Next fall, as the Saint Louis University women’s studies program enters its 20th year, it will mark the occasion by officially offering a women’s studies major. Previously, the program offered only certificates and contract majors.

The upgrade will mean very few changes for the program, as all but one of the courses–Cultural Social Analysis, a requirement for the new major–are currently offered. Rather, the latest improvement that led to the offering of a major was the hiring, last June, of a full-time director, Eloise Buker, Ph.D.

Buker noted that she was the eighth director of the program since 1982, but “this is the first time a director has been recruited from outside, so that helped solidify what other people were doing,” she said

Buker said there has been an increased interest in women’s studies at SLU, especially over the last four years, during which the program offered, on average, 30 courses each year. The last three semesters have seen more than 400 students in various courses.

Yet the program has been driven by more than mere interest.

“Within the Jesuit tradition there’s been an importance of listening to the voices of women, and a long-standing understanding both by the Jesuits and the Catholic Church of wanting to appreciate and understand social justice issues and a way in which justice can be delivered to women,” Buker said.

“Women’s studies cultivated my interest in other social justice issues, such as racial equality, human rights, environmentalism and choice,” said senior Jenny Poell, who is a co-founder of SLU’s feminist organization, Una, a SLU Amnesty International officer and an intern at Planned Parenthood.

Another unique aspect of women’s studies is its extensive cross-listing, a result of the interdisciplinary methodology underlining women’s studies. Program directors themselves have come from English, history and political science departments, among others.

“Women’s studies is, in a way, a disciplinary and an interdisciplinary conversation simultaneously, but it draws from other disciplines, especially in the social sciences and the humanities,” Buker said. “We do draw from courses across the curriculum, and that way we are able to serve as a kind of center of conversation that goes across disciplinary boundaries.”

Poell, who will graduate this spring with a contract major in women’ s studies, said she thinks the program will have more to offer to future majors, offering not only interdisciplinary courses but program specific courses as well.

“Just offering the major could be a catalyst for other things to change for the better for the women’s studies program, as far as new courses being offered–courses that really delve into women’s studies as opposed to those that are cross-listed and only focus half on women’s studies,” Poell said.

Buker said some other hopes for the future include incorporating gender-related, service-learning components, and an increased focus on gender issues internationally, in the workplace, in public policy and in families.