University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Women's Studies Department

The Women’s Studies Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) was established in 1979 with the goal of meeting the unique needs of women. The program was designed to give clarity and organization to existing data on women, increase research in neglected areas, create new research, and evaluate feminist theory. The program was initiated in 1978 when UNLV staff members formed a Women’s Studies Committee. The Women’s Studies program was originally housed under the College of Arts and Letters as an interdisciplinary degree. Eventually the Women’s Studies Program grew to form its own department, the Women’s Studies Department, housed under the College of Liberal Arts. In 2011 UNLV faced budgetary cutbacks and the Women’s Studies Department lost its department status and in 2012 Women’s Studies became an interdisciplinary degree housed in the College of Liberal Arts. As of 2017 UNLV offers a Gender and Sexuality interdisciplinary degree which seeks to correct institutional neglect, denial, and devaluation of the study of women and gender in higher education.