UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS IN
Why LGBTQ+ Studies
At Hofstra, the LGBTQ+ studies minor offers an interdisciplinary look at the histories, cultures, and lived experiences of gender and sexual minorities. Through courses spanning identity, representation, politics, health, religion, literature, and popular culture, you’ll explore how LGBTQ+ communities have shaped — and been shaped by — society across time and place.
A minor in LGBTQ+ studies pairs well with majors in fields such as education, psychology, sociology, journalism, business, political science, health professions, and the humanities. It also provides a strong foundation for graduate study in law, counseling, education, public health, and related disciplines, giving you the cultural and analytical insight to work effectively in diverse, inclusive environments.
Explore Identity. Challenge Assumptions.
LGBTQ+ studies gives you a foundation for understanding identity, culture, and inequality through a global and intersectional lens.
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This interdisciplinary program in LGBTQ+ studies draws on the strengths of departments throughout the University. You will receive advisement from a network of faculty mentors so that the courses you take are suited to your personal, professional, and academic interests.
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM
Minor in LGBTQ+ StudiesFinancial Support
In 2002, Hofstra University established an unprecedented scholarship program for students engaged in service to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ+) community. The program is designed to demonstrate Hofstra’s commitment to equality and support for LGBTQ+ individuals. The program now includes the Hofstra Law School Fellowships for Advocacy for the Equality of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People, as well as another scholarship for undergraduates, which is described here.
Application Process
Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of academic ability and their demonstrated record or strong potential to support LGBTQ+ activism. In addition to the usual Hofstra application process, applicants for the scholarship must submit an essay that discusses past, current, and/or future LGBTQ+ activism, or describes the applicant’s thoughts and convictions on a particular LGBTQ+ issue. The applicant can also provide supporting letters and documentation as evidence of past or current activism.
Robert P. Sulcer, Jr., Memorial Library
The Robert P. Sulcer, Jr., Memorial Library is an extensive collection of works on classical and English literature, literary theory, and gender and sexuality. Over the years, the collection has grown to about 1,900 volumes, of which about 150 comprise the gender and sexuality collection, including many central texts in LGBTQ+ studies. The Sulcer Memorial Library is available as a scholarly resource for minors in LGBTQ+ studies.
Mentors
An extensive network of faculty and staff across Hofstra University’s colleges and schools serves as LGBTQ+ mentors, available to advise students on academic matters and to offer guidance and support throughout their time at Hofstra.
See the List of MentorsRelated Subjects
About the Program
The LGBTQ+ Studies program at Hofstra University investigates the broad spectrum of sexual and gender identities from serious scholarly perspectives, including but not restricted to biology, classical studies, communications, cultural studies, fine arts, health sciences, history, literature, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. The program is interdisciplinary and designed to offer students various viewpoints from which to examine diversity – diversity of culture, but also diversity in families, communities, histories, institutions, languages and literatures, economics, and politics, as well as the complex social and cultural relations between marginalized sexualities and the heterosexual majority. Gender, sexual identities, discourses, and institutions are studied as they intersect with class, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and transnational movements.
Outcome Assessment Tools
The LGBTQ+ Studies program uses various methods to assess the performance of students and thereby instructors and the curriculum. These methods include but are not limited to periodic exams, final exams, written assignments, term papers, research papers, creative writing projects, and class presentations.
The faculty regularly assesses the effectiveness of these goals through a cyclical examination of one or more components of the program. After careful consideration of the findings of this examination, adjustments are made to the appropriate sector of the program, if needed.
Learning Goals
Learning Goal #1: Students will demonstrate knowledge of social, economic, political, intellectual, and cultural contributions of LGBTQ+ people of the past and present.
Objectives:
- Describe the social, economic, political, intellectua,l or cultural contributions of one or more LGBTQ+ person.
- Analyze scholarship, literature, art, music, dance, theater, or film created or performed by one or more LGBTQ+ person.
Learning Goal #2: Students will develop an understanding of how sexual identity and gender identity combine with nationality, race and ethnicity, religion, social class, and physical ability to shape the experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals.
Objectives:
- Evaluate scholarship on LGBTQ+ intersectionality.
- Describe the similarities and differences among LGBTQ+ people in different cultural and historical contexts.
Learning Goal #3: Students will acquire a basic understanding of LGBTQ+ history and queer theory.
Objectives:
- Summarize major developments in LGBTQ+ history since the 19th century.
- Appraise the thought and scholarship of one or more queer theorists.
Learning Goal #4: Students will engage in interdisciplinary approaches to LGBTQ+ Studies.
Objectives:
- Evaluate inter- or multidisciplinary scholarship on LGBTQ+ topics.
- Employ at least two different disciplinary perspectives in a paper, oral presentation, or research project on an LGBTQ+ topic.
Click on the title of each event for more information.
- “Deviant” Pasts, Subversive Futures?
Thursday, April 23, 2020 - Michel Foucalt 2014: Beyond Sexuality
Thursday and Friday, March 27-28, 2014 - Queer Rhetoric: The 6th Annual LGBTQ+ Studies Conference
Friday and Saturday, March 16-17, 2012 - Sexual Identity: They Ain’t What They Used to Be
4th Annual LGBTQ+ Symposium
Friday and Saturday, March 5-6, 2010 - Queer Iconography
Friday and Saturday, November 7-8, 2008 - Queer Exoticism
Thursday and Friday, October 11-12, 2007 - What Does Gay Mean Today?
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
For more information about Hofstra’s LGBTQ+ Studies Program’s past, present, and future, check out the 12/17/24 episode of the WRHU podcast Queerly Informed, in which reporter Camryn Bowden interviews Dr. Bernard J. Firestone, former dean of Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, about the founding of the LGBTQ+ Studies Program and interviews Dr. Lisa M. Dresner, current director of the LGBTQ+ Studies Program, about the program’s present and future.
Dr. Firestone’s discussion of the founding of the program runs from 0:00-9:21.
Dr. Dresner’s discussion of the program’s current and future projects runs from 9:22-28:56.
Supporting Hofstra’s commitment to inclusion and recognizing that students may identify themselves by a name other than their Legal Name, we have established the Chosen Name Policy. This policy allows students to use their name of choice on select Hofstra communications and platforms, and to be referred to as such by University employees. The creation of this policy was the result of recommendations by the 2015-16 LGBTQ+ Taskforce and is supported University-wide. We encourage everyone to read the policy and reach out to Hugo Morales, Associate Director of Intercultural Engagement and Inclusion (IEI@hofstra.edu), or Brittany Rhoden, Title IX Coordinator for Student Issues (StudentTitleIX@hofstra.edu), for more information.
Contact Us
Office Information
Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (HCLAS)
director
Andrew M. Forman, PhD
LGBTQ+ Scholarship Committee
148 Hofstra University
The LGBTQ+ studies minor strengthens your ability to engage thoughtfully and work effectively in diverse communities. Discover how this program can enhance your impact and career opportunities.