Cross-School Programs
- Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service (CSJ)
- Community Scholars Program
- Language courses at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
- Center for Research & Fellowships (CRF)
- U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC), The HOYA Battalion
- University Wide Cross-Disciplinary Courses (UNXD)
- The Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL)
1. Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service (CSJ)
The Center for Social Justice (CSJ) is a central resource and hub at Georgetown University through which students, faculty, and staff engage in Washington, DC and beyond through activism, advocacy, service, volunteerism, and community-based learning and research. With CSJ, students support social justice efforts across the United States and around the world, through service and immersion experiences, disaster relief fundraising, and research and public service fellowships. Through its programs, CSJ endeavors to work in solidarity with community members and partners, engage thoughtfully in sustainable interventions, and affect short-term relief and long-term social change.
Service
There are over 100 ways to engage in the University’s mission for the common good through the CSJ, including day-, week-, semester-, summer-, and year-long opportunities. Through CSJ’s EngageDCorps programs, run by CSJ’s professional team members and led by students, 500 Hoyas have DC-based commitments in community with their peers, and nearly half of these Hoyas allocate the Federal Work Study (FWS) award of their financial aid package to this work.
These programs include: the After School Kids (ASK) program, a mentoring program with high school-aged youth; DC Reads, a literacy program with elementary students in DC Public Schools; DC Schools Project, a program providing English language tutoring to DC’s diverse immigrant communities; DC STEM, a science enrichment program for elementary students in DC Public Schools; HOME Program (Homelessness Outreach | Meals | Education), supporting the local population experiencing homelessness; Jumpstart, offering support in Pre-K literacy settings; and the Legacy of a Dream Internship program. CSJ further sponsors summer programming that provides deep-dive opportunities for service and engaged scholarship.
Under the leadership of CSJ’s Advisory Board for Student Organizations, there are over 40 student-run organizations that work in a variety of areas including human rights, prison outreach, youth development and mentoring, and immigrant justice. CSJ further serves as a resource to Hoyas for discerning post-graduation volunteerism and careers in social justice.
Engaged Scholarship and Pedagogy
Students can integrate social justice efforts into their coursework through community-based learning (CBL) courses. Learning objectives in CBL courses meet needs identified by community partners. Students can search for CBL courses in MyAccess by selecting “community-based learning” as a filter in the “attribute type” menu. CSJ offers UNXD 130: SOCIAL ACTION (Fall/Spring) and UNXD 030: INTERSECTIONS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE (Summer), pass/fail, 1-credit courses that wrap around student co-curricular experiences through regular reflection in community with peers and mentors through a social justice lens.
The CSJ leans heavily on the pedagogies of immersion and dialogue for social change. Through the Alternative Breaks Program, CSJ offers 10+ immersion experiences with week-long trips annually for Hoyas. Student leaders of CSJ’s programs commit to monthly Racial Justice Dialogues through which participants explore topics including race, racism, white supremacy, and identity. Through CSJ’s Student Academic Assistants program, Hoyas serve as teaching and research assistants matched with faculty pursuing social justice scholarship. Upperclass Hoyas pursue research opportunities through our Andretta Fellowship, Education and Social Justice research project, and more.
CSJ’s Commitment to Equity and Access
The CSJ is committed to making social justice engagement accessible to all students. For this reason, CSJ provides opportunities for students to serve and research that are fully funded. From conducting research abroad to participating in an Alternative Break Program immersion, CSJ provides diverse funding opportunities for undergraduates. Students can explore our Funding and Awards webpage to learn more about the Social Innovation and Public Service (SIPS) Fund; Davis 100 Projects for Peace Award; Jackson Fund; and more.
2. Community Scholars Program
The Community Scholars Program (CSP), managed by the Center for Multicultural Equity & Access (CMEA), offers an enhanced educational opportunity for first-generation college students from high financial need backgrounds in all five of Georgetown’s undergraduate schools. Eligible students are identified during the admissions process and invited to attend a five-week academic summer program prior to the start of their first year at Georgetown. Designed to aid their transition to higher education, students take two courses for academic credit, attend orientation workshops, and begin forming bonds with one another, faculty members, and administrators that will help sustain them through college. Georgetown covers all costs associated with the summer experience including housing, meals, travel, textbooks, supplies, and other program fees. Additionally, Scholars who receive a need-based financial aid package are eligible for a renewable three-year $1,700 scholarship to compensate for lost summer wages. Beyond the summer program, CSP continues to support its Scholars during the school year with academic advising, mentoring and personal counseling, peer-led study groups, transition workshops, community gatherings, and academic seminars. For more information please visit: cmea.georgetown.edu/community-scholars.
3. Language Courses at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
Beginning in Fall 2016, degree candidates in good standing from Georgetown College and the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service may register for Indonesian language courses at The Johns Hopkins University-School of Advanced International Studies (JHU-SAIS), which is located in Washington, D.C. Registration for these courses is processed by the Office of the University Registrar with the approval of the student’s dean. Students must have completed at least one full academic year with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 prior to enrolling at JHU-SAIS. Students must pass their current language course before they are eligible to enroll in future course offerings.
