Major Comparison Charts Narrative

I found two Colleges that offered programs similar to the Peace and Social Justice major I am proposing at Berea College—St. Thomas College in Minnesota and [name of second school]. I have made comparisons between the core courses of the majors and then comparisons to the focus in Sustainability and Environmental Studies that I want to include. The courses that have no direct comparisons are noted by the phrase, "no comparable course," with an explanation below as to how I will meet that requirement.

The core classes required for the Justice and Peace Studies degree at St. Thomas College are very similar to the core courses of the Peace and Social Justice Studies Independent Major I am proposing. They both require an introductory course, a course concentrating on the theology of peace and justice, a course focusing on examples of active non violence in society, a course about resolving (or transforming) conflict, and a course involving the methods of Peace and Social Justice. Both also require an active experiential learning course and an internship. The descriptive analysis courses and normative analysis courses from St. Thomas do not line up perfectly with the classes I have chosen but I tried to choose ones with the same or similar course levels, and the same basic subject, although this could not be done for all courses.

There are several instances where my curriculum differs from St. Thomas College's. St. Thomas requires Theologies in Peace and Justice, but there is no comparable course at Berea. However, I will be taking REL 218: Voices of Nonviolence, which should provide some of this content. Also, I will have two experiential-learning courses, rather than the one required at St. Thomas. I believe this will better prepare me for my future educational and career goals. And we do not offer any course directly related to ENVR 212: Social Dynamics & the Environ., but some of this content would be included in other courses in my proposed. Major. Lastly, on the normative analysis section, St. Thomas required four courses, but I listed five, because it seemed that two courses might be needed to meet the focus of the IDSC 461 course at St. Thomas. Also, we do not offer an Environmental Law course in the Catalog. Instead, I chose to take SENS 386: Agroecology as a fourth normative analysis course to support my focus on Sustainability and Environmental Studies.

[The student then would go on to explain the differences between the program being proposed and the major at the second school's major chosen for the purpose of modeling his/her Independent Major curriculum.]

SAMPLE IM COMPARISON CHART 7/10/09 St. Thomas College Berea College http://www.stthomas.edu/catalog/printed/2008/files/Justi ceandPeaceStudi.pdf

Core Classes Corresponding Core Classes JPST 250: Intro. to Justice & Peace Studies PSJ 100: Foundations of Peace & Soc. Just. THEO 305: Theologies of Justice and Peace No comparable course—see narrative JPST 280: Active Nonviolence REL 218: Voices of Non-Violence JPST 470: Conflict Resolution PSJ 110: Conflict Transformation JPST 472: Just. & Peace Methods & Res. PSJ 205: P&SJ: Theories and Practices JPST 473: Vocational Internship Seminar PSJ 486: Peace and Social Justice Capstone OR SENS 460: SENS Capstone

Experiential Learning (1 Course) Experiential Learning (2 Courses) Significant Experience of Poverty, Injustice, WST 231: A New World is Necessary Violence, or Marginalization (Short-term trip to Southern Mexico) AND PSJ 395: Internship—see narrative

Students must choose 4 of the descriptive analysis Focus: Sustainability and Environ. Studies courses. I would choose: ENVR 151: Humans & the Environment SENS 100: Intro to SENS SOCI 110: Social Problems SOC 327: Crime and Deviance ECON 211: Current Economic Issues ECO 102: Microeconomics ENVR 212: Social Dynamics & the Environ. (Met with combinations of other courses on chart, including AFR 225, SOC 110)

Students must then choose four Normative Analysis (see Narrative) from the normative analysis courses. I would choose: BLAW 351: Environmental Law No comparable course—see narrative ENVR 301: Environmental Ethics AFR 225: Environmental Justice IDSC 461: Environmental Studies Twin SOC 110: Problems with American Institutions AND Cities: Soc. Dimensions of Envir. Change SENS 340: Intro to Ecological Design—see narrative POLS 375: American Political Thought PSC 201: American Political Thought No comparable course SENS 386: Agroecology—see narrative

15 Required Courses 15 Required Courses

SAMPLE IM COMPARISON CHART 7/10/09