Director: Andrea Bertotti Metoyer
The program offers one minor:
Minor in Solidarity and Social Justice
The Solidarity and Social Justice (SOSJ) minor strives to provide students with a thorough understanding of the range of ways that scholars, researchers, and students address injustices and engage in efforts to promote social justice in the contemporary world. The minor provides students with a strong foundation for understanding and researching justice issues from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and endeavors to inspire them to become "men and women for others," while also fostering the practical skills necessary for employment.
The curriculum enables students to blend the best of the liberal arts with courses designed for professional training to integrate themes of justice and peace into their academic, civic, and social pursuits. Special emphasis is placed upon the development of the habits of critical thinking and reflection, the skills of effective communication and leadership, as well as the acquisition of basic knowledge of the social sciences as they pertain to the areas of social justice, community building, social change, and human dignity.
Notes: Some courses have pre-requisites that are not required for the minor. Take this into
consideration when choosing courses.
Carefully check course attributes. Courses with the Social Justice designation are instructor-specific. Not all SOSJ courses carry the Social Justice designation.
Lower Division
This course provides an overview of social justice theories, causes and effects of structural injustice, and various examples of social change. Distinctions between charity and social justice are clarified and special attention is paid to the practice of solidarity. Fall.
Topic to be determined by instructor.
Topic to determined by instructor.
To be determined by instructor.
An introduction to journalistic-style writing across media platforms, including broadcast journalism and public relations writing. Fall, Spring, Summer.
Equivalent:
JOUR 110 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
A survey of the role of photography in media and art as well as contemporary human experience. The course emphasizes creative control of digital cameras and an understanding of the principles of photography in creating images with technical and high aesthetic value.
Equivalent:
VART 170 - Successful completion
Topic to determined by instructor.
Topic to be determined by Instructor.
Topic to be determined by instructor.
The First-Year Seminar (FYS) introduces new Gonzaga students to the University, the Core Curriculum, and Gonzaga’s Jesuit mission and heritage. While the seminars will be taught by faculty with expertise in particular disciplines, topics will be addressed in a way that illustrates approaches and methods of different academic disciplines. The seminar format of the course highlights the participatory character of university life, emphasizing that learning is an active, collegial process.
Explores theories and research on the constructions of masculinity and femininity and how these influence our individual lives and social institutions.
Equivalent:
SOCI 244 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
WGST 201 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
WGST 201 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
This course examines the social context of health, illness and health care. Particular attention will be paid to the effects of culture and social inequality on health, the interaction of various health care professionals and political debates about the health care system.
Equivalent:
HEAL 201 - OK if taken since Fall 2022
SOCI 283 - OK if taken since Fall 2021
WGST 207 - OK if taken since Fall 2022
SOCI 283 - OK if taken since Fall 2021
WGST 207 - OK if taken since Fall 2022
Topic to be determined by instructor.
Course on the study of major social problems. Specifically, the course will demonstrate how sociology skills can be employed to bring about social change. Fall.
Equivalent:
SOCI 200 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
Topic to be determined by instructor.
A practicum dealing with the technical aspects of television production along with creative generation of live, original programs. Students learn the basics of how television signals are created and transported, and then demonstrate proficiency in all crew areas concerned with live productions. In addition, this course provides a much greater sense of media literacy as it applies to mainstream messages in the media today. Fall and Spring.
Equivalent:
BRCO 203 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
See SOSJ 260 for course description. Taken concurrently with SOSJ 260.
Concurrent:
SOSJ 260
Equivalent:
BRCO 203L - OK if taken since Fall 2015
An introduction to the technical, ethical, and creative principles of journalism-based photography and video. Topics include basic camera functions, digital image-editing tools, and the intersection of photojournalism, digital-video, and short documentary filmmaking. Special attention will be given to the professional and ethical considerations of the practice and the unique differences that separate photojournalism from other forms of image capturing. Lab fee. Fall and Spring.
