Program Overview
Director: George Pickens
Mission. This is an interdisciplinary major drawing upon resources from three core departments: Biblical and Religious Studies, History, and Sociology. The primary focus of this major is to help students understand and appreciate the Christian foundations for peacemaking/ reconciliation; to understand the nature of conflict and nonviolent approaches to resolving conflict; to understand the relationship of justice to peacemaking, and to become actively involved in peacemaking, nonviolent conflict resolution, and reconciliation. This major enables students to pursue careers and graduate study in peace and conflict studies and related fields including law and mediation.
Curriculum. The core disciplines of the major — Biblical and Religious Studies, History, and Sociology — are essential to understanding and resolving conflict, since in order to achieve reconciliation it is crucial to understand conflict holistically. To this end, in the PACS core there are courses directly related to peace and conflict studies in each of these disciplines, and then to further develop disciplinary perspectives and methods, students will take at least one course in five “spheres” of human experience where peace and conflict are experienced.
To further develop students’ skills, perspectives, and experience, each PACS major is required to take Basic Conflict Mediation and an internship or practicum that will enable them to practice their skills in a specific arena. Students are also strongly encouraged to study off-campus for a semester in order to build their skills and experience a culture different from their own. The Senior Seminar, which is the capstone course, enables students to bring together all the disciplinary and experiential work that they have done and integrate it into a whole that will enable them to successfully pursue peace and conflict studies as a vocation.
Major Requirements
Complete the following for your major:
| BIBL 291 | Issues of War, Peace and Social Justice in Biblical Texts | 3 |
| HIST 248 | War, Peace, Memory in America | 3 |
| PACS 201 | Basic Conflict Mediation | 3 |
| PACS 495 | Senior Seminar in Peace and Conflict Studies | 3 |
| POLI 366 | Causes of War | 3 |
| SOAN 335 | Social Conflict and Reconciliation | 3 |
| THEO 227 | Theology, Violence, and Nonviolence | 3 |
Three to four credits from the following: (Experiential Learning)
| INTE 391 | Internship | 1-3 |
| PACS 391 | Practicum in Peace and Conflict Studies | 3 |
| SERV 231 | Service, Mission & Change | 3 |
| AND | |
| SERV 232 | Foundations of Service, Mission and Social Change II | 1 |
INTE 391 must be taken for a letter grade to fulfill major requirement.
Sphere 1: Religious and Theological.^ Three credits from the following:
Sphere 2: Ecological and Economic. Three credits from the following:
| ECON 110 | Economics of Social Issues | 3 |
| ECON 117 | Issues in Environmental Economics | 3 |
| ECON 120 | Principles of Macroeconomics | 3 |
| ENVS 216 | Environmental Issues and Sustainable Solutions | 3 |
| ENVS 315 | Environmental Ethics | 3 |
| SUST 140 | Introduction to Ecology and Sustainability | 3 |
Sphere 3: Political and Institutional. Three to six credits from the following:
POLI 330: Courses offered intermittently.
Sphere 4: Socio-Cultural.^ Three credits from the following:
Sphere 5: Historical.^ Three to four credits from the following:
^ Course selection in discipline-based electives can allow an additional 6 credits of General Education overlap.
Note: In addition to drawing upon relevant courses in Communication, Politics and Economics, majors may also choose PSYC 242, PHIL 325, or THEA 363 because of their specific relevance to PACS majors.