Spring Semester Seminars

Experiential Learning Seminars with an immersion between Friday, March 5 and Sunday, March 14, 2010 (dates vary depending on the seminar) Online application will be available in mid-November.

Social Concerns Seminars are one-credit experiential and service-learning opportunities built around national and international immersion experiences. Students examine social issues from multiple perspectives, read relevant texts, study the Catholic social tradition and take an active role in building a learning community.

Appalachia Seminar
The goal of the Appalachia Seminar is to introduce students to the culture and social issues of the Appalachia region through community-based learning. The course provides the opportunity for active participation in the community and direct relationship with Appalachian people. Exploration begins in the orientation classes where students become acquainted with the history, culture, and challenges facing the region.

Children and Poverty Seminar
The goal of the Children and Poverty Seminar is to educate participants in issues affecting American children, such as foster care, AIDS and healthcare, the juvenile justice system, teen pregnancy, education and childcare. Students will begin their exploration during orientation sessions, which will examine current legislation and insights from educators and children's advocates.

Environmental Justice and Human Rights in the Aftermath of Katrina

Set in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, this seminar will explore domestic environmental issues from the perspective of minority communities in Louisiana that have suffered due to Hurricane Katrina. The seminar will analyze the nexus between historical social inequalities and current environmental injustices. To give students the tools to determine what environmental justice is, we will define and apply key concepts such as environmental racism, culture of poverty, justice, and equality. Students will further consider specific issues of water pollution and exposure to toxic substances emitted from chemical plants built in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

L'Arche Seminar in Disabilities Studies
L'Arche communities were created by Jean Vanier (winner of the Notre Dame Award for international humanitarian service) to provide places where persons with disabilities and people without disabilities can live and work together in the spirit of the beatitudes. In the process, the unique value and vocation of each person is affirmed. Students will stay in Washington D.C. residential home to worship, serve, and learn from the current L’Arche community residents.

Migrant Seminar
The goal of the Migrant Seminar is to introduce students to the cultural and social issues surrounding migrant farm labor through experiential learning. Such learning creates a strong foundation of knowledge through direct participation, allowing the development of relationships capable of revealing the diversity, culture, and life challenges of migrant farm workers. Exploration into the plight of migrant farm workers begins in the mandatory preparatory class sessions involving presentations, discussions, videos, and selected readings. The Seminar centers on a week-long trip to Immokalee, Florida during the semester break.

Healthcare Seminar: Washington, D.C.
As American citizens have begun calling for changes to our deteriorating health care system, politicians have responded by making health care reform a major issue in the upcoming elections.  As voters, we have a responsibility to evaluate our current system as well as the various proposals to reform it.  Furthermore, the Catholic Social Tradition invites persons of good will to pursue a health care system that raises the dignity of each person.  This seminar invites you to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of our health care system, explore the possibilities for the future of American health care, and ask how modifications might help create the society we hope to become.

 Other International Seminars/Opportunities

Chilean Poverty and Development Seminar

The Approaches to Poverty and Development Seminar in Santiago, Chile, is a multi-disciplinary course combining experiential and service learning with social analysis, theological reflection and ethical viewpoints. The Seminar is taught by Professor Isabel Donoso at the Jesuit University Alberto

Hurtado, which has many graduate and undergraduate academic resources in the social sciences, theology, and new forms of education.

The Center for Social Concerns also offers a seminar that does not include traveling over winter or spring break:

Take Ten   CSC 23855

Take Ten is a research-based violence prevention program and curriculum designed at the Robinson Community Learning Center. Volunteers work on a weekly basis with schoolchildren of all grades to teach them the skills needed to resolve conflict peacefully. Take Ten’s mission is to provide youth with positive alternatives to violence and build their capacity to make more informed choices when faced with conflict. Students participating in the Take Ten seminar will serve as Take Ten volunteers during the semester (February through April with training in January), being part of a team that works at a school in the area one time per week. Additionally, the readings and reflections will allow students to focus on understanding issues of youth and violence from various perspectives. There is a $15.00 fee. Contact: Ellen Kyes. Apply at Robinson Community Learning Center. Classes are on campus; the exact location will be announced later