Prerequisite:
INMD 101 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
JOUR 270 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
Emphasis on the style of journalism that fosters community engagement. Research, reporting and interviewing techniques that focus on news coverage of public organizations and groups that participate in framing public policy. A variety of writing styles will be utilized. Fall.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 110 Minimum Grade: D
or SOSJ 160 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
JOUR 210 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
The course provides a foundation in attending to, analyzing, and reporting meaningful information about the social world through humanistic communication research methods. The course introduces ethnographic and qualitative research methods, ethics, selection of research topics and questions, ethnographic data collection methods (e.g. participant observation; un-, semi- and structured interviewing; structured observation), managing and coding field notes, and qualitative analysis. In this course, students will create field notes, analyses, and more.
Prerequisite:
COMM 100 Minimum Grade: D
or HONS 100 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
COMM 285 - OK if taken since Fall 2018
HONS 263 - OK if taken since Fall 2023
HONS 263 - OK if taken since Fall 2023
Topic to be determined by instructor.
Topic to be determined by Instructor.
Upper Division
This course focuses on religious and ethical responses to issues arising in relation to globalization, and specifically, the topic of human rights.
Equivalent:
INST 383 - OK if taken since Fall 2024
RELI 377 - OK if taken since Fall 2021
RELI 377 - OK if taken since Fall 2021
This course presents an inquiry into the political shifts in religious faith and practice in the wake of globalization and modern secularism. Students will explore critiques of classic accounts of divine transcendence and religious authority, the growing recognition of the plight of the poor and marginalized, and the increasingly political focus of contemporary theologians and religious thinkers in response to this rapidly shifting intellectual milieu. Offered every year.
Equivalent:
RELI 333 - OK if taken since Fall 2021
An economic perspective on labor market issues. Explores recent controversial topics such as inequality in earnings, race and sex discrimination in labor markets, immigration, minimum wage laws and labor unions, health and safety regulations in the work-place. Spring.
Prerequisite:
ECON 201 Minimum Grade: D
or ECON 270H Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
ECON 312 - OK if taken between Fall 2015 and Summer 2016
ECON 322 - OK if taken since Fall 2016
ECON 322 - OK if taken since Fall 2016
This course will examine the foundations of race and ethnicity and how they inform constructions of difference in the past and present. Students will be introduced to definitions and theories of race and ethnicity, explore racial and ethnic identity, and analyze how race and ethnicity work in combination with other axes of difference such as gender, class, and nation to reproduce inequality.
Equivalent:
SOCI 323 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
Examines the distribution of such social rewards as income, power, style of life, wealth, and prestige among members of a society. Also considers a variety of sociological explanations for the distribution of rewards; compares and contrasts stratification systems across societies. Fall, alternate years.
Equivalent:
SOCI 327 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
This course examines deviance and crimes committed by organizations and the rich and powerful. The nature, extent and societal effects of various types of elite and white collar deviance are examined.
Equivalent:
CRIM 355 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
SOCI 355 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
SOCI 355 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
In this course, students will consider the problems of crime and inequality as intertwined. Students will also move beyond simplistic explanations of these problems and towards a more complex understanding of the relationships between social institutions - like criminal justice, economics, education, politics, and the media - and how these institutions collaborate (overtly and covertly) to reproduce crime and inequality in America's inner cities. Spring.
Equivalent:
CRIM 357 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
SOCI 357 - OK if taken since Fall 2019
SOCI 357 - OK if taken since Fall 2019
This course explores the lives and experiences of African-Americans from the colonial era to the present. It focuses on communities, values, and traditions of redress that sustained these citizens, workers, parents, children, and activists.
Equivalent:
HIST 358 - OK if taken since Fall 2017
This course is a sociological analysis of American Schools and Schooling, with a particular focus on social inequality. The course will investigate how race, class, and gender shape student experiences and the policy efforts that have been (and could be) attempted to alleviate student inequalities. Throughout the course we will address the fundamental tension between the success of individuals and the collective good in education.
