PROGRAM DESCRIPTION (109-1) (see college catalog p.178):
The SCCC Women's Studies Program is one of the emphasis option within a Liberal Arts and Science Degree. Students graduating from this program receive an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a specialization in Women's Studies.

The Liberal Arts and Sciences: Women’s Studies Program at SCCC is an interdisciplinary program that developed out of the Women's Movement of the late '60s and '70s. Drawing on a variety of academic fields and compiling their findings with respect to the conceptions, role, and place of women in the past, present, and future, Women’s Studies involves a continuous interaction between academic research, critical cultural analysis, and personal experience. In accordance with these general goals of the field, the SCCC Women's Studies Program provides a sequential course of study for all students interested in the role and situation of women and in gender-related issues. In addition to providing students with a general education that will assist them in transferring to a four-year college or embarking on a career in related fields, the program aims at students' personal awareness regarding gender issues and their willingness to transform academic knowledge into practice.

The program seeks to provide an appreciation for the evolution of women's roles, based on an examination of the oppression of and discrimination against women, the ideas that encompass society's changing expectations of women and men, and the views and achievements of women themselves, throughout history and across cultures. Overall, the program recognizes gender as a central aspect of human existence.

HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM:
The Women's Studies Program, begun in 1979, originated as a response to the widespread and growing interest in women's issues, gender studies and sexism, both in the United States and other countries. By the summer of 1970, the 50-year anniversary of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, there were more than 600 courses, and at least two dozen degree-granting programs in the United States. At SCCC, in the spring of 1971, philosophy faculty member Sandra Emmachild, with the advice and encouragement of Laura Hackett, Humanities Division Chair and Jamesetta Holliman, Head of the Department of Music, Art and Philosophy, developed the HM46 (Sexism and the Humanities) course. One section successfully ran in the fall of 1971, and within one year, six sections were offered. During the 1970's the course blossomed, along with supporting activities, such as the publication of Lilith, begun in the fall of 1972, the student Women's Group (originally begun as a joint faculty-student organization known as "The Women's Career Group at SCCC"), chartered in the fall of 1971, the committee to establish what eventually became the Day Care Center at SCCC, and Women’s Week, begun in March, 1974, all of which continue to the present day.

By 1978, more than 240 four-year schools and 21 Community Colleges in the U.S. had Women's Studies programs, including five community colleges in New York. Here at SCCC, by the fall of 1978, two full-time faculty members, along with a roster of more than a dozen adjunct faculty had been hired to teach mainly the HM46 course. Faculty members Lynn Buck, Barbara Coley, Sandra Emmachild, Alice Goode-Elman and Dorothea Lunarwomon, along with student representative Shirley Bergmann, formed a committee to establish the Women's Studies Program and developed six additional Women's Studies courses to be offered as part of the program. The college accepted Women’s Studies in the spring of 1979. Since that time the program has continued to offer students a rich variety of courses, to provide support services and information concerning gender issues to the college, and to serve as an outreach to the entire community.

PROGRAM GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The basic goals of the SCCC Women's Studies Emphasis Program are

• to prepare students for transfer to a four-year college;
• to prepare students for embarking on a career requiring special knowledge and skills on issues, such as gender equity, discrimination on ground of gender, domestic violence, Title IX;
• to enable students to advocate for a change of women’s gender roles in order to achieve social and political equality between the genders;

These goals are designed to provide for a solid academic foundation, especially for students intending to transfer to a four-year college, and to provide insight into the personal and political impact of the discipline of Women's Studies. Earning a degree in this field entails not only broadening one’s intellectual horizons and becoming knowledgeable in a variety of subjects pertaining to women, but also gaining knowledge in the classroom that is applicable to the student’s own life experience.

Within an interdisciplinary context, students enrolled in the Women's Studies Program will learn about:

• the oppression and discrimination of women;
• a male bias inherent in the various academic disciplines;
• women's contributions to the areas of politics, religion, education, science, art, and theory;
• current and past conceptions of gender roles and the impact thereof on women's lives;
• the interaction of gender with race, ethnicity, class, socioeconomic status, and sexuality;