your advisor, in consultation with the Coordinator of the Women's Studies program, should determine an appropriate second reader for your project early in the second semester of Senior Independent Study. The second reader will be a Women's Studies faculty member who, in all cases, will teach in a different department from that of your advisor and, whenever it is possible, in a different division. In cases where it is not possible to choose a first reader that has taught core courses in the Women's Studies program, it is essential that the second reader be determined early in the first semester. The second reaser should serve as co-advisor for the project, meeting perioddically with the student and the principal advisor throughout the thesis process. In the event that the first two readers are both from the same division, a third reader from a different division will be asked to participate in oral exams and in the evaluation of the final IS project.
For students that are double majors in Women's Studies and another discipline, it is essential that the topic and advisiors be determined as soon as possible. Both advisors should have the necessary information from Women's Studies and the other department regarding stule, departmental deadlines, orals, etc., which whould be contained in the departmental IS handbooks. The co-advisors and the student should clarify early in the IS process who will be responsible for reading and commenting on drafts, what roles the co-advisros will play in oral exams, and the expectations regarding the interdisciplinarity of the work. As with students whose sole major is Women's Studies, the principal and co-advisor should, whenever possible, be Women's Studies faculty from different divisions of the college. In the event that the first two readers are from the same division, a third reader from a different division will be asked to participate in oral exams and the evaluation of the final IS project.
THE ORAL EXAM
The oral exam will be scheduled in the weeks following the submission of the Independent Study Thesis at a time that is mutually convenient for you, for you advisor, and for your second reader. Your advisor will inform you of the specific format that your oral will follow. In most cases, the second reader takes primary responsibility for conducting the oral.
Upon completion of the oral, your advisor and second reader will immediately determine whether or not your independent study thesis is judged to be satisfactory and will so inform you. After further consultation with the second reader and within 48 hours of the oral, your advisor will inform you of the grade that your project has received. The second reader is responsible for providing you with a written evaluation of your work prior to the end of the semester in which you are registered for Women's Studies 452. The Women's Studies program will retain one copy of the project; students may be asked to make minor mechanical alterations before the copy is accepted.
COLLEGE REGULATIONS ON DEADLINES
Advisors may impose deadlines for the purpose of commenting and advising when the work is in progress. The student should not expect editorial comment, guidance, and advice on drafts of the thesis of versions of the projects submitted after the eighth week of the semester in which the student enrolls in I.S. 452.
Two copies of the Independent Study Thesis are due in the Registrar's Office by 5:00 p.m. on the first day of classes following Spring Break or four weeks prior to the end of classes for Spring semester, whichever date is sooner. For an Independent Study thesis completed in the Fall semester, the due date is four weeks prior to the end of classes. In the event that the project includes or consists primarily of an exhibit or a performance, two copies of a written synopsis of the nature of the project and of a statement that the I.S. has been presented in its final form are due in the Registrar's Office at the time specified above.
Any delay in turning in a thesis or project beyond the deadlines specified above automatically established the grade of I for the thesis. The conditions for changing the I to a passing grade will be established by the Dean of Faculty after consultation with the student's advisor. The I automatically becomes NC two weeks after the deadline for the submission of the thesis unless prior approval for an extension of the I has been given by the Dean. No thesis turned in after the deadline will receive a grade of Honors without the unanimous vote of the Women's Studies Curriculum Committee and the approval of the Dean.
COLLEGE REGULATIONS ON EVALUATION
In evaluating the Independent Study project, the faculty readers will consider the following three elements and the manner in which these are combined in the realization of the project:
Independent Study projects are graded as follows:
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
1986
Lewis, Deborah. FEMALE SEXUALITY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY AND PERSONAL CRITIQUE. Advisor: Joanne Frye.
Mills, Joanna. PROGRAMMING ON FEMINIST ISSUES: A CAMPUS SOURCEBOOK. Advisor: Joanne Frye.
1987
Allison, Jennifer. CLEAR HEARTS AND DIRTY MINDS: A FEMINIST LOOKS AT THE PORNOGRAPHY DEBATE. Advisor: Karen Beckwith.
1988
Hueske, Mary. MIDWIFERY: A WOMAN CENTERED CARE RECLAIMED. Advisor: Joanne Frye.
1989
Abernathy, Robert. NURSING AS A MIRROR REFLECTION OF WOMEN: A CRISIS SITUATION. Advisor: Joanne Frye.
Miller, Faye. TRANSFORMING THE SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM: HIGH SCHOOL WOMEN'S STUDIES. Advisor: Joanne Frye.
1990
Coursey, Sharon A. THE DAILY EXPERIENCES AND LIFE MAINTENANCE SKILLS OF WOMEN IN HITLER'S DEATH CAMPS: A FEMINIST EXPLORATION. Advisor: Susan Figge.
Gillies, Karen. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS: GROUNDING THE CONCEPT OF GLOBAL FEMINISM IN A CRITIQUE OF WESTERN FEMINIST THOUGHT. Advisor: Susan Figge.