Equivalent:
SOCI 388 - OK if taken since Fall 2017
Focus on political development in the Third World. After examining the making of the Third World through imperialism and colonialism, analyzes key political institutions (the state, political parties, the military), the international economic context of dependency and vulnerability. Several case studies follow a common analytical framework to trace experiences with democratic and authoritarian rule and assess the underlying causes of democratic success and failure.
Equivalent:
INST 310 - OK if taken since Fall 2017
POLS 359 - OK if taken since Fall 2017
POLS 359 - OK if taken since Fall 2017
This course examines the causes and consequences of mass incarceration in the United States from a sociological perspective. Particular attention will be paid to racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in imprisonment. The impact of mass incarceration on incarcerated individuals, their families, and society, more broadly will be examined. Spring.
Equivalent:
CRIM 358 - OK if taken since Fall 2021
SOCI 358 - OK if taken since Fall 2021
SOCI 358 - OK if taken since Fall 2021
Topic to be determined by instructor.
This course explores the history of citizenship in the United States from its founding in the Revolutionary era to the present by examining how and why the rights and obligations of citizenship have changed over time. This seminar style course includes discussions of philosophical and theoretical frameworks involved in building and in understanding citizenship including reform efforts that aspired to democratize institutions that treated citizens differently because of race, ethnicity, class, national origin, or gender. This course is geared towards students interested in history, law, politics, ethnic studies, women’s studies, and social movements.
Equivalent:
HIST 367 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
History and dynamics of women's political movements (both conservative and liberal) in the U.S. Survey of women's current levels and styles of participation in U.S. government and politics. Offered annually.
Equivalent:
POLS 322 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
WGST 340 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
WGST 340 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
Examines the conditions facing selected racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., with African Americans being the primary case for analysis. Topics include the social construction of race and ethnicity, the wide range of political strategies and tactics employed by racial and ethnic groups in pursuit of equality, and U.S. immigration policy. Offered annually.
Equivalent:
POLS 326 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
Social movements are often characterized by the spontaneous development of new norms and social organization that may contradict, reinterpret and/or challenge existing social arrangements. The purpose of this course is to examine social movement behavior, and their role in promoting social change and social justice.
Equivalent:
SOCI 334 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
This course examines social change and its implications for individuals and groups at the local and global level, and offers sociological perspectives on the political, economic, and cultural processes of globalization throughout the world, including Asia, Latin America, North America, Africa and the Middle East. This course explores the historical development of global capitalism with a focus on the changing relationships between markets, states, and civil societies and analyzes the forces that promote and resist these changes including migration, state violence, and social movements. Questions of power and inequality will be central to our approach, as we explore global social change through the lens of world-systems theory, neoliberalism, and neo-institutionalism. Offered every other year.
Equivalent:
SOCI 380 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
Between 1974 and 2000 more than fifty countries in Southern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe shifted from authoritarian to democratic systems of government. This course examines the causes and nature of these democratic transitions and investigates several case studies of democratic transitions in different areas of the world; in order to understand the factors responsible for the democratic trend and to ascertain which key variables best explain completed democratic transitions and democratic consolidation. Spring, alternate years.
Equivalent:
INST 392 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
POLS 368 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
POLS 368 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
Equivalent:
INST 304 - OK if taken since Spring 2016
INST 365 - OK if taken between Fall 2020 and Summer 2022
RELI 334 - OK if taken since Fall 2020
INST 365 - OK if taken between Fall 2020 and Summer 2022
RELI 334 - OK if taken since Fall 2020
This course examines how capitalism structures human relationships and impacts the nonhuman world, creating uneven social and environmental benefits and burdens. Students will draw upon a range of critical perspectives, including political economy, political ecology, feminist theory, critical race theory, indigenous and post- colonial epistemology, critical geography, science studies, environmental justice, and other approaches. Resistance and social movement responses is emphasized.
Equivalent:
ENVS 348 - OK if taken since Fall 2024
SOCI 349 - OK if taken since Fall 2024
SOCI 349 - OK if taken since Fall 2024
Topic to be determined by instructor.
