Social Justice coordinating committee
The Social Justice Coordinating Committee (SJCC) is responsible for developing and implementing a unified vision and plan for integrating social justice across the curricular and co-curricular experience at Saint Mary’s College. The SJCC emerged from a finding and recommendation of the 2004 College Self-study for the Educational Effectiveness Review conducted by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The report found “considerable evidence that promoting social justice and civic engagement are central to the College’s mission and increasingly are desired outcomes of the Saint Mary’s Education." The SJCC was established to provide coordinated, institution-wide leadership for moving social justice to a more fully integrated place on our campus.
The SJCC consists of faculty, staff, and student representatives. The committee reports to the Academic Senate, President, Provost, and Vice Provost for Academics. The SJCC utilizes benchmarks to assist and guide faculty in developing, implementing, and assessing courses designed to promote Social Justice. Benchmarks ensure academic excellence and delineate Social Justice courses from other required curricular components within the undergraduate experience. The SJCC does not prescribe the methods in which benchmarks are met, respecting and nurturing instructors’ academic freedom to incorporate a variety of pedagogies and best practices. Through collaboration with CILSA, the SJCC offers resources, collegial assistance and professional development to faculty as they conceptualize, implement, and assess their courses. Pedagogical strategies include, but are not limited to: Jan-term courses, didactic methods, seminar format, case studies, service-learning, and community-based research (CBR).
The SJCC also works with other organizations and offices on campus to promote social justice and civic engagement through a speaker series, book & readings discussion groups, professional development, and retreats. The SJCC continues the work of a task force created as part of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Core Commitment Project designed as a two-year project to promote personal and social responsibility among undergraduates.
