Consortium on Undergraduate Law and Justice Programs

 

 

Program Name:  School of Justice and Social Inquiry

 

Institutional Affiliation:

              Arizona State University, a large public research institution

                                   

Program Description/Mission:

The Bachelor of Science degree in Justice Studies is designed for students interested in social inquiry in the areas of justice, law and social change. Students pursue careers in the areas of law and society, civil and human rights, environmental protection, hunger and homelessness, immigration, peace and justice, public policy, law enforcement, probation, or victim advocacy. Other students pursue advance degrees in law or graduate school. Our interdisciplinary program allows students the flexibility to pursue the broader subject of justice or specialize in one of five concentrated areas of study.

·         Citizenship, migration and human rights

·         Globalization, sustainability and economic justice

·         Law, policy and social change

·         Media, technology and culture

·         Social identities and communities

Justice Studies students develop transferable skills including critical thinking, oral and written discourse, and problem solving. Students actively participate in their education through discussion, cooperative learning, field trips and case-based classroom formats. They are encouraged to link their studies with real world problems by engaging in research projects with our faculty, internship placements and volunteer work with community agencies. Justice Studies, in conjunction with Barrett, The Honors College at ASU, provides an honors program for undergraduates of exceptional ability. Justice Studies also offers an honors colloquium every year.

 

Organizational Profile

 

Twenty tenure-track appointed faculty; one full-time lecturer; numerous graduate instructors and several adjuncts from professional fields.  Seven full-time staff offering advising and other services to students and faculty.

 

Affiliated with many schools and departments throughout Arizona State University through its Graduate Faculty (numbering more than 60), who sit on doctoral committees and work with the school in curricular development and graduate admissions. 

           

 

Curriculum Overview:

The school has four core required courses: Introduction to Justice Studies, Methods, Statistics, and Justice Theory.  Students must qualify for upper-division courses.  The School also requires four courses in related fields for the major, two for the minor.  Internships are available but not required, service learning, collaborative research and thesis and honors options available to qualifying students.

             

Most Distinctive or Innovative Features:

Our faculty and students are committed to scholarship that identifies just solutions to complex social problems. We address justice in many forms, working from disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. Many fields represented in faculty ranks, including anthropology, criminology, geography, political science, science and technology studies, sociology, law and psychology.  Major concern with global and local level analyses of justice concerns.  High-performing faculty with ties to emerging centers of strength in a rapidly evolving university on an international border.

           

 

Program Development History or Challenges:

The school began in 1972 as a criminal-justice center.  It became a full-service school in 1983 offering a major (Bachelor of Science) and a minor; at the graduate level the School offers Master’s, Ph.D., joint J.D./Ph.D. and dual Master’s (with Anthropology). Originally in the College of Public Programs, it is now in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Currently a Bachelor of Arts and undergraduate certificates in human rights and in socio-legal studies are in final stages of development.

 

Contact Information:

            Director:                                   Marjorie S. Zatz                      

             

            Address:                                   PO Box 870403

                                                            Arizona State University

                                                            Tempe, AZ 85287-0403

           

Phone:                          480-965-7682

 

            Website:                                   http://sjsi.clas.asu.edu   

 

            Email:                                       justiceinfor@asu.edu

 

            Fax:                                          480-965-9199