Affiliated Programs
Affiliated programs at the university are those programs which include a history component to their curriculum. While History provides a fascinating field of study in its own right, we strongly encourage our students to explore the many opportunities for packaging the study of history in a double major or major/minor combination. History, either as a major or a minor, is a wonderful complement to interdisciplinary fields like:
Renaissance Program
International Studies
Catholic Studies
Justice and Peace Studies
Social Sciences
For example, UST's Renaissance Program allows you to major in History and minor in Business. Such combinations ensure a rich and meaningful educational experierence that will lay the foundation for lifelong learning and growth without sacrificing the practical realities of preparing for a career in education, law, communications, business, government, or the non-profit sector.
Program Descriptions
International Studies
This major seeks to give the student a basic understanding of the contemporary international system. It combines study in economics, history and political science with a concentration in one of these fields, along with the study of a foreign language beyond the College’s general education requirement. The program enables students to relate international interests to a broad range of careers including government, international business, nonprofit associations and teaching.
Students graduating with a major in international studies should have adequate preparation for their professional lives, and the capacity for intellectually stimulating lives. They will be capable of critical thought and writing in the discipline. They will have pursued opportunities for broader governmental and international experience, and should be well-prepared to undertake post-baccalaureate studies.
For more information, click here.
Social Sciences
The major in the social sciences is intended for the liberal arts student who wishes to become familiar with the perspective of the four disciplines traditionally defined as the social sciences – economics, history, political science, and sociology & criminal justice – and who wishes at the same time to study more intensively one of those disciplines. In requiring both introductory and advanced courses in each of the disciplines, irrespective of the area of concentration, the major provides both opportunity and challenge for the student seriously interested in understanding the order, structure and interrelationships involved in human behavior.
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Catholic Studies
The Department of Catholic Studies allows students to encounter the broad and diverse expressions of Catholic culture. While grounded in Catholic philosophy and theology, the curriculum engages students with the imaginative and sacramental expressions of Catholic life in literature, the arts, social systems and personal experience. The interdisciplinary dimension gives students insight into Catholicism’s dynamic interaction with and interpenetration of cultures, traditions, and intellectual life throughout history. By examining the role it has played in various cultures, students are challenged to take seriously Catholicism’s transforming power in every aspect of intellectual, spiritual, and social life.
Faculty are united by a profound respect for Catholicism, and are committed to a high degree of interaction among themselves as well as with students. Students thus enter into a community at once faithful and intellectual.
The curriculum can appeal to students of any faith tradition who seek to deepen their knowledge of Catholicism’s rich and living heritage. Its interpersonal approach and opportunities for sustained reflection on important issues invite students to a more profound and mature experience of faith.
Students graduating with a major in Catholic studies will have a knowledge of the living Catholic tradition, and will be conversant with resources from the Catholic intellectual tradition that will permit them to explore critically the history and contemporary significance of Catholicism. They will be familiar with major Catholic figures from a variety of cultural and historical settings, and will be able to demonstrate a knowledge of the complex and broad history of the Catholic intellectual tradition.
The major consists of 36 credits: 16 credits in required core courses, 12 credits in required distribution area electives, and 8 credits in approved electives (4 credits in approved electives for double majors). No more than 12 credits, cross-listed or otherwise, in any one discipline outside of Catholic Studies may be applied toward the requirements for a major without permission of the chairs of both departments.
The minor consists of 20 credits: 8 credits in required core courses, 8 credits in required distribution area electives, and 4 credits in approved electives.
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Justice and Peace Studies
Justice and peace studies is an interdisciplinary program designed to prepare students to be responsible critics of contemporary societies and effective agents for positive social transformation. Core courses for the major and minor, and the pattern of the program in general, make use of the four stages of the Circle of Praxis:
1. Experience (actual and vicarious) of poverty, injustice, violence and marginalization.
2. Descriptive analysis: Empirical study of the economic, political, social, and cultural realities of society, and the historical events that produce them.
3. Normative analysis: Moral judgment on existing societies; study of alternative possibilities; and analysis of the moral values at stake.
4. Action possibilities: Strategies and skills for transforming society from its present condition to a better condition.
The justice and peace studies program is strongly interdisciplinary and interfaith. It promotes understanding and appreciation of widely diverse ideologies, cultures, and world views. Special attention is given to the rich tradition of Roman Catholic social thought in the context of pluralistic world societies.
Students graduating with a major in justice and peace studies will understand how the circle of praxis works, as well as the role of each of its components (see above). They will also know how to use skills associated with each component. They will know the principles of active nonviolence, how it operates to promote social change, and several historical examples of its use. Students will also learn the techniques and uses of other methods of social change and how to judge when to use each method effectively. They will be able to engage in respectful dialogue with people who value and propose responses to violence and injustice that differ widely from their own. They will understand and be able to use conflict resolution skills in personal life and small groups, and they will understand how these techniques are used in inter-group and international conflicts. They will have developed the personal skills and confidence to work effectively in organizations committed to justice and peace.
While all core courses utilize all four steps of the circle of praxis, JPST 250 concentrates on experience and descriptive analysis, and THEO 305 concentrates on normative analysis. The others concentrate on action possibilities.
JPST 250 and THEO 305 require extensive student writing and discussion. One elective course, JPST 385, typically incorporates a service-learning, action research, or inquiry-based research component that connects the classroom setting to experiences in local, domestic or global communities.
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