Some students go to class and complete math problems or technical skills to better understand their majors. Other students, such as the ones in women’s and gender studies, apply their lessons outside of the classroom.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is finishing its first semester of offering the women’s and gender studies major. The major was approved in April 2006 by the University of North Carolina Board of Directors. CHASS already offers a minor in women’s and gender studies.

The major requires 30 hours of the 122 total hours apply to the major, including four core classes and an internship. N.C. State is joining a long list of other universities that currently offer similar majors to WGS, according to Cat Warren, director of WGS.

For some students, WGS gives off the impression its main focus is on women.

“I’m not a woman, so it doesn’t interest me,” said David Vurnakes, a freshman in biological sciences, upon initially hearing about WGS.

Warren said the major is a liberal arts degree, but uses the concepts of feminism, gender, race and class to “look at the world and look at issues.”

“Women’s issues are just not women’s issues,” Warren said. “Regardless of gender, these issues affect men and women’s lives.”

Warren said the program teaches and develops major tools for dealing with these social issues.

“They’re critically thinking tools, [such as] being able to think theoretically, and being able to use research and analysis to understand the complexity of these social issues,” Warren said.

Anna Zylic, a senior in WGS and graphic design, said she decided to do the WGS major after completing the introductory class. She credits the major with helping her see parts of her every day life in different perspectives.

“I think that the things that you learn in WGS classes extend beyond school and extend into the way you see your life and interactions with people,” Zylic said. “It changes the way that you look at the rest of your life…what you want to do.”

Warren said the world has “massive” issues with violence and poverty, and the WGS major is one way to think about these problems. She said current events, such as the crisis in Sudan and the homicides in the Amish community in Lancaster, PA, are examples of where gender plays a role. Warren said she wanted to emphasize that gender is not just about women.

“Being able to talk about [social issues] in a sort of good way, you can’t just deal with women, nor would you want to,” Warren said. “Women’s issues are really social issues.”

The WGS major, along with bringing up issues of sexuality, race and social class, also includes various academic fields, according to Warren.

“WGS is not a narrow discipline at all,” Warren said. “The WGS includes history, and includes philosophy, and includes psychology. In other words, it is an incredibly broad and diverse set of disciplines.”

According to an anonymous survey conducted by Warren’s department, previous students felt they benefited from taking WGS classes.

In the survey, one student said the WGS courses “remain the single most important classes that I have ever taken. The readings [of WGS], theoretical and practical, offer a lens to understand the world like no other.”

Another student said they used what they learned in every day life in “the work place, school and at home.”

Some of the students in the survey discussed their plans after graduation, and said taking a WGS class will help them in the future.

Students who can deal with issues, such as diversity and equality, are in the highest of demands, according to the American Association of Colleges and Universities.

According to information provided by Warren, alumni of the University’s self-designed WGS major — in place before the official degree — said they have applied the skills and concepts they learned to their careers after graduating.

“I have often been worried about how I would ‘use’ my degrees, where I could get jobs, and what kind of jobs they would be. Well, the list is endless,” Michelle Feijo, a graduate of 2000, said.

Carey Pope, a graduate in 2003, said people can go into a “social-justice-type work,” such as working with domestic violence victims or heading a women’s center.

Like Zylic, other students have decided to compliment a wide range of majors with WGS, according to Warren.

“We really do have a diverse group of students. We have men, we have women, we have different ethnicities,” Warren said. “The program itself is diverse and the students who are majoring are diverse.”

Warren encourages all students to research the WGS major and to take a class.

“More than any other classes [students] have taken, this works for them to understand their everyday lives,” Warren said. “You get educated personally. You get the historical part, you get the personal part, you get the political part. You get information out of these courses that has multiple applications.”