Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates

Visit the full Gender and Sexuality Studies site

The Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies helps students to better understand the relationship between knowledge and power.

Our program emphasizes individual and collective empowerment, helping students recognize the creativity, solidarity, and care that sustain and deepen resilience. Born out of student activism and student demand, the courses within the major draw on histories of anti-racist, decolonial, feminist, queer, and trans work to examine shifting dynamics of privilege, exclusion, and marginalization. By studying gender and sexuality in these ways, students refute simple assertions about identity in favor of richly detailed accounts of the specific conditions through which particular social positions are maintained and transgressed. The program also cultivates action, practice, and reciprocal engagement with the many communities of which we are part.

Contact Us

Matt Von Vogt, Academic Administrative Assistant
4 Andrews Rd
Pettengill Hall
Phone: 207-786-8296 mvonvogt@bates.edu

What You Will Learn

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To understand how gender and sexuality shape and are shaped by other aspects of social life
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To recognize patterns of historical inequity and pathways to social change
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To integrate theoretical concepts, empirical research, and lived experience
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To develop capacities for connection and engagement, including reflection on your own distinctive positionality
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To hone skills in listening, speaking, and writing, including the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively and ethically
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To cultivate action, practice, and reciprocal engagement with the many communities of which we are part

Life After Bates

Our alumni have impacted the world as video game designers and as immigration attorneys, as teachers and as surgeons, as corporate executives and as choreographers, and in innumerable other ways.

94%

of 2020-2024 Bates graduates are employed and/or attending graduate school — settled into their next opportunity within 6 months of graduation.

Selected Places of Employment/Service
  • IBM
  • UPS Global Business Services
  • Ropes & Gray LLP
  • Gerson Lehrman Group
  • Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
  • Fulbright
  • International Republican Institute
  • Bloomsbury Publishing plc
  • Chelsea Green Publishing
  • JSI Research & Training Institute Inc.
Selected Graduate Schools
  • Tufts University School of Medicine
  • University of Maine
  • University of Colorado
  • Miami University
  • Antioch University
  • Boston University
  • Columbia University
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • American University
  • George Washington University
Students and their professor engage in a small group discussion during a Gender, Power, and Politics class in Pettengill Hall.
A student gestures while participating in a small group discussion during a Gender, Power, and Politics class in Pettengill Hall.
A professor instructs her students during a Gender, Power, and Politics course in Pettengill Hall.
A student smiles while engaging in a small group discussion during a Gender, Power, and Politics course in Pettengill Hall.
A professor walks around the classroom and engages with their students during a Gender, Power, and Politics course in Pettengill Hall.
A professor motions towards their student during an informal discussion hosted by the Bates Feminist Collective in Pettengill Hall.
A professor speaks at a podium while holding up a pamphlet during a lunchtime conversation celebrating thirty years of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates.
A professor speaks at a podium during the end of year Lavender Celebration for LGBTQ+ seniors and their allies.
A SPARQ+ student mentor facilitates a discussion on Remembrance versus Resilience in commons.
A student smiles while engaging in a small group discussion during a Gender, Power, and Politics class in Pettengill Hall.
Why Study Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates?

As a GSS major at Bates, you’ll be part of a vibrant, close-knit community in which you’ll have the opportunity to follow your own specific academic interests with the support and encouragement of engaged faculty and peers. All majors complete a thesis of their own design, working closely with a faculty advisor and with feedback from the entire faculty program committee. GSS enrolls and graduates a disproportionate number of first-generation and low-income students, and maintaining support for these students is a priority of the department.

Featured Courses

Meet the Faculty

Our faculty is a multiple-award winning group of teacher-scholars with international reputations and specific fields of expertise ranging across the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.

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Myron M. Beasley

Associate Professor of American Studies

American Studies Chair, Gender and Sexuality Studies
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Casey E. Berger

Assistant Professor of Physics

Physics and Astronomy, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Photo of Ian Khara Ellasante

Ian Khara Ellasante

Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies

Gender and Sexuality Studies, Africana
Photo of Carolina González Valencia

Carolina González Valencia

Associate Professor of Art and Visual Culture

Art and Visual Culture, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Photo of Meredith L. Greer

Meredith L. Greer

Professor of Mathematics

Mathematics, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Chemistry and Biochemistry Chair
Photo of Rebecca Herzig

Rebecca Herzig

Charles A Dana Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies

Gender and Sexuality Studies Chair, American Studies
Photo of Emily W. Kane

Emily W. Kane

Professor of Sociology

Sociology, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Photo of Seulgie Lim

Seulgie Lim

Associate Professor of Politics

Politics, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Photo of Hanna S. McGaughey

Hanna S. McGaughey

Assistant Professor of Japanese Language and Asian Studies

Asian Studies, Japanese, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Photo of Melinda A. Plastas

Melinda A. Plastas

Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies and American Studies

Gender and Sexuality Studies, American Studies
Photo of Erica Rand

Erica Rand

Professor of Art and Visual Culture and Gender and Sexuality Studies

Art and Visual Culture, Gender and Sexuality Studies

News & Events

David Omasombo ’26 & Chiwer Mayen ’26: Standing Tall for Lewiston
June 30, 2026

David Omasombo ’26 & Chiwer Mayen ’26: Standing Tall for…

David Omasombo ’26 and Chiwer Mayen ’26 have shared many basketball courts across their young lifetimes, including historic Alumni Gym, but the first one stands out in their memories for being the worst, in a technical sense. The surface was uneven, the rims inconsistent, and, most of the time, there were no nets.