Social Issue Advocacy (BA)

Affiliation: School of Social & Cultural Studies

The Social Issue Advocacy major prepares students to pursue meaningful careers in community development, social justice, and advocacy. Toward this end, students will study the theories and methods that help advocates better understand existing inequalities and suggest possible solutions to the resulting social problems. Majors will develop effective ethical, persuasive, and social skills that facilitate organizing groups of people and influencing decision makers about meaningful societal change.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES:

Students completing the Social Issue Advocacy major will be able to:

1. Demonstrate clear and persuasive, audience-centered, culturally sensitive communication intended to enhance dialog between diverse constituencies;
2. Explain the development, maintenance, and impacts of social inequalities;
3. Examine, evaluate, and apply theories and methods in the humanities and social sciences that help scholars and society understand social institutions as they are and as they could be;
4. Evaluate major theories of ethics and key ethical issues in community-based projects and apply ethical principles to decision-making and problem-solving in advocacy and organizing;
5. Act with professional conduct and ethical reflection and foster empathetic thinking and open-mindedness;
6. Produce original and innovative solutions to contemporary social-justice problems, based upon the critical evaluation and effective analysis of (a) historical and nascent arguments, hypotheses, and theories; (b) existing institutional and cultural practices, both successful and problematic; and (c) relevant evidence and data;
7. Identify, build awareness, and influence the passage of more equitable and just solutions through the creation and implementation of effective media, social, and organizational strategies;
8. Describe the connections between academic disciplines and demonstrate the ability to apply insights from one discipline to issues in another discipline; and
9. Reflect upon practical field experiences and draw conclusions about future career possibilities.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:

Note: Only six hours of courses in the major may double-count in other areas of the student’s BA major requirements.