Academics

The University of Michigan has a number of library and archival collections relevant to the study and support of LGBTQ+ students, scholars, and communities. For assistance with research in these areas, please contact Meredith Kahn, Librarian for Gender & Sexuality Studies.

• Research resources for women's and gender studies
• Research resources for LGBTQ studies
• Labadie Collection, Special Collections Research Center 
• Bentley Historical Library, subject guide for gender and sexuality  

You do not need to be in a specific program or major to take LGBTQ-related classes! At U-M, there are many classes across different disciplines and subjects. 

Below are some tips for how to find classes on LGBTQ+ identities, communities, and history at U-M:

• Search the LSA course guide by searching key terms “LGBTQ+,” “gender,” “sexuality,” “queer,” “transgender,” etc.
• Review the Women’s and Gender Studies course catalog (undergraduate and graduate)
• Seek advising from the Women’s and Gender Studies Department

U-M offers an undergraduate LGBTQ sexuality studies minor and a graduate certificate in LGBTQ studies.

Undergraduate LGBTQ sexuality studies minor

This minor offered through the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts is designed to introduce students to the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and sexuality studies. Required and elective courses provide students with the opportunity to explore how various practices, institutions and beliefs intersect with sexualities and sexed bodies, in a range of cultures, geographies, and histories. Students will have the opportunity to engage in courses that represent an interdisciplinary array of scholarship on the study of sexuality and sexual identities.

Learn more about the LGBTQ sexuality studies minor and requirements on the LSA website.  

Graduate certificate in LGBTQ studies

This certificate offered through Rackham Graduate School is designed for students already enrolled in a terminal degree program at the University of Michigan. The Certificate in LGBTQ Studies consists of graduate course work totaling 15 credit hours. The certificate, which can be combined with either a master’s or a doctoral degree, aims to:

• Provide an interdisciplinary analysis of the function of sexuality, and particularly sexual identity, in the construction of individuals, as a form of minority discourse, as a signifier of cultural representations, and as a site of power.
• Examine the processes by which sexual desires, identities, and practices are produced, represented, regulated, and resisted in the U.S. and globally, both in the past and in the present.
• Address sexuality in a way that consistently demonstrates its interconnections to gender, race, ethnicity, and class.

Learn more about the LGBTQ studies graduate certificate and requirements on the LSA Women’s and Gender Studies website.