Social Justice program

Undergrad minor

Help solve problems and create a more just world.

Throughout UW-La Crosse's social justice minor program students engage in assessing different forms and manifestations of inequality. They evaluate strategies and policies aimed at addressing these inequalities and propose new solutions based on those assessments and evaluations.

The social justice minor helps create critical thinkers who can act as interdisciplinary and intersectional problem solvers. The program is a part of UWL’s Race Gender and Sexuality Studies Department.

The social justice minor has surrounded me with inspiring people and has empowered me to advocate for a fair and equitable education system.

Mary Miller

Careers in social justice

A social justice minor pairs well with a number of majors and helps prepare students for a wide variety of careers.

Career paths

Business management
Education
Government and public policy
Health care and health care management
Human resources
Non-profit advocacy
Psychological services

QR Code for https://www.uwlax.edu/academics/social-justice/

What is social justice?

Social justice is fairness as it relates to rights, opportunities, and access to resources within society. This includes questions of housing, healthcare, political representation and participation, the economy and more.

What distinguishes UWL’s social justice minor?

Flexibility to choose your focus in an interdisciplinary field

Students can take courses from a wide variety of disciplines. Students can focus on social justice as it relates to environmental issues, planning and development, the economy, public policy, or a variety of other topics. After taking the introductory course (RGS or SOC 150: Introduction to Social Justice), minors can study a variety of social problems or choose to focus on one general issue. Either way, minors do so by choosing a set of five courses from a variety of departments, including: Anthropology, Economics, Educational Studies, English, Geography, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Public Administration, Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Recreation Management, and Sociology.

Learn to think in a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary fashion

The interdisciplinary framework of the program allows students to “surround” a problem and offer critical and complex solutions to critical and complex problems. These are precisely the skills that graduate school directors and employers are looking for.

Build skills for work, life

Each course requires students to assess different forms and manifestations of inequality, evaluate strategies and policies aimed at addressing these inequalities, and propose new solutions based on those assessments and evaluations.

Courses in the minor help sharpen minors’ skills in