Examination of the fundamentals of advocacy including argumentation theory, techniques of persuasion, refutation, and cross-examination. This course is open to both debate team members and anyone interested in improving their argumentation skills.
Equivalent:
COMM 331 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
In this course, we will approach writing for social action from a rhetorical perspective, focusing on purpose and audience as well as genre, form, and the craft of writing. Throughout the semester, you will be asked to analyze texts produced by contemporary and historical social movements and activists in order to discern best practices when advocating for a cause.
Prerequisite:
ENGL 101 Minimum Grade: D
or ENGL 200 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
ENGL 309 - OK if taken since Fall 2018
Students integrate reporting and research with audio, video, photos and text to produce and design multimedia packages in a journalistic context. Students may utilize blogging, podcasting, social media and emerging media techniques. Some focus on analysis of the optimal platforms for presenting journalistic content. Spring.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 110 Minimum Grade: D
or SOSJ 160 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
JOUR 370 - OK if taken since Fall 2017
Topic to be determined by instructor.
This course is designed to fulfill one of the requirements of the Solidarity and Social Justice minor. It builds on the background provided by other courses in the SOSJ minor and the University Core by focusing more explicitly on the role public reason plays in the pursuit of solidarity and social justice. The course will ask “What is justice and how is it related to human solidarity? How do we ground claims about solidarity and social justice through an appeal to reason? What role should reason play in shaping our models of justice and what role can it play in the promotion of solidarity and social justice?”
Equivalent:
PHIL 408 - OK if taken between Fall 2015 and Summer 2017
PHIL 462 - OK if taken since Fall 2017
PHIL 462 - OK if taken since Fall 2017
Many modern theories of social justice rest upon models developed in classical antiquity. Similarly, many modern institutions and laws relating to justice have ancient precursors. This course examines major classical texts dealing with justice: selected pre-Socratic texts; Plato, Republic; Thucydides, History of Peloponnesian war, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book V, selections from Cicero; selections from other Hellenistic and late Roman authors (including Augustine).
Equivalent:
PHIL 414 - OK if taken since Fall 2016
PHIL 481 - OK if taken between Fall 2015 and Summer 2016
PHIL 481 - OK if taken between Fall 2015 and Summer 2016
Topic to be determined by instructor.
The Core Integration Seminar (CIS) engages the Year Four Question: “Imagining the possible: What is our role in the world?” by offering students a culminating seminar experience in which students integrate the principles of Jesuit education, prior components of the Core, and their disciplinary expertise. Each section of the course will focus on a problem or issue raised by the contemporary world that encourages integration, collaboration, and problem solving. The topic for each section of the course will be proposed and developed by each faculty member in a way that clearly connects to the Jesuit Mission, to multiple disciplinary perspectives, and to our students’ future role in the world.
Topic to be determined by instructor.
Topic to be determined by instructor.
A critical examination of the reciprocity between effective communication and successful leadership. Includes a historical examination of leadership styles, theories, and research. Includes an analysis of motivation, power, and organizational culture, with writing and speaking assignments designed to cultivate leadership skills. Fall.
Equivalent:
COMM 401 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
Ethical communication and intentional civic engagement fosters vibrant democratic life. As civic actors, we deliberate and contest policies, advocate for justice, and attempt to foster cooperation among a multiplicity of voices. This course synthesizes theories of ethics that students grapple with to examine relationships between rhetoric, democracy, and justice. Specifically, we will address questions of how we should practice rhetoric in ways that refine our capacities for ethical discernment, build inclusive communities, promote social justice, and ultimately enrich democratic life. Spring.
Prerequisite:
COMM 340 Minimum Grade: C
Equivalent:
COMM 450 - OK if taken since Fall 2018
The study of communication and culture in a global world cannot and must not be apolitical, ahistorical, or blind to the messy entanglements of power and privilege. Therefore, this course will focus on the intersections between critical race theory, feminist theory, and critical intercultural communication in order to interrogate and examine the ways in which our social identities and locations affect the contexts of our lives including our opportunities, relationships, and overall understanding of the world. Specifically, this course will engage the work of Black Feminist scholars and ongoing scholarly conversations on intersectionality to analyze intercultural encounters and engagement. Fall.
