Faculty survey

UD faculty are invited to participate in a survey to help the General Education Committee better understand how the UD community envisions moving forward on integrating social justice into the undergraduate curriculum across the university.

Social justice and general education

Building a social justice foundation to support a diverse, inclusive and intercultural campus is a core aspect of the University of Delaware’s strategic plan. For the past year-and-a-half, members of the Faculty Senate Committee on General Education have been discussing the importance of UD undergraduate students having a foundational understanding of the ways in which their field of study or career is related to systems of social justice in the contemporary world. In 2021-2022, the committee examined how other universities have approached this topic in their general education curricula. While we can define social justice in many ways, we as members of the UD community share a dedication to its broad ideals and are dedicated to incorporating social justice into our practices and policies. Building a Social Justice Foundation to Support a Diverse, Inclusive and Intercultural Campus.

The General Education Committee is dedicated to capturing the complex and diverse ways that UD faculty define, operationalize, and teach social justice. We are also aware that there are many departments at UD working on social justice efforts in different areas. To foster forward progress, we have created a survey to better understand how the UD community envisions moving forward on integrating social justice into the undergraduate curriculum across the university. Some potential endeavors might include: (a) defining social justice for UD, (b) hosting a working group meeting with interested faculty who currently or potentially will teach social justice, (c) identifying courses that meaningfully incorporate social justice education, (d) determining how much course content constitutes meeting a metric for social justice, and (e) integrating social justice content into existing courses or creating new courses.

As chair of this faculty senate committee, I have met with chairs of other Faculty Senate Committees (Undergraduate Studies; Diversity and Inclusion) and Avron Abraham from the Office of the Provost. Together, we are dedicated to moving forward with a more transparent educational endeavor on social justice and exploring the ways in which it should be integrated into UD. On behalf of the Faculty Senate Committee on General Education, I invite each of you to view our webpage and complete the survey.

Sincerely,

 Jennifer Saylor, PhD, APRN, ANCS-BC, Chair of the General Education Committee

General Education Committee members