Justice, Community, and Leadership

Justice, Community and Leadership (JCL) is committed to education for liberation. Such an education requires a critical analysis of interconnected systems of oppression and invites us to think and act in humanizing, humble and self-reflective ways. JCL classes challenge students with an engaged critical pedagogy that enables us to apply what we learn in the classroom to a broader community context.

Many of our courses include working alongside community members and organizations to learn from their expertise on the causes and consequences of social injustices and understand their visions and methods for addressing structural inequities. Together with these community experts, we grapple with the complexity of policies, dominant ideologies, and cultural practices that disadvantage some groups of people, while benefiting others and consider how we can be a part of social change efforts. Students in our program go on to work in diverse fields-such as education, the nonprofit sector, law, social entrepreneurship, government, and public health-yet they share a common aim to make the world more equitable and just.

Faculty

Zahra Ahmed, PhD, Associate Professor

Shawny Anderson, PhD, Professor

Monica Fitzgerald, Professor

Stephanie Robillard, PhD, Assistant Professor

Learning Outcomes for the Justice, Community and Leadership Major

Students who complete this program will be able to:

DEMONSTRATE knowledge of the ways systemic inequities (e.g. economic, racial, gender, environmental) are reproduced and interconnected historically and in our contemporary world.
UTILIZE critical transdisciplinary lenses to analyze unjust power relations and systemic oppression, centering the experiences, histories, and visions of oppressed communities.
USE appropriate library and information literacy skills, evaluate and apply research methodologies in ways that challenge dominant assumptions about knowledge production to articulate, interpret and contribute to social justice.
COLLABORATE with diverse community formations to imagine, co-construct, organize for and sustain strategies that contribute to a more just social order.
UTILIZE oral, written, artistic, expressive and new media formats to advocate for transformative social change with attention to audience and power relations.
DEMONSTRATE cultural humility and an understanding of one’s positionality within historical and intersecting systems of power.

JCL General Major and Concentrations

The Justice, Community and Leadership program offers a general track with three concentrations:

Integrated Undergraduate Teacher Credential Pathways

These concentrations allow students to complete their BA and earn a teaching credential in 4 years.

JCL: Education Specialist (SPED)

The Education Specialist (SPED) concentration prepares individuals with a passion for teaching students with mild-to-moderate disabilities in grades K-12. We provide a balance of theory and current practice to meet the individual needs of exceptional learners.

JCL: Multiple Subject Teacher Education (MSTE)

The Multiple Subject Teacher Education (MSTE) concentration is built upon a student-centered learning community that inspires excellence and innovation in K-8 education. Through the practice of shared inquiry, collaborative learning and community engagement, we empower our students to lead change according to the principles of social justice and common good.

4+1 Teaching Credential Pathways

This 4+1 single subject pathway concentration allows students to complete a BA in 4 years and a Single Subject Preliminary Teaching Credential in one additional year with an MA in Teaching.

Single Subject 4+1 Minor

Incoming first-year students and qualifying sophomores who are committed to becoming middle or high school teachers may declare this minor. This special program enables students to integrate education coursework and field experience in middle and high schools with their undergraduate course of study. With a major in the discipline they would like to teach (History, English, etc.), students will gain the critical framework and field experience necessary to be transformative educators. Students proceed through the SS4+1 minor in a cohort with TFT and other Single Subject 4+1 minors, taking many of their minor courses and all of their field experience with other cohort members.

Concentrations

Leadership for Social Justice

Leadership for Social Justice is a concentration in the graduate Leadership Studies program, designed for students interested in practicing leadership for social change in fields such as non-profit, community organizing, law, or public service.

Activism & Organizing

The JCL Activism and Organizing concentration teaches students to apply the skills and strategies necessary to engage in social justice activism and community-based organizing. Through the completion of required courses and electives, students will strengthen their understanding of the foundational principles and practices that fuel successful activism and organizing efforts. They will also develop a comprehensive knowledge of the ways that self-care and community building can facilitate sustainability for organizers, helping to keep them from burning out. The concentration utilizes a panoramic framework to teach students how to activate communities and organize in the micro, meso, and macro realms. Our hands-on approach creates multiple opportunities for students to engage with local and global community-based partners and organizations.

Major Requirements

All students, regardless of concentration, must complete the JCL common curriculum. Students complete additional course requirements determined by their area of concentration.

JCL Minor Requirements

This multidisciplinary minor, housed within the Justice, Community and Leadership Program, incorporates community engagement and issues of social justice into the experiences and curriculum of students interested in learning about the principles and practices of justice, community, and leadership.

JCL SSTE Credential Pathway

This major has an integrated Single Subject Teacher Education (SSTE) pathway to prepare future middle and high school classroom teachers. The integrated program of study enables students to graduate with their BAs and a CA teaching credential in 4 years. See Teacher Education - Major Emphasis/SSTE Pathways for detailed information on credential courses.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Minor

Courses

Justice, Community and Leadership - Lower Division

Justice, Community and Leadership - Upper Division

Teacher Education - Lower Division