Minor in Diversity

Minor Description

The Minor in Diversity Studies is an option for students who want to explore key concepts related to power, identity, and difference, and to understand how historical and structural relations of power and difference shape social relations.

Co-administered between the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and the School of Educational Studies at UW Bothell, the minor integrates theoretical and practical approaches to the study of diversity. It is designed to enable students to transform the worlds they live in now and will move into after graduation.

Students who may benefit from the minor

The minor in Diversity Studies is designed as a complement or supplement to a student’s major course of study. By providing students with the critical tools and practical experience necessary for transformative leadership and ethical collaboration, it enhances students’ long-term success in any professional arena, including social service, health and health care, education, law and law enforcement, and business. It also prepares students to act in leadership and mobilizing roles in a variety of volunteer and community settings.

Learning Objectives

The minor in Diversity Studies provides students with multiple opportunities to:

  • Demonstrate critical thinking about power, difference, and identity.
  • Engage in self-evaluation in terms of diversity, regionally, nationally, and globally.
  • Understand structural and historical imbalances of power and privilege.
  • Incorporate interdisciplinary approaches to diversity into daily interactions.
  • Foster communication skills imbued with respect and empathy consistent with the promotion of civility in discourse across lines of difference and power.
  • Exhibit leadership and create opportunities for shared learning related to diversity beyond the classroom and campus.

*If you declared the Diversity Studies Minor prior to Autumn 2023 see an IAS or Educational Studies advisor for minor requirements.

Minor Requirements

Effective Autumn 2023* Students pursuing the minor in Diversity Studies must complete 25 credits in the following areas:

  • 5 Credits: BIS/B EDUC 255 Critical Diversity Studies
  • 5 Credits: Course satisfying the University of Washington’s Diversity (DIV) Requirement
  • 15 Credits: Upper Division Diversity Studies Minor Electives
  • No more than 10 credits from the Minor in Diversity can be applied to a student’s major requirements
  • Minimum of 15 credits must be taken at UW Bothell

Note: Classes in this minor are offered primarily during the day-time hours.

Upper Division (300-400 level) Diversity Studies Minor Electives

  • B EDUC 438 Learning Tribal Sovereignty
  • B EDUC 441 Second Language Acquisition, Bilingual Education, and the Structure of English
  • B EDUC 444 Leadership, Advocacy, and Program Assessment in ESOL
  • B EDUC 461 Educational Implications Gender Inequality
  • B EDUC 470 Disability Culture in Schools and Society
  • B EDUC 474 Global Englishes
  • B EDUC 482 Assessment in Special and Inclusive Education
  • BIS 310 Women, Culture, and Development
  • BIS 318 Global Scholars: Foundations (3 credits)
  • BIS 324 Gender, Human Rights, and Global Cinema
  • BIS 328/B EDUC 328 Diversity, Leadership, and Engagement
  • BIS 335 Human Rights in America
  • BIS 336 History of Mass Incarceration in the US
  • BIS 369 Indigenous Psychology and Health
  • BIS 372 Representation, Colonialism, and the Tropical World
  • BIS 379 American Ethnic Literatures
  • BIS 408 Critical Physical Geography
  • BIS 418 Global Scholars: Global Citizenship in Context
  • BIS 433 Gender, Work, and Family
  • BIS 445 Meanings and Realities of Inequality
  • BIS 475 Americans in Europe
  • BIS 463 U.S. Women’s History
  • BISAES 305 Power, Dissent, and American Culture
  • BISAES 367 Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration
  • BISGWS 301 Critical Gender and Sexuality Studies
  • BISGWS 302 History and Movements in Gender and Sexuality
  • BISGWS 303 Approaches to Feminist Inquiry
  • BISSTS 420 Race, Gender, Science, and Medicine

More Information

Contact an IAS or School of Educational Studies (SES) advisor to learn more about the Diversity Studies minor.