Career & Postgraduate Opportunities
The Social Justice major is an interdisciplinary field of study that permits students to focus on social justice issues. Students may study social justice issues in local, national, and international arenas so that they may become more informed citizens and community leaders. In addition, the major prepares students for professional work in social justice related occupations. Social justice majors have pursued careers in
legislative advocacy, politics, government service, human services, human
rights and peace organizations, education, community organization, law
enforcement and law. The Social Justice Department provides paid internships for students majoring in social justice. Interns in the past have worked for Jewish Community Action, the White Earth Land Recovery, the Innocence Project, and many more.
Hamline Students Talk Social Justice
RACHAEL MILLS '15
Why have you chosen to major in social justice?
I chose to major in social justice because I am passionate about advocacy and
action. I believe it is important to educate myself about issues within our
social systems and learn skills that I can use to work towards creating social
change.
How do you plan to use your major in social justice after
graduating?
I plan on using my social justice degree from Hamline in
my future work. I love working with children and youth, and I hope to someday
be able to be a positive role model within an educational setting for young
adults who identity within the LGBTQ community. I do not have a completely set
plan for my future, but I am excited to see where my heart and passion for
social justice takes me!
What are some strengths of the program?
Hamline University's social justice program has many
strengths. Personally, I believe the professors are one of the most amazing
parts of the major. They care so deeply about the subjects they teach and about
the students in their classrooms. I admire their work and am grateful for the
opportunity to learn from them.
COLIN ROGERS '13
Why have you chosen to major in social justice?
I chose to major in Social Justice because it was
relevant to my interests, honestly. I like the idea of working towards equality
for all and thought studying Social Justice as a major would help give me a
background in pragmatic techniques to achieve that equality.
How do you plan to use your major in social justice?
I plan to get into social work. I'm not 100% sure whether
it will be a person-to-person situation, or a more structural level, but it's a
field which I see myself being able to achieve something in.
What are some strengths of the program?
The strengths of the program were being able to study a
wide range of social justice issues throughout the course of the major, and
more importantly, being able to cater one's education directly towards one's
interests. The classes within the major were diverse in their topics, which I
found beneficial for gaining a background in how social justice can be
achieved. The ability to develop my personal interests/goals for the major
through my internship and capstone project really allowed me to dive head first
into what made me most excited about within social justice.
NASTEHA AHMED '15
What are some strengths of the social justice program?
I believe that social justice is perfect for everyone because of
its flexibility. I know people who are in the sciences that are also majoring
in social justice which I believe is great because you don’t see a lot of that.
For social justice my area of concentration is international studies, which
allowed me to take courses in different fields like sociology, economics, and
history while it was all being counted for my major. This can change depending
on what you want to take from this major. The social justice department here
has also helped me find an internship with Lutheran Social Services so that I
have more of an idea of what I can get into. There are so many more strengths
that the program has and I believe it all depends on what you want to take away
from it.
Why did you choose to major in social justice?
Social Justice was just kind of a way to encompass everything I was interested
in whether it was sociology, helping people or the law. It just fit very
nicely. I was not really sure what I wanted to do and I had taken a bunch of
classes to feel out the waters a little bit and social justice was going to be
able to help me combine all of that knowledge into one major.
Why have you chosen to major in social justice?
I chose to major in social justice because I have always been
interested in human rights and I thought that this was a way that I could
potentially do more with this path. I believed that this path was a way that I
could one day help with the development of my other country, which is Somalia.
I also chose social justice because it went great with the other field I was
interested in, which was political science. Studying political science was a
way for me to focus on the politics part of things while having social justice
as a way to focus more on the human aspect.
What do you plan to do with your degree in social justice?
With the combination of social justice and political science, I
hope to work with the non-governmental organization, non-profits, or the U.N.
to strengthen my knowledge of the developing countries and about how aid is
distributed. I hope that I might one day go back and help with the development
of Somalia.
ADAM VETVICK '09
What has your degree in social justice prepared you for?
My social justice degree has helped me out a lot
it really prepared me, because it gave me the opportunity to analyze different
systems... Social Justice really allowed me and gave me the opportunity to
study systems of government and law and to understand how and why they
work...The fact that i can take a system, deconstruct it, see how it
works, and then reconstruct it has been invaluable.
What
have you done with your degree in social justice?
Immediately after graduating I was fortunate
enough to have a job working with youth services in Ramsey County with the All
Children Excel (A.C.E) program. I was a case manager for some of the most at
risk children we have in Ramsey County. Some of these kids would come in at the
age of ten, because they would have committed some sort of a crime and you
can't be charged under the age of ten...We would do health development,
community development, and work with their family and provide services for
them...Then I moved to Chicago and worked for Easter Seals Metropolitan in
Chicago, which is a larger non-profit. I worked as a job developer with a
focus on youth and young people who were from around 13 to 20 years old, helped them
develop job readiness skills, job awareness, and helped them find and secure
employment. Also with Eastern Seals I ended up becoming the employment
coordinator for the whole program.
Why should students consider majoring in social justice?
It is a "choose your own adventure." When you really decide what you
want to focus on you can pick from a variety of classes. You can really expand
your horizons...it allows you to focus in on something you are really
passionate about and that you care about...At first I was nervous, because it
was too broad for me, but it really allowed me to really focus in on one aspect
of work that I liked. It allowed me to craft my own major and focus. That
freedom in and of itself is something that we are not allowed a lot of times in
a higher education institution...The faculty are top notch. They really care
about their students.