ABOUT THE CENTER
The Center for Peace and Justice Education is an academic unit in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as a division of the Office for Mission and Ministry. The Center offers a major and minor, supports a number of related student organizations, and sponsors various lectures and events throughout the year.
The interdisciplinary academic program in Peace and Justice Studies, open to all students in the University, offers a selection of courses which critically engage structures of violence, power, privilege and oppression. The major and minor provide students with an opportunity to examine the complex problems of our time, rooted in the Catholic social tradition. Students in the program focus on the components of a moral and just society, reflect on the alternative models for socially responsible resolution of injustice and conflict, and learn the necessary skills to be advocates of a just and peaceful world.
The Center for Peace and Justice Education also coordinates programming and opportunities for active engagement within and beyond the Villanova community. The Center houses a variety of student organizations that educate and advocate on specific issues including human rights, the sacredness of life, hunger, homelessness, environmental justice and peace. The Center sponsors numerous lectures, films and faculty research lunches; presents annual awards for outstanding work in peace and justice; and publishes the Journal for Peace and Justice Studies twice a year.
The Center explicitly carries out the Catholic and Augustinian mission of the University by contributing to the search for peace and social justice through education rooted in the Catholic Social Tradition. Through its various components, the Center strives to help the University community understand the essential elements of a moral and just society, reflect on models for socially responsible resolution of injustice and conflict, and learn the necessary skills to be advocates for a just and peaceful world.
Components of the Center:
- Interdisciplinary academic program in peace and justice.
- Education in peace and justice issues through student organizations.
- Education of faculty, staff, students and the local community in peace and justice issues through speakers, forums, workshops and films.
- The development of skills through training and experience to effectively participate in the process of building a more just, compassionate and peaceful global society.
- Publication of the Journal for Peace and Justice Studies.
The Center for Peace and Justice Education collaborates with other units of the Office for Mission and Ministry including the Villanova partnership with Catholic Relief Services and Campus Ministry and the St. Thomas of Villanova Center for the Common Good.
Students in the Peace and Justice major join with peers studying in the Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies.
The Center also partners with a number of other units around the University including:
Learning Goal I: Identify barriers to justice and sources of conflict
Learning Objectives
- Identify social, political, religious, and natural barriers that create conflict or injustice
- Demonstrate awareness of historical and other contexts in which conflict and injustice occur
- Offer a careful analysis of conflict or injustice with specific examples
Learning Goal II: Assess conditions necessary for social justice and peaceful relations
Learning Objectives
- Identify operative normative frameworks regarding peace and justice
- Provide a coherent argument for normative claims regarding peace and justice
- Demonstrate sensitivity to alternative frameworks and anticipate challenges to normative claims regarding peace and justice
Learning Goal III: Create practical strategies to realize social justice and peaceful relations
Learning Objectives
- Articulate a practical strategy/solution to a conflict or injustice that is social, political, religious, or personal
- Demonstrate an awareness of the complexity of practical strategies/solutions and address potential challenges
- Demonstrate an awareness of a broad, historical view of social change, including both individual/small-scale action as well as systemic/large-scale initiatives
The Center for Peace and Justice Education is committed to recognizing, defending, and promoting the sacredness of all people in and through our many differences. Diversity is a fundamental component of our work to foster intellectual, social, and spiritual growth as individuals in an intentional community within a global context. The failure to value equity and diversity drives the many ways in which violence and injustice occur. We are dedicated to understanding, revealing, and addressing these failures through our academic pursuits, and we are committed to the proactive inclusion of people and ideas from different cultures and backgrounds.
SUPPORT THE CENTER
Your donations support the Center in its mission to contribute to the search for peace and social justice through education rooted in the Catholic social tradition.
COLLEGE GUIDING PRINCIPLES
COLLEGE MISSION
DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
SUSTAINABLITY