Learning Beyond the Classroom

The activities, programs and events sponsored by or connected with the Women's and Gender Studies Program allow students to deepen and apply their classroom knowledge while interacting with faculty, staff, other students and community partners.

GIVE Internship Program

The University of Dayton’s Women’s and Gender Studies program allows students to engage with pressing societal issues through the Gendered Injustices and Violent Extremism (GIVE) internship program, a federally funded project.

Interns learn and teach about violent extremism in Ohio through a gendered lens via a combination of training and collaboration with community organizations that include the Artemis Center, the Q+ Health Alliance and the Dayton Metro Library.

Service Learning in Women's and Gender Studies

This course provides students with the opportunity to combine service to a community organization that meets women's needs and/or promotes gender justice with academic research and thoughtful reflection.

The Womens and Gender Studies Program office keeps a file of possible placements, but students are also encouraged to propose organizations they would like to serve. Contact the Women's and Gender Studies Program and/or consult the Catalog for more information.

The Joyce Durham Essay Contest

Honoring the late Joyce R. Durham, professor emerita of English, this contest invites submissions of nonfiction essays that explore issues concerning women and/or gender — from the personal reflection to the research paper or an honors thesis.

Submissions will be reviewed anonymously by a panel of faculty experts. The contest provides the winner with a monetary prize. A list of previous awardees and their winning essays can be found on eCommons. Questions may be addressed to wgs@udayton.edu.

Flyer Feminist Advocacy Award

As feminism is about theory and praxis, our program wants to recognize students who have made an exceptional impact outside the classroom. This could be related to work done on campus, regionally or globally — it may be paid labor, an internship or volunteer work. Consider spaces where students have made and contributed to making the world more safe, peaceful and joyful.


Featured Centers and Initiatives

Human Rights Center

With its many ongoing projects — Abolition Ohio, Malawi Research Practicum, Moral Courage Project and more — the Human Rights Center not only promotes human rights, it provides students opportunities to get involved and make a difference in the world.

The Center for Social Concern

Uniting faith and action for justice. The Center for Social Concern provides human rights studies students with numerous opportunities for reflective service, cross-cultural immersion trips, service-learning and education and advocacy for justice rooted in the Catholic social teaching and the Marianist spirit.

Dean's Summer Fellowship

The Dean’s Summer Fellowship program provides an opportunity for undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences to conduct research during the summer under the guidance of a full-time faculty mentor.

Stander Symposium

An annual campus-wide forum to showcase academic excellence and recognize student learning through faculty-mentored undergraduate research, scholarship and artistic accomplishment.



Contact Women's and Gender Studies Program
300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469 - 0322
937-229-4285 email