Curriculum
An interdisciplinary minor in Poverty Studies will consist of fifteen or sixteen (15/16) credit hours, including: a required gateway course (3) credits; three or four (3/4) credits of experiential learning depending on the option chosen (service learning, community-based research, or immersion); six (6) credit hours of elective coursework selected from a list of courses approved by the director on the advice of the affiliated faculty; and a three (3) hour senior capstone seminar or special studies/senior thesis.
Gateway course (3 credits)
PS 10000/20000
The gateway course introduces students to academic research about the nature, causes, and consequences of poverty. Throughout, the readings and lectures reveal the collaboration across the various disciplines enhances our understanding aof what it means to poor and of the array of interlocking problems that lead to poverty, and guides the formulation of policies to prevent and alleviate poverty. Although the emphasis will be on the poor citizens of the United States, the lessons (such as the methodology for measuring poverty) cross cultural boundaries and have relevance for poverty in other parts of the world including the developing nations.
Experiential Learning (3 credits)
The experiential learning requirement is designed to get students into the field where the concepts discussed in classrooms come to life and disciplinary boundaries are challenged. Experiential learning will enhance student’s understanding of poverty and prepare them for the final capstone experience, whether it is the Capstone seminar or an independent research project.
The experiential learning requirement may be satisfied by satisfactorily completing one of the following options:
- three designated one-credit Center for Social Concerns Seminars; or
- three one-credit semester-long internships (approximately XX hours per semester) with community agencies and organizations serving the poor; or
- one approved three-credit community-based learning research course.
Three one-credit Seminars offered by the Center for Social Concerns.
Participating in CSC seminars is a well-established tradition among Notre Dame Students.
PSIM students may satisfy the experintial learning requirement by bundling three Center for Social Concerns one-credit experiential learning seminars with PS30001. When choosing this option, students must take the Urban Plunge (THEO 33963/CSC 33963), the Appalachia Seminar (THEO 33950/CSC 33950), and one of the following.
- Border Issues (THEO 33966/ILS 30804 01/CSC 33966)
- Children & Poverty Seminar (PSY 23090/CSC 23090)
- Environmental Justice and Human Rights (AFAM 33601/CSC 33976)
- Holy Cross Mission in Hispanic Ministry (THEO 33969E/ILS 30803/CSC 33969E)
- Lives in the Balance - Youth, Violence, and Society Seminar (CSC 33980)
- Migrant Seminar (THEO 33967/CSC 33967)
Three one-credit semester-long internships.
Each semester many Notre Dame students engage in one-credit internships with community agencies and organizations woring to improve the well-being of low income individuals and families. Three semesters of internship with the same or different agencies will satisfy this requirement.
As in the case of combining three one-credit seminars, any student choosing to combine three one-credit semester-long internships must enroll in PS 30001 and complete a project or paper intended to reflect the integration of learning from the internships and their relationship to a broader understanding of the poverty issues.
One three-credit community-based research course/project.
This requirement may be fulfilled during the academic school year satisfactorily by completing a regularly scheduled course with a community-based research component, or by participating in a summer service learning project sponsored by the Center for Social Concerns, or by completing a Shepherd Program summer internship enhanced by the addition of an academic component similar to CSC’s summer service learning courses.
Electives (6 credits)
Two 3XXXX-4XXXX level courses from the list of approved Poverty Studies Minor Electives
Capstone Experience (3 credits)
As the final step in the PSIM, students can choose either to enroll in the Capstone Seminar or to undertake a three-credit special studies project directed by one of the affiliated faculty.
Capstone Seminar (3 credits)
PS 40000
The Capstone Seminar will be topic-oriented drawing on literature from multiple disciplines. The students themselves will be from different majors and will share both the perspectives of their major disciplines as well as their varied experiences in the field thus ensuring that interdisciplinary nature of the inquiry. Experts with diverse perspectives and professional experiences will join the seminar as special guests.
Special Studies Capstone Option (3 credits)
PS 40001
Students may also opt for an intense research or other intellectual experience by enrolling in special studies with one of the Minor’s affiliated faculty. In this case the student will produce a product (manuscript, work or art, composition, poster board display of research results, etc.) that can be displayed, and will present this product to the members of the PSIM at a special colloquium held in the Spring Semester of each academic year.