This objective within Social Justice Education focuses on introducing students to preliminary concepts of social justice through exposure to cultures other than of their own. Providing students with the opportunity to engage with others of varying backgrounds allows students to understand difference within the global society and begin to think critically about their position within the world around them. Specifically, this objective focuses on exposing students to the characteristics, values, customs, and beliefs of various cultures and communities through active participation and learning.
The second objective within Social Justice Education aims at providing the IUPUI community with the tools and resources to understand specific social identities and social justice concepts in a structured manner through consultations, workshops, and trainings.
Participants will be able to show knowledge and understanding of varying concepts to create inclusive, culturally competent environments for people of diverse backgrounds. Training student leaders, faculty and staff increases their capacity as members of the IUPUI community with confidence and understanding of themselves and others.
Examples of how this objective is achieved include providing Unconscious Bias trainings for the School of Medicine for faculty, staff, and students to build awareness and understanding of their misconceptions and bias of underrepresented communities.
In addition, numerous trainings regarding diversity, inclusion, social justice, and inequity have been implemented for First Year Seminar classes, which helps incoming students learn how to navigate the difference in their communities to create inclusive environments.
The final objective encompasses all elements of co-curricular learning objectives by building on the capacity-building mentioned in Objectives 1 and 2 and moving students, staff and faculty into advocacy for social change.
This objective is currently achieved through multiple programs implemented through the Social Justice Scholars (SJS). The impact of the SJS program is twofold.
First, the SJS program provides a platform for 17 selected student scholars to gain the tools, knowledge, and opportunities to promote positive social change at IUPUI through professional and leadership development implemented by Social Justice Education staff.
Second, the 17 student scholars use their newfound knowledge and skills to create ways for IUPUI faculty, staff, and students to engage in critical conversations about difference, inequities, and social issues. Each of the SJS programs are designed to increase participants’ ability to communicate, engage, and learn from constituents of diverse cultural, social, racial, religious, ethnic, and class backgrounds.
Each month, numerous events are implemented through diverse methods of teaching and learning, such as dialogues, workshops, and artistic expression. These forms of learning increase participants’ Depth and Breadth of Knowledge of issues that can affect their worldviews.
As a result, Social Justice Education programs challenge and develop participants to explore societal issues, ethics, and values. Participants are informed in a manner that influences their work like students, professionals, educators, and citizens while evoking a passion for change for a socially just and inclusive IUPUI community.