WHAT PROGRAMS NEED:
           ESSENTIAL RESOURCES FOR WOMEN'S STUDIES PROGRAMS

                        Susan M. Hartmann

(Guidelines, Rationale, and Information Assembled by Women's Studies
Directors at Big Ten Universities, November 1991)

Because of the diversity of programs--reflecting different histories, 
structures, and other conditions unique to a particular campus--it is 
inappropriate to set forth absolute guidelines regarding levels of support 
needed by all Women's Studies programs. It is important, however, to 
recognize the particular needs that all Women's Studies programs share.

1. Instructional staff: Faculty lines, either 100% in Women's Studies or 
shared between Women's Studies and another academic unit, are necessary 
to (1) staff core and other interdisciplinary Women's Studies courses; 
(2) provide instructional stability and the ability to control and plan 
course offerings; (3) provide a service component for the program; and 
(4) insure that faculty members are evaluated upon and rewarded for teaching,
service, and research in the area of Women's Studies. At institutions where 
graduate teaching assistants form part of the instructional staff, Women's 
Studies should be allocated GTAs to assist with teaching in the 
introductory-level courses and to perform other functions. It is critical 
that at least some permanent base-budget FTE lines be controlled by Women's 
Studies programs.

2. Administrative and support staff: The chief administrator
(chair, director, coordinator) should be a senior tenured faculty
member with at least 50% of her appointment assigned to administration. In 
addition, most well-established programs have an associate or assistant 
director; this position helps to alleviate the service burdens of faculty 
members who have joint appointments and consequently obligations to two 
academlc units. Associate directors may be faculty positions that include 
teaching and advising. Support staff should be sufficient to keep the office
open throughout the entire day and to meet the other demands on women'studies 
programs described below.

3. Teaching loads for women's studies faculty members should recognize 
situations in which faculty members hold joint appointments. Faculty 
members with appointments in two academic units experience greater committee 
work, larger numbers of student avisees, and the need to keep current in two 
scholarly fields. Where possible, teaching loads should reflect these greater 
burdens by allowing regular released time from teaching, such as one semester 
every three years.

4. Operating budgets should be at least equivalent to those established for 
other academic units, around 5-10% of total budget, or significantly more if 
the budget is very small. For reasons outlined below, Women's Studies 
programs usually incur expenses for such items as postage, programming, and 
travel that exceed those of more traditional academic units.

5. Space: In Women's Studies programs where faculty have joint appointments, 
the faculty members usually have offices in their home departments. In order 
to foster within the Women's Studies program intellectual exchange, 
collegiality, identification with the Women's Studies office by Women's 
Studies faculty offices should be a high priority.

Characteristics of women's studies programs that increase the need for 
resources:

(1) Women's Studies programs usually form the focal point for teaching 
and research on women throughout the University. Therefore, programs need 
sufficient support staff and operating budgets to handle phone calls and 
written communicabon with faculty and departments across the campus. Also, 
other academic units routinely call upon Women's Studies programs to
co-sponsor guest speakers and other events, and operating budgets need to 
reflect these costs.

(2) As interdisciplinary programs in a relatively new field, Women's Studies 
programs need resources to sponsor lectures and colloquia in areas of 
knowledge not well known to most faculty around the University. Such programs 
are also important in presenting speakers from minority groups which may not be
adequately represented among existing faculty.

(3) Faculty members in Women's Studies experience service obligations that 
are heavier than normal. Women's Studies faculty are called upon to provide 
expertise for many other academic units, especially when the campus is 
undergoing curriculum integration/mainstreaming. They are also asked to
help other units recruit female faculty members. Further, those with joint 
appointments need to advise students, attend meetings, and serve on committees
in two academic units.

(4) Women's Studies programs need travel budgets sufficient to provide for 
the need of most of their faculty members to attend two sets of professional 
meetings--those in Women's Studies and those in the faculty member's 
disciplinary area.

(5) Women's Studies programs receive an unusually high number of requests for 
information. Representatives of the media and other individuals from the 
campus community and outside telephone or drop in with requests for advice or 
information about virtually anything having to do with women. Frequent calls 
come from the media, women's organizations, businesses, and government 
agencies for expertise on issues concerning women.

Women's studies programs form an important link between the University and 
the community, but they need resources in the form of staff time, postage, 
newsletter expenses, and the like, in order to do this effectively.

(6) Instruction in Women's Studies courses is often more labor intensive 
than in other fields due to the relative youth of the field, the controversial
nature of some of the material, and principles of feminist pedagogy that 
encourage students to take more imtiative in and reponsibility for the 
learning process. Feminist pedagogy calls for more involvement from both
faculty and students, which in practice means a commitment to smaller classes 
and lower faculty:student ratios.

(7) As increasing numbers of universities adopt general education curricula 
that require courses focusing on diversity, Women's Studies courses will 
experience increased enrollment demands. They are likely to receive pressure 
to convert to large lecture-based class formats, away from discussion-based 
courses that emphasize the development of critical thinking and writing
skills. Women's studies programs will need adequate resources to maintain 
their excellence in undergraduate teaching while meeting increased enrollment 
demands.