Campus Resources

The Harvard College Office of BGLTQ Student Life provides support, resources, and leadership development for bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, queer, and questioning students. Through collaboration with students and student organizations, the Office creates opportunities for fellowship, thoughtful dialogue, and the pursuit of knowledge. We seek to foster a safer, more diverse, and inclusive campus by educating and engaging the Harvard community about the multiplicity of sexual and gender identities.

The Harvard College Women's Center focuses on providing comfortable meeting space, resources, programs and services to all students, with a specific mission to address the interests, needs and concerns of undergraduate women on campus. The Center will develop a comprehensive outreach and support structure for undergraduate women individually and for their student organizations. The Center can provide support and information on a wide variety of issues.

The Harvard Gender and Sexuality Caucus (HGSC) is composed of more than 5,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender alumni/ae of Harvard University’s College and Graduate Schools, its faculty, staff, and current students. The HGSC was formed in 1984 as the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus to pressure Harvard University to include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policy.

The Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (OSAPR) was established in 2003 to provide confidential support, information, and resource referrals to survivors of sexual violence. The mission of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response is to provide leadership in creating a Harvard community free from sexual and interpersonal violence and harassment. We are committed to supporting and empowering survivors of violence. We believe in preventing violence through education, personal and collective accountability, and social change.

The Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality (GCWS) at MIT is a pioneering effort by faculty at nine degree-granting institutions in the Boston area and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to advance women's studies scholarship. Through the pioneering efforts of the original six faculty Board members and former Radcliffe College President, Linda Wilson, the first institutional home for GCWS was at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. The Consortium pursues its mission through an ongoing series of team-taught graduate seminars, interdisciplinary faculty workshops, and other opportunities for scholarly and administrative collaboration. The Consortium membership includes Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Simmons College, Tufts University, and the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

The Women's Studies in Religion Program (WSRP) at the Harvard Divinity School (45 Francis Ave., Cambridge) was founded to explore the fundamental role played by religious traditions in defining roles for women and men. It examines the sources of cultural beliefs about leadership, authority, and values, and offers resources to change them. The Program's goal is the production of new primary research addressing these issues and the dispersal of that information through courses, publications, and public programs. Well over 100 Research Associates have participated in the Program, producing a body of scholarship that has helped to transform the study of religion and the theological education of ministers and religious leaders. Their publications challenge long-held assumptions about the meaning of religious scriptures, the presence of women as religious leaders, and the significance of religious teachings and practices. This community of international scholars provides a crucial resource for religious communities, policy makers, and educational institutions.

The interdisciplinary concentration in Women, Gender, and Health (WGH) was founded in 1996 as a working group at the Harvard School of Public Health faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, and students interested in advancing the study of women, gender, and health at the School. In 2002, the school-wide faculty approved the Interdisciplinary Concentration on WGH. This concentration is now governed by a Steering Committee comprised of faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, and students who meet monthly to discuss ways to promote curriculum development and public health research and practice regarding women, gender and health at HSPH.

The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is the leading research library in the field. The library holds more than 35,000 volumes, 800 collections of personal and organizational papers, 50,000 photographs, oral histories, videotapes, and other historical materials. The library collects information on women's rights, suffrage, social welfare and reform, pioneers in the professions, and the family. Carol J. Pforzheimer Student Fellowships are awarded annually to undergraduates to use the resources of the library.

The Henry A. Murray Research Archive is a multidisciplinary research center whose focus is the study of lives over time. It is also a national archive for social science data on human development and social change, especially data that illuminate women's lives and issues of concern to women. Students and researchers at all levels, from undergraduates to scholars, use the center's resources. These include studies of family life, careers, psychological development, political participation, and mental health.