Prerequisite:
COMM 320 Minimum Grade: C
or COMM 340 Minimum Grade: C
or COMM 370 Minimum Grade: C
Equivalent:
COMM 430 - OK if taken since Fall 2018
INST 430 - OK if taken since Fall 2018
INST 430 - OK if taken since Fall 2018
The Community Organizing for Health Equity course facilitates learning of community organizing skills through participatory exercises, discussion, and short lectures. The course provides a foundation from which to understand the world through a different lens needed to work on
“upstream” issues. The course will equip student leaders with the tools they need to organize themselves and others to more effectively address the social justice issues that matter most to them.
Equivalent:
HEAL 475 - OK if taken since Fall 2022
Topic to be determined by instructor.
Topic to be determined by instructor.
Practical experience working within a variety of settings related to the fields of solidarity and social justice. Internships are individually arranged.
Students taking this capstone course will participate in a semester-long internship for a justice-oriented organization. As a "praxis" course, the goal is for students to combine action with reflection and understanding. Students will meet weekly to reflect on their practical internship experience and integrate empirical and theoretical information.
In addition to their major and minor areas of study, all undergraduate students follow a common program designed to complete their education in those areas that the University considers essential for a Catholic, Jesuit, liberal, and humanistic education. The University Core Curriculum consists of forty-five credits of course work, with additional designation requirements that can be met through core, major, or elective courses.
The University Core Curriculum is a four-year program, organized around one overarching question, which is progressively addressed through yearly themes and questions. Hence, core courses are best taken within the year for which they are designated. First year core courses encourage intellectual engagement and provide a broad foundation of fundamental skills. Second and third year courses examine central issues and questions in philosophy and religious studies. The fourth year course, the Core Integration Seminar, offers a culminating core experience. Taken at any time throughout the four years, broadening courses intersect with the core themes and extend students’ appreciation for the humanities, arts, and social and behavioral sciences. Finally, the designation requirements (writing enriched, global studies, and social justice) reflect important values and reinforce students’ knowledge and competencies.
Overarching Core Question: As students of a Catholic, Jesuit, and Humanistic University, how do we educate ourselves to become women and men for a more just and humane global community?
Year 1 Theme and Question: Understanding and Creating: How do we pursue knowledge and cultivate understanding?
- The First-Year Seminar (DEPT 193, 3 credits): The First-Year Seminar (FYS), taken in the fall or spring of the first year, is designed to promote an intellectual shift in students as they transition to college academic life. Each small seminar is organized around an engaging topic, which students explore from multiple perspectives. The FYS is offered by many departments across the University (click here [PDF] for list of FYS courses).
- Writing (ENGL 101, 3 credits) and Reasoning (PHIL 101, 3 credits): The Writing and Reasoning courses are designed to help students develop the foundational skills of critical reading, thinking, analysis, and writing. They may be taken as linked sections. Writing (ENGL 101) carries one of the three required writing-enriched designations (see below).
- Communication & Speech (COMM 100, 3 credits): This course introduces students to interpersonal and small group communication and requires the application of critical thinking, reasoning, and research skills necessary to organize, write, and present several speeches.
- Scientific Inquiry (BIOL 104/104L, CHEM 104/104L, or PHYS 104/104L, 3 credits): This course explores the scientific process in the natural world through evidence-based logic and includes significant laboratory experience. Students pursuing majors that require science courses will satisfy this requirement through their major.
- Mathematics (above Math 100, 3 credits): Mathematics courses promote thinking according to the modes of the discipline—abstractly, symbolically, logically, and computationally. One course in mathematics, above Math 100, including any math course required for a major or minor, will fulfill this requirement. MATH 100 (College Algebra) and courses without the MATH prefix do not fulfill this requirement.
Year 2 Theme and Question: Being and Becoming: Who are we and what does it mean to be human?
