For Tufts students passionate about contributing positive changes to a world of conflict, the Peace and Justice Studies Program (PJS) offers the opportunity to better understand global challenges and how to confront such issues pragmatically. An emerging field, PJS focuses on problems related to the broad concepts of peace, justice and conflict resolution.
"I think peace and justice are issues that transcend many of the traditional academic boundaries by looking at problems in a larger framework," Professor R. Bruce Hitchner, director of the PJS program, said. "They have a structural quality, which is that they are part of a broader human condition."
With an interdisciplinary structure spanning the humanities and social sciences, the program has grown since its establishment to be one of the most developed in the field, according to Hitchner.
"Tufts' program in Peace and Justice Studies is one of the flagship programs of this major in the country," he said. "It has been around a while and it has a strong reputation."
Dale Bryan, assistant director of the program, explained that, much like the university as a whole, the PJS program pushes to develop its students into active citizens.
"The program has always been in the business of educating students, the broader campus and surrounding communities about issues of peace and justice with an aim toward civic engagement for peace and justice," Bryan said. "That's always been the mission of the program."
Although students must fulfill a set of core courses, there is flexibility in the choice of these courses that allows PJS majors to develop their specific interests.
"It's a place where they can fully explore both academically and experientially that which concerns them," Bryan said. "And it's a place where they are supported in that and pushed to be more rigorous in that pursuit."
Majors choose their core courses from the program's five areas of emphasis: war and peace, justice, violence and peace in culture, conflict resolution and creating social change.
"In terms of skills, students are very different from each other within the program," said Professor Paul Joseph, who will be teaching Introduction to Peace and Justice Studies this semester. "There is no single pathway within peace studies, no single perspective, as to how to make a contribution."
According to senior Christopher Larson, a PJS major, the program truly provides its students with the opportunity to specialize in what they're passionate about.
"The PJS major is, I think, an interesting breed of student," Larson said. "Every single person I've met in the program has a very, very focused approach to what they want to do, and the PJS program is really there to give them the resources and knowledge to tailor their approach."
According to Hitchner, an advantage of the program is that students are able to focus on domestic issues, a feature that distinguishes PJS from the International Relations Program.
"We don't have borders. That is to say, we're not just international and we're not just domestic," Hitchner said. "We are a program that reflects the fact that many of the issues that we face around the globe are ones that transcend time and space."
Regardless of their concentration, students are encouraged to pursue their interests not only theoretically in the classroom, but also practically outside of it. The program facilitates experiential learning through an internship with an organization for social change as a requirement for the major.
"It was decided early on that it would be a requirement that students be involved experientially with groups, agencies and organizations that are involved in social change or public interest work," Bryan said. "We cultivate the desire to participate, the sense of personal and social responsibility to be engaged in the world."
Larson agreed that the PJS program is dedicated to supporting students who are dedicated to working for social change.
"That's really what PJS is about — constantly trying to develop whatever skills or talents or interests you have in trying to solve a particular problem that you've identified in the world," he said. "It's constantly forcing you to leave the bubble of college. A major like Peace and Justice Studies forces you to get out into the greater Boston area, into the community at large, and it's a very eye-opening experience."
Other facets of the program that help to make PJS unique include strong co-curricular campus-wide events, contributions to peace studies nationally and internationally and student participation in the administrative decision-making processes.
"Faculty make a significant commitment to the administration and the curriculum development of the program, but there's always been an active student role that faculty have always valued," Bryan said.
The PJS Executive Board — the body responsible for organizing policy, curricula and activities for the program — consists of both faculty and student members and is the outlet through which students can share their voice in shaping the course the PJS program takes.
"I, as a student, have sort of an insider's perspective and have been able to contribute my own experiences," said senior Stella Dennig, a member of the 2010-2011 academic year's PJS Executive Board. "It helps me move forward with the program and shape the future of the program through my own experiences."
The tools that the PJS Program provides for its students prepare them for a variety of careers. Bryan explained that students may work in connection with community organization, conflict resolution or human rights, but PJS alumni may also become doctors, teachers, community health workers, real estate brokers, investment bankers or lawyers.
Regardless of what field they plan to work in, PJS majors dedicate themselves to being active citizens.
"What students take with them is a sense of conviction and a commitment to a way of life that they choose to embody, and that takes them into different careers," Bryan said. "Some of them are still involved with public interest work, some of them are not. But they carry with them ideas, principles and convictions for doing good work."
Dennig agreed that PJS has prepared her to tackle the issues she's devoted to.
"I think PJS has really given me the tools that I was hoping to get as a college undergraduate," she said. "I see myself helping individuals in the communities I live in and affecting change in the biggest way I, as an individual, can."
