Peace Studies Minor
Peace Studies is a response to the serious problems facing humanity, including war, violence, and oppression.
Problems such as these reach well beyond any single academic discipline, and require a sharing of research and
analysis across the spectrum of knowledge.
At its core, Peace Studies asks: How do we build and sustain
peaceful and just societies? Peace Studies is an opportunity
to devote part of your college career to the problems of war,
violence, and oppression. More importantly, it is a place to explore
what we can do about them. What are our responses to a world
hungering for peace and justice? What can we do for the victims of
poverty, war, and oppression?
What can I do with a Peace Studies Minor?
Peace Studies now encompasses the study of nonviolence, social
justice, and the root causes of war as well as conflict mediation
and transformation, transitional justice, and post-conflict
development. “Practitioners” can be found working to limit violence in
families and impoverished neighborhoods, helping reconstruct civil
society in war-torn regions, and building sustainable communities
in the U.S. and overseas. They work for positive social change
through non-profit organizations, government agencies, and business
firms in jobs such as project coordinators, media specialists,
lobbyists, grant writers, counselors, area specialists, and lawyers.
A variety of excellent graduate programs are available! For more
information on careers and graduate studies, visit the links at
www.peacejusticestudies.org.
A minor in Peace Studies consists of:
- An Introduction to Peace Studies (PAX 200, 3 cr.)
- Twelve credits in an area of concentration, chosen from the following:
- Conflict Studies
- Global Development
- Social Justice & Human Rights
- A senior seminar or individually planned thesis project (PAX 490 or 491, 3 cr.)
For more information, visit the Peace Studies page in the UWSP course catalog, or contact the program coordinator, Dr. Valerie Barske at vbarske@uwsp.edu.