Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender

The Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender (ISSG) is the locus of interdisciplinary feminist and queer scholarship and teaching at Columbia University. Offering an undergraduate degree program and letter of certification in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, the Institute draws its core and affiliated faculty from a diverse array of disciplines across Columbia University and Barnard College. From its inception, the scholarly mission of ISSG has been clear: to promote deep scholarship of the highest intellectual standards, cultivate innovative thinking and approaches to key questions in the field, and foster institutional transformation. The Institute lives this mission in two key ways. First is its focus on teaching—the Institute is the central unit on campus promoting intersectional feminist and queer pedagogies for students across all disciplines, regardless of departmental or professional school affiliation. Additionally, the Institute’s curricular offerings have long been the center for LGBTQ scholarship in the Arts and Sciences at Columbia, an attribute that is wholly unique to the work of the Institute and one that was largely created in response to the interests of the student population at the University. Secondly, ISSG promotes faculty research through a close partnership with the [Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD)](https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/)—a vibrant, interdisciplinary research center where our faculty participate in ambitious projects with impact-oriented goals, while also fostering a sense of intellectual community across disciplines that is a trademark of the Institute.