Courses

For Notre Dame students, the following courses complement the CBC’s ideals of social and environmental responsibility.

The Church & Social Action: Urban Plunge
THEO 33963/CSC 33963/CST 33963

“The Urban Plunge is a 48 hour, one-credit Winter Break Seminar through the Center for Social Concerns. For two days, students explore the other side of cities. During this time, you will do some direct service, discuss issues with local service agencies, and speak with those afflicted by urban poverty.”

Appalachia Seminar
THEO 33950/CSC 33950

“The course provides the opportunity for active participation in the community and direct relationship with Appalachian people. Exploration begins in the orientation classes where students become acquainted with the history, culture, and challenges facing the region (through presentations, discussions, and selected readings). During the week in Appalachia students learn from individuals and community-based organizations (focusing on housing, education, health, and the environment).”

Energy Policy, Environment & Social Change Seminar
CSC 33985

“The course will introduce students to the scientific, environmental, economic, geopolitical, and social implications of current energy technologies through selected readings, writing assignments, class lectures and discussions, and a week-long immersion in Washington, DC.”

Self, Society, and Environment
CST 43719

“This course focuses on social psychological aspects of relationships between humans and the natural environment…The course is framed in a sociology knowledge perspectives and touches on alternative ways of envisioning and valuing individual and institutional perspectives on human-environment relationships with an eye toward implications for social change.”

Poverty and the Bishop’s Pastoral Letter
CST 20502

“This class is designed to rewrite the poverty section of Chapter 3 in the Bishops’ 1986 letter, “Economic Justice for All.” There will be hearings with groups of economists, theologians, community activists, et al. The idea is to simulate the process the bishops went through in writing the original document and to update the material in light of changes in the economy over the past 19 years.”