Gender and Sexuality Studies
The Gender and Sexuality Studies Department provides you with a solid grounding in the interconnected, interdisciplinary fields of gender, sexuality, and queer studies, and engage these fields from a variety of perspectives – religious, economic, political, social, biological, psychological, historical, anthropological, artistic, and literary.
Gender and sexuality studies trains you to examine gender relations and the construction of gender and sexual difference from a globally-informed perspective and to consider how gender and sexuality intersect with the social categories of race, class, ethnicity, disability, and age to produce our complex social identities.
While integrating theoretical concepts and empirical knowledge, gender and sexuality majors and minors learn to practice critical thinking about issues of gender and sexual identity and to develop strong research, communication, and writing skills.
For more information, please contact the chair of gender and sexuality studies.
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Established in honor of Katherine Layendecker '15, the first graduate of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and recipient of the Sally G. McMillen Prize for her honors thesis, to honor and advance her passion for public service, social justice and human and civil rights, this fund provides financial assistance to students who are participating in unpaid or low-paying internships related to gender and sexuality issues or to help fund summer research in gender and sexuality issues.
Summer Internship Grant applications typically open March 1 and close April 1, on Handshake.
‘She Is Not a Footnote’: National Women’s History Museum Spotlights Pioneers, Changemakers
The National Women’s History Museum offers hundreds of biographies of women whose contributions helped shape America. From Supreme Court justices to educators, artists, scientists and top athletes, the digital-first museum documents their role in history. Museum president and CEO Frédérique Campagne Irwin, from Davidson College’s class of 1996, works to expand access and knowledge by reimagining what a cultural institution can look like in 2026 and in the age of AI.