Langley, Samantha Elise. WOMEN WHO WRITE: MOTIVATIONS, FEARS, AND ACHIEVEMENTS. Adviser: Deborah Hilty.
Redic, Maggie. CONSTRUCTING READER-RESPONSE THEORY: GENDER, IDEOLOGY, AND CONTEXT. Advisor: Carolyn Durham.
Van Cleave, William. FEMINSTOPIAS: LINGUISTIC REVOLUTION AS THE KEY TO SOCIAL CHANGE. Advisor: Carolyn Durham.
1991
Harrell, Elizabeth. ETCHINGS OF MEMORY. Advisor: Deborah Hilty.
McGarvey, Deborah Anne. THE WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER: ORGANIZING FOR EDUCATION ORGANIZING FOR CHANGE. Advisor: Joanne Frye.
Murphy, Heather. BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN THEORISTS, ACTIVISTS, AND SERVICE PROVIDERS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. Advisor: Heather Fitz Gibbon.
Weddle, Bonita. LATE MEDIEVAL JEWISH WOMEN AND PATRIARCHY. Advisor: Madonna Hettinger.
1992
Bradley, Heather. CLOTHES, CAMERAS, AND CURSES: IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING ART. Advisor: Karen Taylor.
Immenschuh, Erica. WOMEN, BIRTH CONTROL AND REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM. Advisor: Elizabeth Castelli.
Lucal, Mary. ROLLED INTO MANY: TOWARD CROSS-CULTURAL AND FEMINIST UNDERSTANDINGS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN'S EXPERIENCES IN THE NOVELS OF GLORIA NAYLOR. Advisor: Joanne Frye.
Murchison, Brian. TO KNOW BY HEARING: BEGINNING A FEMINIST AUDITION OF JAZZ. Advisor: Carolyn Durham.
Roumel, Kathryn. (NOT) JUST ANOTHER LOVE STORY: LESBIAN SEXUALITY IN MAINSTREAM AND EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA. Advisor: Jenifer Ward.
1993
Gilgenbach, Cara. CATALOGUE AND REFERENCE GUIDE TO "THE JOSEPHINE LONG-WISHART COLLECTION." Advisors: Denise Monbarren and Susan Figge.
Gleason, Jason. AN EXPLORATION OF LESBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL STUDIES: BRIDGING THEORY AND PRAXIS. Advisor: Jenifer Ward.
Rose, Claudia. A FEMINIST LOOK AT EATING DISORDERS, OR "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY, FEMINISM, TO MY PROBLEMS WITH EATING?" Advisor: Susan Figge.
Taylor, Champ. EXORCISING FICTION: A PROCESSIONAL INQUIRY INTO MASC-YOU-LINITY, FEMINISM, AND MASK-ME-LINE VOICE. Advisor: Susan Figge.
1994
Bach, Christina. TITLE NOT AVAILABLE. Advisors: Nancy Grace and Mark Weaver.
Chowdhury, Elora. THE DYNAMICS OF GENDER AND CULTURE: A CLOSE LOOK INTO THE EXPERIENCES OF SOUTH ASIAN MEN AND WOMEN AT THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER. Advisor: Carolyn Durham.
Floyd, Darren. DIS/ARTICULATING THE CONTOURS OF A GENDERED BODY: A FEMINIST RE(S)SAYING OF S/TEX(T)UAL BORDERS. Advisor: Carolyn Durham.
Mower, Elizabeth. PAIN, POWER, THE BODY, AND FEMINISM IN THE WORKS OF LEON GOLUB AND NANCY SPERO. Advisor: Karen Taylor.
Read, Jennifer. THE POLITICS OF INFERTILITY AND THE "NEW" REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES: AN INTERACTIVE FEMINIST CRITIQUE ADDRESSING THE ETHICS OF CONTEMPORARY SURROGATE MOTHERHOOD. Advisor: Michael Gass.
1996
Hergott, Leah Margaretha. FINDING A VOICE IN MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASSROOMS: AND EXPLORATION OF THE INFLUENCES OF TEACHERS AND PEERS ON ADOLESCENT GIRLS. Advisor: Susan Clayton.
Lazor, Jennie. MATA HARI ESCORT. Advisor: Nancy Grace.
Stephen, Megan Louise. INNOCENCE LOST: A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF DISNEY CARTOON MOVIES. Advisor: Mary Addis.
Teale, Margaret Marian. A FOUNDATION OF VOICES. Advisor: Madonna Hettinger.
1997
Fields, Laurie Anne. REFLECTING THE SACRED CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SELF-IMAGE AND IMAGE OF GOD. Advisor: Holly Toensing.
Gray, Caroline Guyer. FEMINIST IMPERIALISM: ALICE WALKER AND FEMALE CIRCUMCISION. Advisor: Mary Young.
