Women and Gender Studies program is in the School of Social Transformation at ASU. Our faculty members and students examine the historical, cultural and social forces that shape our society and are committed to cultural diversity and global engagement.

Established in 1974, women and gender studies offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees and certificates. Students in our master’s and doctoral programs receive advanced training in feminist theory and methodologies and contemporary research in an interdisciplinary setting that pulls from the social sciences, humanities, arts and physical sciences.

Our learners work closely with our award-winning, interdisciplinary faculty and have the opportunity to pursue advanced research in a wide range of topics, including:

• reproductive health
• women’s history
• gender and media
• gender in science and technology
• gender violence
• the “girl effect”

Internships in our program are hosted at 180+ job sites across the country, including programs in law firms, domestic violence shelters, advocacy organizations, government work and many more.

Our graduates are employed by law firms, domestic violence shelters, advocacy organizations and all levels of government, or go onto graduate studies to become researchers and professors.

Established in 2003 with a gift from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University is dedicated to offering classes, readings, talks, workshops and other literary events and programs for the larger community. 

As a center, we aspire to be a point of reference in people's lives—a way of orienting oneself in relationship to others, of finding a direction—by creating moments of individual, social, and cultural significance around creative writing and contemporary literature.

We serve the public with a wide variety of literary events and programs within and beyond the metropolitan Phoenix area, including:

•  The Distinguished Visiting Writers Series: presenting author talks, readings, and other points of access with the national and international creative writing field
• The Piper Writers Studio: offering creative writing classes, workshops, and other educational opportunities for writers of all backgrounds, genres, and skill levels
• The Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference: connecting hundreds of writers and readers through the celebration and study of literary craft, culture, and community every late February at Arizona State University

Additionally, the Piper Center has a rich history of partnering with the Creative Writing Program at Arizona State University to offer scholarships, fellowships, and other educational opportunities for students and faculty, with specific support to the program's literary journal, Hayden's Ferry Review. The Center also leads numerous outreach programs and initiatives beyond ASU to serve the needs of greater Phoenix's diverse communities. 

To learn more about who we are and what we do, visit our website at https://piper.asu.edu.

The Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative is a creative partnership between the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University. 

The initiative is designed engage the public and develop research projects that examine social transformation, global environmental policy-making and belief systems, and the nature of imagination in light of climate futures. In addition, the project seeks to integrate questions and material around imagination and climate futures into curricula and teaching activities.

Through a series of events, including courses, workshops, panels and talks, the initiative invites inspiring scientists, scholars, artists, and leaders in business that can expand public conversations around our climate futures, as well as literary genres, such as climate fiction (CliFi), that combines art, science and political decision-making.  

No work of literature has done more to shape the way humans imagine science and its moral consequences than "Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus" – Mary Shelley’s enduring tale of creation and responsibility. In writing "Frankenstein," 19-year-old Shelley produced in both the creature and its creator tropes that not only continue to resonate with contemporary audiences but actually influence the way we confront emerging technologies.

As a landmark fusion of ethics, science and literary expression, "Frankenstein" and Arizona State University's Frankenstein Bicentennial Project was designed to allow educators, writers, scholars, artists and the public to consider the history of scientific invention and the future of our technological society through a series of events in 2016-2018, including writing competitions, exhibits, films and talks. 

Igniting intellectual inquiry to better the world

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University serves as an incubator for humanities scholarship and research through an interdisciplinary lens. We transform traditional spaces of experimentation and inquiry by integrating the creativity of humanities scholars alongside natural and social scientists. By mixing different areas of expertise, we can collaborate and create innovative techniques to solve global crises such as food instability and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  

We believe society’s survival will rely on transformative innovations created by the most capable of thinkers who can adapt, concur obstacles and come out ahead. Our 230+ undergraduate and graduate degrees housed in 23 schools and departments teach our scholars how to become master learners. Whether they’re solving global health problems or preserving historic buildings around the world, our scholars are on a constant journey to create new knowledge, pioneer solutions to prominent problems and ultimately make the world a better place for generations to come.

Arizona State University's School of Social Transformation is a transdisciplinary, collective of programs offering degrees and certificates in African and African American studies, Asian Pacific American studies, social and cultural pedagogy, justice and social inquiry, women and gender studies.

