Make a Difference
The Fostering Just Communities Certificate is an interdisciplinary program designed to encourage and facilitate place-based education in urban settings, with an emphasis on issues of social justice. This program is open to all majors.
Certificate Curriculum and Courses
This 12-credit undergraduate certificate program is interdisciplinary, requires a place-based learning component, and focuses on social justice in urban communities. In this innovative program, the community becomes the curriculum.
Curricular Pathways
To make the certificate as accessible as possible for a diverse array of Miami students, there are three curricular pathways that can lead to the completion of the certificate. Each pathway includes four pedagogical components that build an infrastructure for a learning experience that will foster empathic, community-minded future professionals.
Click on plus button at the bottom of this Accordion BLOCK (not accordion tab) to create a new tab. Select Accordion TAB block to edit tab headline. Select nested blocks within accordion tab to edit content.
-
Pedagogical Components
- Preparatory: SJS 215 – Empower I
- Experiential: Student Teaching or 120-hour Semester Internship (either Immersive Residential or Not)
- Reflective: EDT 420A – Junior Seminar (2 credits)
- Culminating: EDT 419 – Student Teaching Seminar or FSW 412 or 413 Senior Seminar Social Work I or II OR Senior Seminar in Student’s Discipline
-
Pedagogical Components
- Preparatory: SJS 215 – Empower I (on the Oxford campus)
- Experiential: Immersive Residential Semester with community placements or student teaching
- Reflective: EDL 377 – Service Learning
- Culminating: ARC 427 – American City Since 1940
-
Pedagogical Components
- Preparatory: SJS 215 – Empower I
- Experiential: 3-Week 120-hour Residential Immersive Internship (CSIP) OR 120-hour Non-Residential Semester Internship in an urban community organization focused on social justice
- Reflective: EDT 402 – Pro-Seminar in Fostering Just Communities
- Culminating: Approved Course in Student’s Discipline + 1-Credit Independent Study
- ARC 426/526 Architecture and Society (3 credits)
- ART 395 Art Across the Curriculum (3 credits)
- GEO 458/558 Cities of Difference (3 credits)
- GEO 462/562 Public Space (3 credits)
- GEO 493 Urban Field Experience (3 credits)
- PSY 325 Psychology of Prejudice and Minority Experience (3 credits)
- PSY 326 Psychology of Women (3 credits)
- PSY 328 Psychology of Stigma and Victimization (3 credits)
- SJS/SOC 323 Social Justice and Change (3 credits)
- THE 424/524 Practice & Pedagogy in Theatre (3 credits)
Skills Employers Search For in Graduates
The Certificate program helps develop the following competencies actively sought after by employers (statistics are from a survey of employers conducted by Peter D. Hart Associates for the Association of American Colleges and Universities in 2006 and 2011):
Intercultural Skills/Humanitarianism
71% of employers surveyed want colleges to place more emphasis on intercultural competence (working in diverse groups).
Ethical Reasoning
75% of employers surveyed want colleges to place more emphasis on ethical decision-making.
Civic Engagement
52% of employers surveyed want colleges to place more emphasis on civic knowledge, participation, and engagement.
Problem Solving
64% of employers surveyed want colleges to place more emphasis on complex problem solving.
Admission and Aid
Explore what it means to be a college student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where students prepare to go anywhere and everywhere. We’ll be here to help every step of the way as you prepare for college admission, enrollment, and success.
Contact Us
Undergraduate Admission
513-529-2531
[email protected]
Department of Teaching, Curriculum, and Educational Inquiry
McGuffey Hall 401
Oxford, OH 45056
513-529-6443
[email protected]
[email protected]