Visit www.hecua.org and/or contact Dave Schuettler dschuett@css.edu for additional information.

The program addresses current issues such as globalization, the environment, oil politics, Plan Colombia, and other local and international issues as students learn from individuals who help make change possible. Students also learn to compare and contrast models of community participation, organization, development, and social change. A home-stay, a hands-on internship, and an independent-study opportunity all are designed to meet students’ learning goals. Field seminars with local experts and activists provide an intensive immersion into Latin American life and culture. Students must have completed at least 2 years of college-level Spanish.

Students examine the historical, political, and religious roots of the conflict in Northern Ireland, the prospects for peace, and the progress being made. Through readings, lectures, discussions, internships, group study projects, and field experiences, this program invites interaction with people involved in social change. Democracy and Social Change explores theoretical approaches to understanding conflict and its transformation as well as the processes underway in Northern Ireland to create a sustainable democracy. Classes are held at the University of Ulster with field study in selected regions of Northern Ireland.

To understand the development of the Scandinavian welfare states in a time of globalization and multiculturalism, students critically analyze a wide range of topics such as globalization theories, nation-building and national identity, governance and political party systems, European integration, histories of racialization, international aid politics, sexuality, and environmentalism. Three interrelated courses and a volunteer placement/internship provide unique perspectives on how the Norwegian social democracy in particular and Scandinavian welfare states in general are working to address the challenges posed by recent increases in immigration and cultural and ethnic diversity.

This program immerses students in communities working for social change by using art as a catalyst for dialogue and civic engagement. Creative practices of all kinds are embraced as essential tools for participatory democracy and social justice. In classroom seminars, field visits, and a professional internship, students examine the impact of art and culture on communities and the unique ways that creative work like performance, writing, visual art, music, and dance, can address pressing social issues by making them visible and real. Social and cultural identity, democracy, racism, and power structures are just some of the issues students grapple with and respond to through the lens of art, culture, and social change.

This program focuses on the economy, housing systems, education, welfare, government policies, the criminal justice system, regional segregation by race and class, and institutional oppression. Connecting these issues is at the core of the program, and instead of just learning about problems, students explore solutions and become engaged in organizations committed to social transformation in class and at a structured internship. Through critical thinking set into action, students analyze policy, lobby elected officials, and engage communities. Students focus on learning the basics of organizing communities and workplaces, persuading others to become critically engaged, and becoming effective advocates for various issues and communities.

This interdisciplinary, field-based course explores the connection between agriculture and the environment, provides a first-hand experience of food systems, and analyzes the environmental, economic, political, social and cultural issues that define modern farming. Utilizing the lenses and tools of sociology, economics, philosophy, ecology, and agronomy, we critically examine the notion of sustainability as it applies to the food system. Through lectures, in-class discussions, reading seminars, written assignments, and field study, students will examine a variety of farms as well as rural and urban communities as case studies. The course uses an action/reflection model to equip students to critically analyze the environment and agriculture from a variety of different perspectives. Students spend three intensive days on a sustainable farm, working with the farm family and completing a series of interviews with family and community members.

This HECUA program explores struggles and movements for racial equality from the 1960s to the present, and dares to ask questions about racial justice in America today. During the one-month program, students meet with civil rights activists active in the 1960s and those who are active now, and with lawyers, politicians, educators, and youth to see firsthand how America's racial present is linked to its past. The program is based in Jackson, Mississippi, where students stay at Jackson State University, one of America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Mississippi typified the "Deep South" during the era of Jim Crow, and in many ways continues to be racially and politically divided. In and near Jackson and during trips to Alabama and Tennessee, students explore the past and current issues related to health, education, culture, and community organizing.