Community and Justice Studies

Students who successfully complete a program in Community and Justice Studies are expected to achieve the following outcomes in each of the listed areas:

1. Civic Knowledge

• Understand one’s sources of identity and their influence on civic values, assumptions, and responsibilities to a wider public*
• Understand how her/his experiences of engagement relate to broader social, political, and economic contexts of place
• Understand systematic and group influences on social problems from theoretical and applied perspectives
• Understand theories of organizational decision-making, democratic change, or dynamics of community change
• Gain civic and intercultural knowledge

2. Civic Skills

• Demonstrate skills of deliberation and bridge building across differences*
• Function effectively in cross-cultural environments to create change
• Use frameworks of multiple academic disciplines for ethical analysis of societal issues and conducting community research

3. Civic Values

• Develop a concern for issues of justice and equality
• Develop a commitment to increase efficacy in public life, whether through everyday citizenship, service, professional work, or activism
• Demonstrate a determination to raise social and ethical issues and questions in and about public life
• Develop a responsibility to a larger good*
• Examine personal motivations and how they affect one’s own active citizenship**
• Demonstrate the ability to reason ethically about social issues and to connect them to philosophical models of value

4. Collective Action

• Demonstrate effective engagement in local and global contexts
• Participate in a significant project that recognizes and responds to real community needs and desires in ways that move beyond the charity model
• Navigate political systems and processes, both formal and informal*

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William Taylor

Community and Justice Studies Major
Political Science Minor

• Executive board, WARC-Radio
• Bonner Leader
• Alden Scholar

“I especially enjoy the passion and enthusiasm of the faculty at Allegheny. Professors at Allegheny put a lot of effort and to making sure students develop critical thinking skills and are able to comprehend complicated concepts. The relationships between students and faculty extend well outside of the classroom, and create a more personal and familial campus community.”