Diversity-Justice (D-J) Course Requirement

• Apply to the Diversity Justice Requirement Fund
• Overview 
• Application Process
• History of the Diversity-Justice Requirement at Loyola
• Contact Us

Apply to the Diversity Justice Requirement Fund

The mission of the D-J Requirement fund is to support faculty in their efforts to infuse diversity and justice content into their courses and to support them in the process of applying to get these courses D-J designated. Funds can be used for: faculty time (such as supplemental summer pay or course buy-outs dependent on departmental approval), books, online resources, off-site training, hosting a training or workshop at Loyola, etc. Applicants can be individual faculty members, groups of faculty members, a department, a division, etc. For example, an individual faculty member might apply to purchase books or pay for specific training to help them design a new D-J course, whereas a department might apply to fund hosting a workshop that would facilitate the development of a number of D-J courses or facilitate conceptualization and implementation of how the major D-J requirement can best be achieved for majors in their department. 
 
Applications will be reviewed by the Diversity Justice Course Requirement Committee and will be accepted on a rolling basis with review beginning Feb 1st, 2024 (applications will continue to be accepted/reviewed beyond this date). To apply, please complete the questions provided in Teams Forms at this link.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Diversity-Justice Requirement Committee at djreqcommittee@loyola.edu, or Jason Prenoveau at jmprenoveau@loyola.edu.  

Overview

The Diversity-Justice requirement is one way in which Loyola University Maryland carries out its mission to prepare students to learn, lead, and serve in a diverse and changing world. Loyola University Maryland's core values and learning aims call upon the curriculum to prepare students to be aware of, appreciate, and celebrate human differences and their consequences at the individual, social, cultural, and global levels and to dedicate themselves to develop a sense of solidarity with and care for all who struggle for justice. To help achieve these core values and learning aims, students admitted to Loyola under the AY24-25 Academic Catalogue and later are required to successfully complete two Diversity-Justice designated courses anywhere in their curriculum (it is one Diversity designated course for those admitted under earlier Academic Catalogues).

Diversity-Justice designated course sections are identified in the Course Catalog under Course Types. Although a listing of recent courses that have been Diversity-Justice designated can be found here, it should be noted that not all sections of these courses will necessarily be Diversity-Justice designated.

While other courses throughout the curriculum will touch on diversity and justice-related issues, diversity-justice course designation is reserved for those courses with particular depth of inquiry.

Application Process

Diversity-Justice designation applies to specific course materials that have been approved by the Diversity-Justice Requirement Committee. Designation does not attach to a particular course number, for which there may be sections with and without Diversity-Justice designation. Once course materials have been approved, they are permanently Diversity-Justice designated and do not need to be renewed. It is the Department Chair’s responsibility to assure that any Diversity-Justice designated sections use approved materials and have an appropriate instructor. All course materials that have been Diversity designated in the past will automatically receive Diversity-Justice designation.

• Click here to Apply for Diversity-Justice Designation for your Course
  • Courses should have a substantial focus on Diversity-Justice learning aims.
  • Application includes:
    • Course learning aims and a brief description of how these are congruent with one or more Diversity-Justice learning aims. 
    • A brief narrative explaining how the Diversity-Justice learning aim(s) are reflected in the course (e.g., topics, readings, methodologies, and evaluation methods).
    • A course syllabus with all Diversity-Justice content (e.g., learning aims, topics, readings, methodologies, and evaluation methods) highlighted.
  • The Diversity-Justice Requirement Committee reviews applications year-round and provides any feedback that needs to be addressed for successful designation in a timely manner.
  • Links to past successful applications, along with comments about specific things the committee is looking for, can be found below.
  • Although courses will no longer be categorized as done in the past (global, domestic, justice), courses are still eligible for Diversity-Justice designation if there is a substantial focus on only one of these three areas. 
  • Please contact the Diversity-Justice Requirement Committee with any questions or concerns. We are here to help you!
• Diversity Course Requirement Aims and Outcomes 
• Some tips for Applications
  • Applications often do an amazing job spelling out the Diversity-Justice aims and highlighting how these aims will be addressed in the course content. However, some applications do not spell out how these Diversity-Justice learning aims will be incorporated into course assessments. While this can be done in the narrative response, it is also helpful for this to be briefly incorporated into the syllabus as well. This enables students to see how their assessments will be explicitly linked to Diversity-Justice learning aims.
  • We would like students to know right up front that they are taking a Diversity-Justice designated course, as well as a little bit about what makes the course Diversity-Justice designated. To this end, the Committee would love to see an explicit statement to this effect near the start of the syllabus. For example: This course is a Diversity-Justice designated course and fulfills a Diversity-Justice course requirement for graduation. Diversity-Justice designated courses increase students' awareness and critical understanding of human diversity and justice, contributing to the university mission "to inspire students to learn, lead, and serve in a diverse and changing world." Specifically, this course focuses on . . .

Sample Successful Diversity-Justice Applications (Final syllabi after feedback has been addressed)

Links to application samples

Course	Sample Application
AC 421, Auditing	Sample Application
BL 101, Introduction to Forensic Science with Lab	Sample Application
EN 366, Dissent in American Literature	Sample Application
TH 388, Eastern Christianity and Islam	Sample Application

 

History of the Diversity-Justice Requirement at Loyola