Our Programs
The seven programs of the Center for Social Justice work together to provide practical and academic tools to better understand our local and global communities. We offer practical, issues-based tools and experience alongside an interdisciplinary curriculum that focuses on the complexities and critical analysis of structural inequalities and injustices within a variety of fields.
Social Justice Minor: The Center for Social Justice works closely with the students working toward a Minor in Social Justice, and connects students with our community partners and internship opportunities. Courses offered through the Social Justice Minor introduce students to the complexities and critical analysis of structural inequalities and injustices.
Activists-in-Residence: Every semester, we bring a social justice activist to campus. The activists come from a variety of social justice backgrounds and travel to Norman from around the world. Activists hold workshops, lead discussion groups, teach classes, screen movies, assist in planning projects and campaigns, and are available to students for informal conversations.
Internships: Students seeking a Minor in Social Justice are required to complete a for-credit internship during their course of study. Internships are facilitated by the Program Coordinator for the Center for Social Justice and supervised by a WGS faculty member.
Engaged Research: Engaged research operates on the principle of mutual benefit between participating students and professors or various community organizations. Outcomes include research and solutions that lead to long-term progress and development for all participants. Graduate Research Fellows: This program facilitates networking and interdisciplinary collaborations, fosters an interdisciplinary understanding of social justice, supports social justice research, and serves as a venue to find partners in research.
Service Learning: Helping to build a collaborative relationship between the University and the community, the Center for Social Justice fosters service-learning courses available to all OU students.
Social Justice Awards: Each year the Center for Social Justice honors one student and one faculty member who work who demonstrate compassion, courage, and leadership on behalf of social justice. Nominees from across campus are people who work to eliminate discrimination, oppression, and injustice locally and/or globally. In the spring of 2011, Center for Social Justice established the Clyde Snow Social Justice Award to honor individuals and organizations whose work contributes to the re-humanization of victims of human rights abuses.
Social Justice Events and Activism: Our events integrate social justice awareness and promote the importance of activism in students’ everyday lives. The Center’s events include film festivals, workshops, awareness campaigns, fundraisers, discussion groups, art shows, book clubs, symposiums, lunches, lectures, etc.