4. Center for Research & Fellowships (CRF)
The Center for Research & Fellowships (CRF) (new window), amplifying Georgetown’s mission as a “student-centered research university,” creates an environment for undergraduate researcher formation, energizing inquiry across academic disciplines, and contributing to the common good through discovery.
Our holistic approach involves fostering a culture of undergraduate research on the campus through center-led programs and supporting students in their development of skills applicable to their role as investigator, to their studies, and to their post-graduate career and advanced educational plans. Concurrently, the center mentors students interested in pursuing their academic passion and spirit of service through transformative external fellowship programs.
Laidlaw Programme
The Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership and Research Scholarship Programme provides 25 outstanding Georgetown undergraduates (first-year and sophomore students) with a multifaceted, multiyear opportunity to conduct an independent 6-week research project, to participate in substantive leadership development exercises, and to develop a global network of other Laidlaw Scholars at a dozen leading institutions, including Columbia University and University College London. To stay up to date on all information concerning the Laidlaw Programme, contact fellowships@georgetown.edu to be added to the listserv.
Undergraduate Research
CRF manages both mentored and independent undergraduate research fellowship programs. In supporting students in pursuing meaningful research experiences, the CRF helps students not only to think deeply and critically about complex issues but also to become engaged student scholars contributing to the production of new knowledge. Through research, students develop the intellectual building blocks for creative problem-solving, learning by doing.
Mentored Research: the Georgetown Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (GUROP) offers undergraduate students the opportunity to learn the discipline and experience the rewards of scholarly research by working with faculty on their research projects. Students may participate in GUROP as early as spring semester of their first year. The Summer Mentored Undergraduate Research Fellowship (new window) is a funded, directly mentored or supervised summer research opportunity. Recipients work closely with a faculty member in their research or do research alongside a faculty member on a closely-related project, receiving up to $5,000.
Independent Summer Research: the Kalorama Summer Research Fellowship (new window) provides $5,000 to successful applicants to design, investigate, and produce an original research project. The research idea must be the student’s own, though students must secure a faculty sponsor who supports the research. The Kalorama is open to first-years, sophomores, and juniors in the humanities, social sciences, and environmental sciences. The Raines “Grand Challenge” Summer Research Fellowship (new window) provides undergraduate students with $5,000 to conduct independent summer research projects engaging with an intractable “grand challenge” facing our society. In addition to conducting their own projects, Fellows will come together as a cohort to share their research, find exciting cross-disciplinary touch points, and learn from and network with faculty working in the field. Through bridging disciplinary divides and fostering dialogue around a central theme, this Fellowship responds to the need for 21st-century leaders with not only the expertise but also the creativity and multidisciplinary understanding to innovate and effect social change. The Raines is open to sophomore and juniors from all majors, and students may apply for full-time projects or part-time, collaborative projects. For more information about undergraduate research, please contact undergradresearch@georgetown.edu (new window).
Fellowships
CRF supports students and alumni in pursuing competitive, merit-based national and international fellowships and scholarships (new window) that further their academic, professional, and personal development in individual ways. These include the Fulbright, the Truman, the Rhodes, the Marshall, and the Gates-Cambridge. In designing a fellowship application, regardless of outcome, CRF helps candidates imagine how they might develop and apply their academic strengths, passions, and talents in the service of the greater good. In the process, fellowship candidates deepen their expertise, refine their thinking, chart their futures, and learn how to tell their story. CRF begins working with students as early as their first year on campus, supporting them in identifying fellowship opportunities matched to their undergraduate experience but also in shaping that experience in ways that allow for success in these competitions. For more information about fellowships, please contact fellowships@georgetown.edu (new window).
Resources
CRF offers a range of resources that prepare students to develop as researchers, to strengthen their fellowship applications, and to make the most of their undergraduate experience and enhance their professional trajectory.
For more information about these opportunities and resources, please visit the CRF website, www.crf.georgetown.edu (new window).
5. U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC), The Hoya Battalion
History
Since the early nineteenth century, Georgetown University’s ethic of service to the nation has included the training of military officers. It was formalized in 1852 when the Reverend James Clark, a West Point graduate, arrived at Georgetown to expand the existing officer training program. During the American Civil War, University graduates served in both the Union and the Confederate armies. After the war, officer training at the nation’s oldest Roman Catholic university was reduced to reflect the relative lack of external threat to our nation as it expanded across the continent. However, university officials quickly organized a Cadet Corps after the outbreak of war between Germany and the United States in April 1917. In February 1918, the War Department officially established the Reserve Officers Training Corps at Georgetown University. Since that time, over 4,000 men and women have been commissioned from the Georgetown University ROTC Program. Today, Georgetown University ROTC graduates continue to serve with pride in the finest tradition of the Georgetown heritage and in the interest of our nation’s security.
Purpose and Approach
The Georgetown University ROTC Program consists of structured study in the field of military science. Its primary objective is to prepare those students with leadership potential to serve as commissioned officers in the U.S. Army’s Active and Reserve Components. In accomplishing this objective, the citizen-soldier relationship, ingrained as part of the American heritage, is fostered in a collegiate environment. In the classroom and during practical exercises, students are challenged to demonstrate the leadership abilities necessary to serve as future leaders and managers of human and material resources.
