Culminating a six-year process, a certificate in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies will be offered beginning this fall.
The certificate, which will be administered by the Women's Studies Program, will require 15 credits including an introductory course, three electives and a capstone seminar or directed study.
\The whole field of LGBT studies has grown as a professional field. There are journals. There are magazines. There are certificate programs at our competitors. So it's high time Wisconsin had its own beginning of a program,"" said Joe Elder, a sociology professor who has served as chair of the LGBT Studies Certificate Program Committee.
The certificate originated upon the recommendation of the Committee on LGBT Issues of the Faculty Senate in 1997. Since then, a separate committee was created to focus on the LGBT studies certificate. The certificate program was approved this week and students graduating in December will be the first eligible to earn it.
According to Sara Hinkel, LGBT issues coordinator for the Dean of Students Office who was a member of the certificate committee, the university's introductory LGBT studies class is some indication of this interest level for the certificate on campus. Hinkel said the course was first offered in 2000 and enrollment has increased from around 90 students the first semester to more than 200 currently.
""I can only imagine [what the enrollment will be] with the addition of the certificate,"" she said.
Many courses that will apply to the certificate already exist and can be counted towards the certificate retroactively.
""We have about 12 courses right now that are being taught that we feel meet the requirements-awareness of sexuality generally [and] that it deals with the overlapping minorities so it isn't just white LGBT,"" Elder said.
Jim Steakley, a professor of German at UW-Madison who was a member of the committee that created a blueprint for the certificate, said the certificate's creation is part of a national trend of a ""near explosion of scholarly research."" He said the certificate is significant in a broader sense.
""What this is about is diversity and students learning to understand the full scale and the full scope,"" he said.
