Students who want to help shape a more just and peaceful world can prepare themselves with the interdisciplinary Peace and Justice Studies major. Students shape their studies around a major theme, such as international conflict, conflict resolution or social inequality.

An Interdisciplinary Major

The interdisciplinary Peace and Justice Studies major prepares students with the theoretical and practical knowledge and critical thinking skills needed to help shape a more just and peaceful world. Courses familiarize students with the major ideas, concepts, and theories of peace and justice; detailed knowledge of problems, issues and challenges such as poverty, racism, and war; and various approaches to solutions.

Experiential Learning

Integrative learning is a key feature of the Peace and Justice Studies major. Its aim is to provide students with the opportunity to combine insights from different disciplines so as to develop a broad understanding of the integrated nature of peace and justice; to explore how their own serious questions about faith, peace and justice are related to concrete work for peace and justice.

In matters of peace and justice, integrative learning cannot occur without a significant focus on experience and the concrete. Through both individual and communal service learning experiences, students will engage in an "Experiential Learning Cycle" providing a framework for understanding the nuances and complexities of issues of peace and justice.

The integrated experiential component must be broadly related to the student's senior thesis project. Additional experiential learning may include service learning, communal service projects for majors in the local community or in international experiences (i.e. Peru summer program).

Experiential Learning Components - students must complete one of the following:

  1. Service learning in TWO of the Peace and Justice Studies major courses (OR)
  2. an internship (OR)
  3. a program of international study or urban immersion (OR)
  4. an alternative experiential component as approved by the program director.