- Philosophy of Human Nature (PHIL 201, 3 credits): This course provides students with a philosophical study of key figures, theories, and intellectual traditions that contribute to understanding the human condition; the meaning and dignity of human life; and the human relationship to ultimate reality.
- Christianity and Catholic Traditions (RELI, 3 credits). Religious Studies core courses approved for this requirement explore diverse topics including Christian scriptures, history, theology, and practices as well as major contributions from the Catholic intellectual and theological traditions (click here [PDF] for a list of approved courses) .
Year 3 Theme and Question: Caring and Doing: What principles characterize a well lived life?
- Ethics (PHIL 301 or RELI, 3 credits): The Ethics courses are designed to help students develop their moral imagination by exploring and explaining the reasons humans should care about the needs and interests of others. This requirement is satisfied by an approved ethics course in either Philosophy (PHIL 301) or Religious Studies (click here [PDF] for a list of approved courses).
- World/Comparative Religion (RELI, 3 credits): Religious Studies courses approved for this core requirement draw attention to the diversity that exists within and among traditions and encourage students to bring critical, analytical thinking to bear on the traditions and questions considered. These courses carries one of the required two global-studies designations (see below) (click here [PDF] for a list of approved courses).
Year 4 Theme and Question: Imagining the Possible: What is our role in the world?”
- Core Integration Seminar (DEPT 432, 3 credits). The Core Integration Seminar (CIS) offers students a culminating core experience in which they integrate the principles of Jesuit education, prior components of the core, and their disciplinary expertise. Some CIS courses may also count toward a student’s major or minor. The CIS is offered by several departments across the University (click here [PDF] for list of CIS courses).
The Broadening Courses
- Fine Arts & Design (VART, MUSC, THEA, 3 credits): Arts courses explore multiple ways the human experience can be expressed through creativity, including across different cultures and societies. One approved course in fine arts, music, theatre, or dance will fulfill this requirement (click here [PDF] for a list of approved courses).
- History (HIST, 3 credits): History courses are intended to develop students’ awareness of the historical context of both the individual and the collective human experience. One course in History (HIST 101, HIST 102, HIST 112, HIST 201, HIST 202) will fulfill this requirement.
- Literature (3 credits): Literature courses foster reflection on how literature engages with a range of human experience. One approved course in Literature (offered by English, Classics, or Modern Languages) will fulfill this requirement (click here [PDF] for a list of approved courses).
- Social & Behavioral Sciences (3 credits): Courses in the social and behavioral sciences engage students in studying human behavior, social systems, and social issues. One approved course offered by Criminal Justice, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, or Women and Gender Studies will fulfill this requirement (click here [PDF] for a list of approved courses).
The Designations
Designations are embedded within already existing core, major, minor, and elective courses. Students are encouraged to meet designation requirements within elective courses as their schedule allows; however, with careful planning students should be able to complete most of the designation requirements within other core, major, or minor courses.
- Writing Enriched (WE; 3 courses meeting this designation): Courses carrying the WE designation are designed to promote the humanistic and Jesuit pedagogical ideal of clear, effective communication. In addition to the required core course, Writing (ENGL 101), which carries one of the WE designations, students must take two other WE-designated courses (click here [PDF] for a list of approved courses).
- Global-Studies (GS; 2 courses meeting this designation): Courses carrying the GS designation are designed to challenge students to perceive and understand human diversity by exploring diversity within a context of constantly changing global systems. In addition to the required core course, World/Comparative Religion (RELI 300-level), which carries one of the GS designations, students must take one other GS-designated course (click here [PDF] for a list of approved courses).
- Social-Justice (SJ; 1 course meeting this designation): Courses carrying the SJ designation are designed to introduce students to one or more social justice concerns. Students must take one course that meets the SJ designation (click here [PDF] for a list of approved courses).
Major-specific adaptations to the University Core Curriculum
All Gonzaga students, regardless of their major, will complete the University Core Curriculum requirements. However some Gonzaga students will satisfy certain core requirements through major-specific programs or courses. Any major-specific adaptations to the core are described with the requirements for the majors to which they apply.