The interdepartmental women's studies program at UCLA is moving into the big leagues of academia.

 

The Academic Senate on Thursday approved the establishment of a new UCLA Department of Women's Studies. The department will be able to hire its own faculty and offer more undergraduate and graduate courses.

 

"Departmentalization signals to the national and international community that UCLA recognizes women's studies as both a field in its own right and as a permanent addition to the excellence and diversity that characterizes a major research institution," said Christine A. Littleton, UCLA professor of law and chair of the women's studies program.

 

UCLA offered its first women's studies courses in 1969. An interdepartmental program was created in 1975, and graduate programs were established in 1999.

 

Approximately 150 UCLA undergraduate students are currently majoring in women's studies, and about 5,000 students enroll in women's studies courses annually. In the UC system, the UCLA program and the UC Santa Cruz Feminist Studies Department have the largest numbers of undergraduate students majoring in women's studies.