During the 1960s, social movements gained momentum across the United States in neighborhoods, cities and on college campuses, many of which focused on racial and gender rights.
San Diego State University (SDSU) was one of the many institutions at the forefront of the fight for women’s rights.
In 1969, the SDSU community advocated for the development of a women’s studies program on campus. Alongside faculty members and community members, students from SDSU’s Women’s Liberation Group formed an Ad Hoc Committee for Women’s Studies, according to the program’s website.
At the time, the program offered 11 courses. However, five years later, after faculty developed an 18-unit minor, the program became a full-fledged academic department that is now the Department of Women’s Studies housed in SDSU’s College of Arts and Letters.
“I don’t think there’s any discipline that puts the experiences of women, gender and sexuality at the very center of knowledge as opposed to a kind of add on,” says Dr. Doreen Mattingly, professor and chair of the Department of Women’s Studies at SDSU. “I think that has really caused a revolution.”
In 1983, the department created an undergraduate major in women’s studies and went on to establish a graduate program 13 years later.