Sergi, Carrie. REDEFINING WOMAN: IMAGES OF MOTHERHOOD AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS ABORTION. Advisor: Heather Fitz Gibbon.
Wilson, Heather. MARY MAGDALENE IN TEXT: A WHORE OR A LEADER? Advisor: Holly Toensing.
1998
Carpenter, Dawn. WOMEN SLEUTHS: IDENTIFYING A NEW AND EMPOWERING FEMALE HEROINE. Advisor: Mary Addis.
Gerlach, Eliza. GIVING A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS: THE FORGOTTEN VICTIMS OF PROSTITUTION AND RAPE DURING WORLD WAR II AND THE VIETNAM WAR. Advisors: Mary Addis and John Hondros.
1999
Demaline, Kristen. YA-YA MAMAS AND WOMAN WARRIORS. Advisors: Debra Shostak and Barb Burnell.
Dunn, Colleen. A PLEASURE UNTO DEATH. Advisors: Mary Young and Karen Taylor.
Feroe, Elizabeth. CANONIZED SEXUALITY? EXPLORING WOMEN'S SEXUALITY WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE SONG OF SONGS. Advisors: Charles Kammer and Carolyn Durham.
Gorka, Emily. F.A.T. (FEMALE ATHLETES TALK). Advisors: Brenda Meese and Susan Clayton.
Haygood, Deidra. WE HAVE PAID OUR DUES: BLACK WOMEN AND THEIR PERVEPTIONS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. Advisors: Charles Hurst and Barb Burnell.
2000
Genzen, Jana Lynn. Holocaust, Horror, Incest and Prostitution: Reading Between the Lines for a New Vision of Lesbians in Film. Advisor: Carolyn Durham.
King, Elizabeth A. Echoes of Experience: One Writer's Attempt to Create The Various Life Situations of Today's Woman. Advisor: Nancy Grace
Smith, Katherine A. H. Women in The United States Armed Forces: Soldiers of Convenience. Advisor: Barb Burnell.
2001
Clyde, Talley Burk. Junior High Girls' Experience With Sexual Harassment. Advisor: Barbara Burnell.
Quarmyne, Liliona A. 3 Sheep in Search for a Model: Velina Hasu Houston, Cherrie Moraga and Suzan-Lori Parks in Relation to Liberal, Radical and Materialist Feminisms in the United States. Advisors: Shirley Huston-Findley and Terry Rowden.
Reynolds, Mary Elizabeth. Rewriting Rosa Sandoval: An Exploration of the Education of Latina High School Students. Advisor: Barbara Burnell.
Slagen, Natalie Roseann Christina. A Feminist Perspective of Normalizing Pressures: An Exploration of Women's Obsession With Weight. Advisor: Heather Fitz Gibbon.
Smanik, Katherine E. The Actualization of E quality: Introduction to the Study of Masculinity. Advisor: Nancy Grace.
2002
Fritzsche Laura J. A Feminist Alternative To Patriarchal Childbirth. Advisor: Barbara Burnell
Waugh, Michelle Anna. A Feminist Analysis of Women's Low Representation in Physics: Scientific "Objectivity," Contextual Bias, and Barriers To Women's Inclusion. Advisor: Barbara Burnell
2003
Bailey, Lauren Adelle. "Every Soul is to be Cherished, Every Flower is to Bloom": Women's Studies as an Inviting Environment to Women of Color. Advisor: Heather M. Fitz Gibbon
Kennedy, Sara Louise. "That's Just Her Magic": An Investigation of Black Women's Experiences in the Kitchen. Advisor: Heather M. Fitz Gibbon and Charles Peterson.
2004
Kock, Stacia. Justice for Whom? A feminist Inquiry into Rape. Advisor: Joanne Frye.
Smedley, Christine. "Jamming With The Boys" A Look At Women And Gender In Bluegrass Music. Advisor: Heather M. Fitz Gibbon
2005
Green, Lane. Leading The Way An Analysis Of Leadership And Gender. Advisor: Heather M. Fitz Gibbon
Johanson, Sarah Jo. Discover The Oyster: Gendered Foodways In The United States. Advisor: Pamela Frese.
Locascio, Aubrey. A Study Of Adolescent Girls' Definitions Of Sexuality And How Outside Influences Impact These Definitions. Advisor: Heather M. Fitz Gibbon
Pelak, Amy. Sacrificing Self: The Loss Of The Individual In Identity-Based Groups. Advisor: Heather M. Fitz Gibbon
Liming, Shelia. "The Story Of Our Lives Becomes Our Lives:" Lesbian Readers And The Construction Of A Lesbian Self Through Textual Experience. Advisor: Joanne Frye And Heather Fitz Gibbon
Roesch, Elizabeth. Reconstruction Of Self Through Narrative; An Exploration
Of Who I Was, Who I Am, And Who I Will Be? Advisor: Chuck Kammer.
Revised August, 2005. The Women's Studies Program reserves the right to make changes in the next edition of this handbook.