Fall Seminars

Experiential Learning Seminars with an immersion during fall break 2011.

Social Concerns Seminars are one-credit experiential and service-learning opportunities built around national and international immersion experiences. Students examine social issues from multiple perspectives, read relevant texts, study the Catholic social tradition, and take an active role in building a learning community.

New this semester! All Social Concerns Seminar placements will be posted on the following webpage when they have been confirmed. You will receive email notification when the site has been updated: https://www.nd.edu/~csc/application/documents/CSC_Seminars_F11.pdf .

Social Concerns Seminar Directed Readings Options

Fall seminar locations

Social Concerns Seminar: Appalachia

The goal of the Appalachia Seminar is to introduce students to the culture and social issues of the Appalachia region through community-based learning. The course provides the opportunity for active participation in the community and direct relationship with Appalachian people. Exploration begins in the orientation classes where students become acquainted with the history, culture, and challenges facing the region.

The Appalachia Seminar is football friendly! Students will return on Friday, October 21 in order to be able to attend the ND vs. USC game on Saturday.

Social Concerns Seminar: Energy Policy, the Environment and Social Change

The course will introduce students to the scientific, environmental, economic, geopolitical, and social implications of current energy technologies. During the immersion week in Washington, D.C., students will identify the limitations of current energy policies and environmental regulation through visits to industry lobbying groups, policy makers, environmental and religious organizations, and federal regulatory bodies.

Social Concerns Seminar: Gospel of Life
This seminar will examine life-related issues such as the death penalty, euthanasia, abortion, human cloning, and stem cell research through experiential learning. Immersed in Washington, D.C., participants will meet with representatives from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, elected officials, advocacy groups, legal professionals, and bioethicists whose work involves life-related concerns.

Social Concerns Seminar: Latino Community Organizing Against Violence
The Latino Community Organizing Against Violence Seminar explores the rich cultural heritage of Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods and immigrant traditions while examining the corresponding problems of urban life and racism. The Seminar’s focus is a week-long immersion (during fall break) in Chicago that involves dialogue with various community groups, participation in ethnic activities, and academic reflection.

Social Concerns Seminar: Leadership Training

This seminar will serve to prepare fall 2012 seminar leaders for immersion experiences over fall break. The seminar aims to improve overall leadership skills, facilitate communal learning across seminars, and uniformly prepare leaders for the specific aspects of Center seminars. The course will consist of approximately 4–6 classes around a particular leadership theme led by a variety of Center staff and faculty. The format for the class will be a 30-minute training session followed by small group discussion. The Experiential Learning Council sponsors the seminar and curriculum will be co-coordinated by student leaders. This seminar will culminate in leading a 2012 immersion seminar. Departmental approval required.

Social Concerns Seminar: Sustainable Development
The goal of the Washington D.C. Seminar in Sustainable Development is to provide students with an interdisciplinary perspective of policy issues associated with "sustainability” in both urban and rural contexts. Utilizing theories of development studies, classes will examine current practices in domestic and foreign contexts. Through lectures, class readings, facilitated discussion, and site visits, students will become familiar with different approaches and definitions of development. Students will reflect on the relationship between sustainable development and the three cornerstone principles of Catholic Social Teaching: human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity. During the week in Washington, D.C., seminar participants will meet with elected officials, advocacy groups, and non-governmental organizations that work in the area of U.S. and international development. The follow-up classes facilitate analysis and synthesis of insights gained during the week of experiential learning.

Additional One-Credit Seminar 

The following seminar does not include an immersion.

Social Concerns Seminar: Discernment Available to senior students only

The Discernment Seminar provides senior-level undergraduate students an opportunity to reflect on their Notre Dame experience and consider postgraduate plans with one another through small-group discussion. Each session is structured to assist the students’ exploration and articulation of their respective vocations through a variety of means, including narrative theology, spiritual direction, literature, and the arts.