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Fostering Just Communities Certificate

In this innovative program, the community becomes the curriculum. The Fostering Just Communities Certificate is an interdisciplinary program designed to encourage and facilitate place-based education in urban settings. Open to all majors, students enrolled in the 12-credit-hour FJC Certificate will collaborate with community members in project and place-based approaches to learning.

Contact us at fjcommunities@MiamiOH.edu.

Goal

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.

Curricular Pathways

Pathway 1: Urban Cohort

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

Pathway 2: Fall Residency Program

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

Pathway 3: Flex Plan

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 FJC 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):

(1) Intercultural Skills/Humanitarianism: 71% of employers surveyed want colleges to place more emphasis on intercultural competence (working in diverse groups)

(2) Ethical Reasoning: 75% of employers surveyed want colleges to place more emphasis on ethical decision-making

(3) Civic Engagement: 52% of employers surveyed want colleges to place more emphasis on civic knowledge, participation, and engagement

(4) Problem Solving: 64% of employers surveyed want colleges to place more emphasis on complex problem solving

Contact Us

Department of Teaching, Curriculum, and Educational Inquiry
McGuffey Hall 401
Oxford, OH 45056
513-529-6443
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