Graduate Programs
The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) offers a Ph.D. as well as a graduate certificate program.
UMD is one of a small number of universities in the U.S. to offer a doctoral degree in the interdisciplinary field of women, gender, and sexuality studies.
The department enjoys a global reputation for new methodologies and exciting new research. Our students and alumni are building new fields of study and reimagining the future of feminist thought across, within and beyond academia.
Students in the doctoral program explore feminist and queer theories, methodologies and genealogies through coursework within the department and then draw upon resources across UMD and the D.C. area to build an individualized course of study as they ready themselves for dissertation research. With the guidance of faculty, students work through our series of benchmarks in order to gain a strong grounding in the field and then develop their specific trajectory, pursuing the classes, networks and training necessary for the projects they are building.
The application process for Fall 2024 is now closed. Applications for Fall 2025 will open in August 2024. To learn more visit our Ph.D. Admissions page.
Research Expertise
Our program and campus have particular strengths in the following areas:
- Race and racialization, ethnic and diasporic studies, Black feminist thought and intersectionality
- Arts, technology, media, cultural studies and digital humanities
- Sexual cultures, queer and trans studies and queer of color critique
- Social justice and political movements
- Transnational feminisms and global gender justice
For information about faculty research, please read about our department faculty and explore our research page, which can be filtered by area of expertise. You can also learn about the work of our current doctoral students. For information about alumni dissertations and committee members, please look at our Ph.D. Alumni page.
Current Ph.D. Students
Our doctoral students are creating new knowledge at the forefront of multiple intersecting interdisciplinary fields.
Current doctoral studentsDirector of Graduate Studies
Alexis Lothian
Associate Professor, The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies