Spring 2027

Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer+ Studies

Multidisciplinary introduction to LGBTQ+ studies covering identity formation, societal interactions, historical cultures, and contemporary legal/political issues, exploring intersections with race, ethnicity, religion, and disability.

offering recorded3–4 credits

Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Cabell Gathman3.2/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Cabell Gathman

Weekly quizzes were described as difficult because they covered material absent from lecture slides, while take-home exams were extremely long and harshly graded.

What you’ll be able to do

Identify vocabulary for discussing and understanding LGBTQ+ people, concepts, histories, and politics.
Describe how categories such as sex, gender, sexuality, and race are multidimensional and socially constructed.
Discuss how sex, gender, and sexuality intersect with other social categories historically used to control access to political power and material resources, including race, class, disability, citizenship, religion, and so on.
Examine the ways in which LGBTQ+ people are affected by, participate in, and work to change larger social structures and institutions, including healthcare, the legal system, education, employment, and marriage and the family.
Construct personal analyses of historical and contemporary LGBTQ+ experiences and outcomes in conversation with scholarly research.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗

average GPA
letter grades

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Professors

Spring 2027

Cabell Gathman

Adjusted rating

RMP difficulty

captured reviews

About this rating

Raw average: 3.13/5 from 127 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 2.8/5 raw quality · 3.5/5 difficulty · 28 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Cabell Gathman

Cabell Gathman presented engaging, current material with flexible assignments, though students reported heavy workloads involving many quizzes and long take-home exams. Assessments were often described as difficult and harshly graded, with specific questions sometimes missing from lecture slides. Some reviews noted inconsistent grading standards and unhelpful meetings, while others found her approachable and the course manageable with effort.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.26 GPA, 62.5% A/AB (n=104 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.27 GPA, 61.6% A/AB (n=73 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.21 GPA, 67.3% A/AB (n=52 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Joseph Elder

Past students described the course as writing-heavy, featuring six synthesis reports and two take-home exams, though others noted quizzes and repetitive written assignments instead. Feedback varied on difficulty, with some finding the work manageable and others citing specific, challenging quiz questions.

CABELL GATHMAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JOSEPH W. ELDER is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity
LEC 002	Classroom Instruction	0 / 100
DIS 321	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 322	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 323	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 324	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LEC 002	Classroom Instruction	0 / 56
DIS 321	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 322	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 323	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 324	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Cabell Gathman

Students appreciated Dr. Gathman's engaging presentation of current social issues, noting that the class material remained relevant and never felt dated.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.26 GPA, 62.5% A/AB (n=104 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.27 GPA, 61.6% A/AB (n=73 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.21 GPA, 67.3% A/AB (n=52 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Cabell Gathman

Weekly quizzes were described as difficult because they covered material absent from lecture slides, while take-home exams were extremely long and harshly graded.

Past student reviews · Cabell Gathman

One student found the grading unfair and subjective, stating that assignments were marked wrong based on the professor's personal opinions rather than objective criteria.

Topics

Theories of identity formation
Societal interaction with LGBTQ+ communities
LGBTQ+ cultures in history
Contemporary legal and political issues
Intersections with race, ethnicity, religion, and disability

Skills

Identify vocabulary for discussing and understanding LGBTQ+ people, concepts, histories, and politics.
Describe how categories such as sex, gender, sexuality, and race are multidimensional and socially constructed.
Discuss intersections of sex, gender, and sexuality with other social categories like race, class, disability, citizenship, and religion.
Examine how LGBTQ+ people interact with and change social structures and institutions like healthcare, law, education, and employment.
Construct personal analyses of historical and contemporary LGBTQ+ experiences in conversation with scholarly research.

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.09 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

GEN&WS/SOC 200 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer+ Studies

Recorded 2026-10-14

GEN&WS/SOC 200 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer+ Studies

Recorded 2026-10-14

Raw records

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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
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    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:900:021199",
    "course_id": "GEN&WS/SOC 200",
    "course_uid": "course_1b3f70e36fb2df91efed05ec",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021199",
    "source_subject_id": "900",
    "title": "Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer+ Studies",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:963:021199",
    "course_id": "GEN&WS/SOC 200",
    "course_uid": "course_1b3f70e36fb2df91efed05ec",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021199",
    "source_subject_id": "963",
    "title": "Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer+ Studies",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]

Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades

Model outputs & technical records

Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B

LLM outputs across runs

Download part 1

Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1

Model & dataset provenance

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  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "77e44ccb8a04db7f097d43349c7b6214ea140f117a78cca3099d7c6431ad0a06",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}

Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer+ Studies

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Cabell Gathman

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to UW–Madison

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

Where this course fits relative to