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Becoming a Golden Hawk means more than just cheering on our (really good) varsity teams – it means being a student who cares about your community, who works hard in the classroom, and who takes advantage of all the learning opportunities that can happen outside the classroom, too.
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Explore Our Programs
Social Justice and Community Engagement (MA)
brantford
Faculty of Liberal Arts | Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Want to change the world? Our program fosters your ability to investigate and understand the root causes of the most pertinent social justice and environmental issues of our times. Through a combination of critical theory, methods, and an individualized community placement our Master of Arts (MA) program in Social Justice and Community Engagement (SJCE) engages students in the active promotion of social and environmental justice principles within our communities and around the world.
Learning Through Scholarship and Practice
Through coursework, an individualized community placement and a major research project (MRP), you’ll develop knowledge that contributes to your own understanding of how to make change in the world. You'll be equipped with skills to facilitate the development of communities that undertake social justice and environment work. Our program provides a firm grounding in the theories and methods of SJCE, and builds your research and writing capabilities through a variety of projects. Your community placement is an opportunity for you to gain practical experience applying theoretical ideas about social and environmental justice in a community setting. Placements are determined with consideration for your interests and needs, including any accommodations, while ensuring that the community organizations are benefitted by the placement.
The full-time program is normally completed in one year. We also offer a part-time program.
ARE YOU AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT?
More information can be found on the International Applicants page.
Contact Us:
Brenda Murphy, Graduate Coordinator
Nicole Morgan, Academic Program Assistant
Funding
- Eligible domestic students admitted to study on a full-time basis are entitled to one year of funding totalling, on average, $14,500. This support may be made up of teaching assistantships, internal/external scholarships, and/or faculty-funded studentships or research assistantships.
- Winners of major external awards (OGS, QEII and Tri-Council) may be eligible for top-up funding which includes the Dean’s Graduate Scholarship (total value exceeds $10,000).
- A list of all funding opportunities available to Laurier graduate students, including information about OGS and Tri-Council, is available on our graduate funding webpage.
Research Focus
Our faculty offer a diversity of research expertise. A sample of their interests includes:
- international development and refugee experiences
- gender and sexuality
- 2SLGBTQ+
- Indigenous studies
- work and labour movements; labour markets; migrant labour
- youth and children’s studies
- health studies
- community-based research
- international political economy
- democratic renewal
- disability studies
- arts-based research
- food systems
- affordable housing and sustainability
Requirements
- A four-year (honours) undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in humanities, social science, natural science or related interdisciplinary program, and a background in the concepts of social and environmental justice.
- A minimum B average in your last year of undergraduate study, or equivalent.
- Applications are reviewed by the graduate program admissions committee, which considers prior post-secondary grades, a statement of intent including your social/environmental justice background and interests, a writing sample and letters of reference.
Careers
Our graduates have gone on to work in the not-for-profit sector, government, community organizations, education, corporate social responsibility and a variety of other sectors.
A considerable number of our graduates have also gone on to further schooling, including law school, doctoral studies and bachelor of education.
Here is just a sample of jobs held by our graduates:
- communications associate
- gender and social inclusion specialist
- constituency assistant
- sexual violence counsellors, advocates and education specialists
- youth/support workers
- housing coordinator
- accessibility advisor
- award-winning film director
- teacher
- regional business officer
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