Founded in 2009, the school pioneers innovative research methods that closely examine themes and questions in relation to historical, social and cultural subject matters. As the nation continues to address diversity and social justice, the school plays a key role in leading these discussions. In addition to expertise in research and teaching, our faculty members provide cutting-edge insight and unique sensibilities to the media and community around some of the most talked about social issues of our time.

Students in the school are mentored by dedicated faculty who inspire them to develop innovative methods to social challenges through teaching, research, and collaboration in the community.  

Whether seeking ways to understand the impact of climate change or searching for solutions to deadly diseases, Arizona State University School of Life Sciences is exploring the most pressing issues facing the Earth and its inhabitants.

Founded in 2003, the school is the first academic unit created as a part of ASU President Michael Crow’s vision for a New American University and the largest school in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. With many award-winning faculty members from many scientific backgrounds, we are transforming our knowledge of biology and the world around us — combining knowledge across disciplines to tackle emerging critical questions in novel ways.

Undergraduate students are offered three degree options (with four concentrations) and graduate students can choose from 15 degree programs — all of which prepare them for rewarding careers in fields that include medicine, biotechnology, conservation biology or microbiology.

The school offers multiple opportunities for students to become directly involved in research, giving them critical, real-world experience conducting meaningful science with faculty members who are experts in their respective fields. Incoming freshmen are also offered a chance to bond with each other at camp before their college experience begins, helping them form important friendships that often last throughout their ASU careers.

The Center for Biology and Society, housed in the school, examines life science within the context of history and ethics since 1996. With its open-sourced Embryo Project Encyclopedia, relationships with historic laboratories and classes on the history and philosophy of science, the center considers the human element in any scientific pursuit.

In addition, the School of Life Sciences works with the ASU Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics to create a new, life sciences ethics initiative. By combining existing ethics courses and research opportunities with new speakers, undergraduate and graduate students can explore emerging ideas and relationships at the intersection of science and society.

Students learn to think critically about the human experience and communicate effectively while working within, outside and across the boundaries of traditional liberal arts disciplines.

With a broad range of programs available, students can select from 17 bachelor’s degrees, 17 minors and certificates, and one graduate program. Our students are actively engaged with our esteemed faculty who are Emmy- and Grammy award-winning artists and leading researchers in many interdisciplinary fields.

Students from our school have access to a wide range of labs and artistic spaces including Second Stage West, a dance studio, media lab, painting studio, the Oral History and Ethnography Collaborative, a photography lab, and a state-of-the-art sound studio.

We strive to create out of the classroom opportunities that immerse students in a traditional liberal arts experience. One such opportunity is with the literary magazine, Canyon Voices, which seeks to publish works that engender thought and enrich the discourse around language, style, culture and gender. Canyon Voices features the works of emerging writers and artists including our students who also design and edit each issue.

Additionally, our faculty have created study abroad opportunities to locations like Harlaxton, England where students read classic British literature and explore the places that make these works come alive. They visit London, the Lake District, the northern seacoast, the moors, castles, cathedrals, and other stunning locales, one month each summer.

Our students study in a liberal arts environment that is built on a seamless interdisciplinary experience that prepares them for a future of endless possibilities. Recent graduates from our school are professional artists, performers, and creative professionals. In addition, many move on to graduate school, and successful careers in business and the nonprofit sector.

Universities prepare students for the future. At the School for the Future of Innovation in Society we make the future – or, rather, the set of plausible futures that humanity has – a focus of our activities. We are planning now for the kinds of futures that we will want to inhabit.

Our faculty has an extraordinary track record of teaching, research and service that fully embraces the design aspirations of the New American University. Their interdisciplinary background ranges from political science to electrical engineering, from physics to geography, from environmental science to law, and from geology to science and technology studies. Through our degree programs, certificate and coursework, our faculty will — in the words of visionary John Seely Brown — “teach content, mentor skills, and cultivate dispositions” that will allow our students to succeed in making the futures they want to inhabit.

 The future is near. Come be a part of it.

The Red Ink Indigenous Initiative is an interrelated set of campus, regional, national and international projects developed in collaboration with Indigenous communities. These efforts include the journal RED INK, an International Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art, and Humanities. 

Initiative partners' mission is to develop and improve acccess to higher education for Indigenous communities and pathways to success and leadership for Native American students,  and create culturally-sustaining, Indigenous K-12 curricumlum materials and advance discourse among Native American and non-natives parties.