LGBTQ+ Studies

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LGBTQ+ Studies at Hofstra University focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, their history, and culture. LGBTQ+ Studies examine sexualities and genders as identities, social statuses, categories of knowledge, and as lenses that help us frame how we understand our world. A minor in LGBTQ+ Studies is available to students in any major through Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

LGBTQ+ Studies will benefit students who plan to go on to graduate school to earn advanced degrees in business, counseling, education, law, psychology, or the humanities.

LGBTQ+ Studies is an interdisciplinary program that features a University-wide network of faculty mentors and a winter study abroad opportunity in Paris, France.

Hofstra professors from various fields teach in the LGBTQ+ Studies program, including literature (Classics, French, English, Spanish), rhetorical studies, media studies, education, and religion studies. The inherently interdisciplinary nature of LGBTQ+ Studies is thus well served by the different domains of study and their methodologies.

Faculty and staff mentors make themselves available for consultation and advising, especially as the LGBTQ+ Studies program offers the possibility of quasi self-fashioned courses with the cooperation of professors who are inclined to do so. Interested students often find it helpful to consult with a mentor to help them pattern a course or series of courses that respond to their personal interests.

Scholarships

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 professions and human services, 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:

  1. Describe the social, economic, political, intellectua,l or cultural contributions of one or more LGBTQ+ person.
  2. 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:

  1. Evaluate scholarship on LGBTQ+ intersectionality.
  2. 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:

  1. Summarize major developments in LGBTQ+ history since the 19th century.
  2. Appraise the thought and scholarship of one or more queer theorists.

Learning Goal #4: Students will engage in interdisciplinary approaches to LGBTQ+ Studies.

Objectives:

  1. Evaluate inter- or multidisciplinary scholarship on LGBTQ+ topics.
  2. Employ at least two different disciplinary perspectives in a paper, oral presentation, or research project on an LGBTQ+ topic.
Anastasio, Maria Associate Professor of Spanish
Room 326A Calkins Hall 		 Email 516-463-5504
Bosley, Alicia Assistant Professor of Counseling and Mental Health Professions Email 516-463-8101
Burlein, Ann Associate Professor of Religion Email 516-463-7238
Dresner, Lisa M. Assistant Professor of Writing Studies and Composition Email 516-463-0075
Goodman, Debra Associate Professor of Literacy Studies Email 516-463-5563
Kaufman, Judith Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Teaching
Room 253 Hagedorn Hall		 Email 516-463-6566
Lawrence, Stephen S. Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Email 516-463-5584
Lledo-Guillem, Vicente Assistant Professor of Spanish Email 516-463-4623
Merrill, Lisa Professor of Speech Communication, Rhetoric, and Performance Studies Email 516-463-5515
Ostheimer, Gretchen Associate Professor of Computer Science Email 516-463-6106
Powell, David A. Professor of French Email 516-463-5485
Rodriguez-Fairplay, SM Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology; Director of LGBTQ+ Studies
Room 205E Davison Hall		 Email
Sampedro, Benita Associate Professor, Dept. of Romance Languages and Literatures
Room 321 Calkins Hall		 Email 516-463-4521
Santella, Anthony Associate Professor of Public Health Email 516-463-5932
Singh, Annmarie Assistant Professor; Dept. of Library Services Email 516-463-6529
Smith, Steven D. Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature;
Room 312A Calkins Hall		 Email 516-463-5493

Click on the title of each event for more information.

Contact Us

LGBTQ+ Studies Program Director
Lisa M. Dresner
Room 305 Mason Hall
Department of Writing Studies and Rhetoric
Office Phone:
516-463-0075
Email