Are you interested in learning more about changemaking at USD?
Explore below to find a list of courses that include a changemaker component. Please note that courses vary by semester so check out the current offering through USD's academic course catalog.
CHNG 101 | INTRODUCTION TO CHANGEMAKING (3 units)
This course introduces students to ways in which individuals all over the world address social and environmental issues and their attempts to create solutions that are “more sustainable and just” than what existed. Students will gain knowledge of social innovations led by a variety of changemakers, who have sought to catalyze positive social transformations in different spheres of action across the world. The focus lies on individuals and groups with innovative endeavors and on the process for the implementation of their vision. It explores the passion, courage, empathy, and flexibility of changemakers.
CHNG 495 | CHANGEMAKING CAPSTONE (3 units)
The purpose of this course is to provide students with the opportunity to create a specific course of action to address a challenging social issue. There are four objectives of the Changemaking Capstone course. First, it provides students with the opportunity to gain practical experience with changemaking in a real-world setting. Second, it provides an opportunity for students to synthesize, integrate and apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired while pursuing the minor. Third, it offers students the opportunity to collaborate with other students, faculty, and changemakers outside of USD on their projects. And fourth, it requires students to create an original project that addresses a social issue at USD or in another community.
COMM 333 | PODCAST STORYTELLING (3 units)
This course teaches professional skills in audio recording, sound editing, and storytelling.
EDUC 301 | CHANGEMAKERS IN EDUCATION: BUILDING BRIDGES TO COLLEGE ACCESS (3 units)
This course is designed to support students in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions appropriate to mentoring children in PK-12 settings. Through readings, class discussions, and practical experiences, students will learn about issues affecting student learning. There will be an emphasis on mentoring a diverse population of students. Each USD student enrolled in the course will concurrently be placed at a mentoring site and assigned to work with an individual child or small group of children. The course will be adapted each semester to meet the specific demands of the mentoring sites and partner with educational programs such as AVID, Summerbridge, Balboa Elementary, and Kearny High School. Readings, placements, and, where appropriate, program-specific trainings will support students in their mentoring assignment.
LEAD 150 | EMERGING LEADERS (3 units)
This course is designed to acquaint students in their first two years at USD, with 21st-century models of leadership and expose them to multiple opportunities for active participation in leadership and changemaking. Through readings, class presentations, experiential exercises, journal reflections, and group discussions, students will be challenged to explore social justice and map their path of initial leadership development and campus or community engagement.
LEAD 512 | POLICY ADVOCACY LEADERSHIP (3 units)
In every part of the world, the policies of governments, corporations, and other powerful institutions significantly impact the formation and operations of nonprofits and other social sector organizations -- incorporation and registration laws, tax policies, and more. These in turn impact the benefits those organizations are able to provide to the public and marginalized communities they serve. Leaders who seek to make social change must work with a broad constituency of actors to generate evidence-based proposals for change and choose strategies to influence the decisions of relevant policymakers. Using a variety of frameworks, students in this course will learn to analyze the nature of power and policymaking in different political (local, state, national, and international), institutional and cultural contexts. Key elements of the course include contextual analysis, policy research and analysis, mapping political systems and actors, and advocacy strategy.
SOCI 373 | SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS (3 units)
A comparative analysis of the basic structuring of human societies, utilizing the perspective of social systems theory. Topics for discussion will include such fundamental institutionalized processes as social allocation and social power, as well as the development of total societies from simple to complex forms of organization.
THRS 231 | CHRISTIAN CHANGEMAKERS (3 units)
An introduction to the nature and scope of Christian theology, with a special focus on Christians who have created positive social change. We study the works of a select group of writers, thinkers, and activists, all of whom have been significantly shaped by their encounter with Christianity, and have, in turn, created lasting testimonies of significant cultural value because of that encounter. Throughout the semester students engage in self-reflection about their life experiences and core values; in written assignments students explore what it means to create positive social change in our world.