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Peace and Justice Studies
Minor
Think Hard About Justice, Then Act on It
Add the tools to confront injustice and build peace.
The Peace and Justice Studies Minor examines how people and communities resolve conflict, promote justice, and build more peaceful societies. As a result, you learn to think critically and act courageously in the face of injustice, both locally and globally.
The minor also pairs with many majors, from social work and global studies to political science and beyond. Along the way, it deepens your understanding of structural violence, nonviolent social change, and community healing. Still, this is not a small-college bubble. Instead, the work points outward — into real conflicts, real communities, and the wider world. Above all, it asks what your own role as a peacemaker can be.
What You’ll Study
The minor offers interdisciplinary course options that pair with a wide range of majors. You’ll explore topics like Justice in a Pluralistic Society, Mediation, Conflict and Communication, Global Poverty, Biblical Themes of Peace, and Social Change Movements, building the analytical tools to understand conflict, and the practical ones to address it.
Because it’s interdisciplinary, you shape the minor around your own field and questions. View the complete program requirements in our catalog.
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Put the Theory Into Action
This minor is built on experiential learning. You can intern with peace building organizations, join community development projects, or study internationally through the SST program. For a reader who wants proof a small college engages the world, this is it.
On campus, you can get involved in peacemaking and social justice through student clubs, speaker series, and events coordinated by the Center for Community Engagement, with faculty mentors guiding you from course concepts to real-world work. The program also draws on resources like the Mennonite Historical Library and connections to local organizations doing peace and justice work.
Paying for Goshen
While there are no scholarships specific to the minor, Goshen College offers a variety of financial aid and merit-based awards. Even so, Goshen’s broader aid reaches nearly every student. In fact, most traditional students receive financial aid. To see your own price after aid, run the net price calculator and talk with a real person in the financial aid office.
Common Questions About Peace and Justice Studies Minor
It pairs with a wide range of majors, including social work, education, global studies, political science, history, and pre-law. If your field touches justice, conflict, policy, or community, this minor sharpens it, and it adds a clear ethical and analytical edge to almost any career path.
You’ll take interdisciplinary courses such as Justice in a Pluralistic Society, Mediation, Nonviolence: Theory and Action, Conflict and Communication, Global Poverty, Biblical Themes of Peace, and Social Change Movements. Together they build your understanding of structural violence, nonviolent social change, and community healing, alongside practical skills like mediation and conflict communication.
You can intern with peacebuilding organizations, join community development projects, and study internationally, and many students pair the minor with the Study-Service Term, living and working in another culture. On campus, student clubs, speaker series, and the Center for Community Engagement connect you to real peace and justice work, with faculty mentors throughout.
Alumni work as community organizers, lawyers and public defenders, social workers, educators, conflict resolution specialists, NGO program managers, restorative justice facilitators, faith-based advocates, and environmental justice advocates. Many also go on to graduate school in peace studies, law, divinity, or public policy. The minor enhances almost any career path.
There are no scholarships specific to the minor, but Goshen offers a range of financial aid and merit-based awards, and a minor adds no separate tuition. Use the net price calculator on the financial aid page to see your real number, and a financial aid counselor can walk you through the options.
Ready to get started?
Rob Brenneman
Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology
Regina Shands Stoltzfus
Professor of Peace
Justice
and Conflict Studies
