New for academic year 2024-2025
Students entering Mason in Fall 2024 or later will be required to take two Mason Core courses that have the Just Societies flag. Just Societies flags are added on to existing Mason Core Exploration courses in Arts, Global Contexts (coming in 2024-2025), Literature, Natural Science, and Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Students admitted prior to the Fall of 2024 are not required to take courses with a Just Societies flag but may wish to do so to further round out their general education program.
For more information on the upcoming enhancements to Mason Core, please see the Enhancements FAQ page.
Just Societies
The goal of Exploration courses with a Just Societies flag is to enable students to directly address questions about diverse perspectives and inequity as they engage with one another, and to identify how they can participate in processes for making change.
Required: Two courses with a Just Societies flag
Learning Outcomes:
Courses with a Just Societies flag must meet both of these outcomes, in addition to other required course outcomes related to the primary Mason Core Exploration category. Upon completing a Just Societies course, students will be able to:
- a) Define key terms related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as related to this course’s field/discipline and
b) Use those terms to engage meaningfully with peers about course issues - Articulate obstacles to justice and equity, and strategies for addressing them, in response to local, national, and/or global issues in the field/discipline
Course Approval Process
The Just Societies designation may be obtained in two ways:
- Existing Arts, Global Contexts (coming in 2024-2025), Literature, Natural Science, and/or Social and Behavioral Sciences Mason Core courses can be revised to include the Just Societies learning outcomes.
- A new course can be developed that meets the appropriate Arts, Global Contexts (coming in 2024-2025), Literature, Natural Science, or Social and Behavioral Sciences Mason Core learning outcomes as well as the learning outcomes for Just Societies. The review process is conducted simultaneously for both sets of outcomes.
To submit a course for the Just Societies category, please complete the proposal worksheet provided below. Two versions of the document are provided for your convenience. Submit one complete form, the course syllabus, and any applicable assignments to CIM when complete.
We strongly recommend faculty participate in a course development and proposal workshop, available in collaboration with the Stearns Center, prior to completing the proposal.
Review the course submissions guide for a more detailed overview.