Peace Studies Minor

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Students minoring in Peace Studies design their programs of study in consultation with a Peace Studies faculty advisor. The program is administered by the Peace Studies faculty who must approve all programs of study.

Students will choose a concentration that will help them in shaping a course of study with a clearly stated focus (the courses selected will be justified in terms of that concentration). Concentrations include: human rights; environmental peace, development, and sustainability; healing and well-being; conflict analysis, transformation, and peacebuilding; world order and just peace; as well as a Create Your Own concentration based on a student’s interests (student will work with advisor to craft the specifics of this concentration and what courses will fill it).

Required and Elective Courses

The minor consists of a minimum of 16 semester hours. Many courses within existing university departmental curricula are potentially relevant to the minor, and it is the responsibility of the student to design a program (in consultation with Peace Studies faculty) based on his or her own interests and field of specialization prior to submission of the program to the Peace Studies faculty for approval.

A minimum of seven hours of the minor must be devoted to three required courses (students may take all five of the PEAC classes if they wish) :

PEAC 200 (required)
One of the following three courses (3 credit hours required) Students may take more than one of the courses.
- PEAC 280
- PEAC 498 (this Independent Study may be taken as part of the Study Abroad Experience)
- PEAC 300
PEAC 499 (required) Students will prepare (under the direction of a Peace Studies faculty mentor) a Senior Portfolio of work produced in courses taken for the minor, show how they are all thematically connected, and prepare a public presentation of these examples of work.

Any additional credit hours needed to reach the 16 credit hours required for the minor will be made up of courses from other university departments that support the chosen concentration, selected by the student in consultation with the faculty mentor or the Director of Peace Studies. Courses taken for other majors or minors may be counted toward this minor.

Students complete a Program of Studies, listing the courses they plan to take; the Director of the Peace Studies Program must approve the Program of Studies.