The ROTC department, consisting of students from Georgetown University, American University, Catholic University and George Washington University, commissions future U.S. Army officers through rigorous leader development. Moreover, it motivates young people through caring leadership and positive influence to be better citizens for life-long service to the community.
Being an officer in the U.S. Army means being a leader, counselor, coach, strategist, and motivator. Officers must lead other Soldiers in all situations and adjust to environments that are constantly changing. To prepare prospective officers to meet this challenge, the Army ROTC program is designed to develop confident, competent, versatile and resilient leaders with the basic military science and leadership foundations necessary to lead small units in the Operational Environment (OE) and to evolve into the Army’s future senior leaders.
Army leader development is a deliberate, continuous, sequential, and progressive process based on Army values that develop cadets into competent and confident leaders. First-year and sophomore students begin with the no-obligation Basic Courses. Junior and senior cadets make up the Advanced Courses. At this stage, they receive instruction on leadership principles and advanced military skills, culminating in a commission as an Army Officer.
To be eligible for contracting and commissioning, as a minimum, a student must be of good character, be in good health, be a United States citizen before contracting (usually by junior year), and be approved by the ROTC Program Director. The contract with the U.S. Army includes the rights and responsibilities of the Cadets who contract. Visit the website at http://rotc.georgetown.edu for more information.
Enrollment Information
Enrollment in the first two years of Military Science is open to all students—it is an elective program. No service obligation is incurred from enrolling in Army ROTC during the first or sophomore year. Courses can be dropped or added like any elective course.
The Basic Course is a four-course series, usually taken in the freshmen and sophomore years (MLSC-1111, 1112, 1113, and 1114: Leadership Skills I through IV). The Basic Course classes are one credit each. and train students in such topics as leadership theory, management skills, time management, and military roles and national objectives. In addition, applied topics such as map reading, land navigation, first aid topics, physical fitness and health topics, writing memoranda, giving briefings, and more are also taught.
The Advanced Course consists of a four-course series taken during the junior and senior years (MLSC-211, 212, 251, & 252). The MLSC-2211, 2212 classes are one credit each. The MLSC-2251 and 2252 classes are three credits each as is MLSC-1103. Consult each School’s degree requirements to determine the number of ROTC credits and/or courses that may be counted toward a particular degree. Normally, Advanced Course cadets contract to become commissioned officers and thus incur some type of service obligation upon graduation and commissioning.
There are also Professional Military Education requirements. Contracted cadets must take and pass a course in American military history (MLSC-1103 worth three credits). There are other requirements which may come from the general course offerings at the university and may fulfill both the student’s core, elective, and academic major requirements.
Since all students initially may enroll in ROTC classes, a student wishing to take an upper-level course must seek enrollment approval from the ROTC Director or instructor. Prerequisites do exist for upper-level courses. Course requirements may be established between the Director of ROTC, and the student to tailor the class to the student’s interests and needs.
The senior-level courses are considered the “Transition to Lieutenant” phase. The courses focus on staff operations, logistics, military law, and ethics. Seniors are expected to organize and attend an additional one hour staff and training meeting per week as part of their leadership experience and duties. Planning and implementation of training become the primary focus for seniors in Leadership Laboratory.
Scholarship Programs
Scholarships are available at most levels of education, but they are highly competitive. Visit the ROTC website at http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/scholarships.html for additional scholarship information. Georgetown University Army ROTC is designated the “Hoya Battalion.” Contact the Enrollment and Scholarship Officer, ROTC, at (202) 687-7056/7065 (Fax: 1109).
6. University Wide Cross-Disciplinary courses (UNXD)
The Designing the Future(s) Initiative develops and proposes new courses under the UNXD designation. UNXD courses include university-wide cross-disciplinary courses or courses with an application to a range of fields. These courses also include those offered in non-traditional formats (e.g. single credit or flexible credit practice or skills courses) and courses offered by non-degree granting campus units, such as the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation. UNXD courses might also involve experiential opportunities that involve faculty from multiple schools. With the exception of grade appeals (review here), registration and integrity issues arising in UNXD courses will follow the student through his/her advising dean and will be handled in accordance with the standards and processes laid out in the student bulletin.
7. The Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL)
The Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL) is Georgetown’s undergraduate innovative experiential learning hub on the downtown Capitol Campus, where students balance a professional experience (like an internship or research opportunity) with a full course load, while living downtown as a young professional. It is open to all undergraduate students, regardless of school or major, and also welcomes incoming transfer students. Students at The CALL develop and gain hands-on experience applying interdisciplinary approaches to real-world challenges through internships and other professional opportunities across Washington, DC. Immersed in the center of downtown, The CALL is where Georgetown meets the world.
Launched as a pilot program in 2019 with just six students, the CALL enrollment has grown steadily each year to more than 75 students today. More than just an internship, CALL students join a community of young professionals, building career experience with some of DC’s top employers while staying on track for Georgetown graduation with intentional coursework. At The CALL, students maximize their professional experience, integrate their personal and professional development, and shape their trajectory after graduation.
Experiential Learning
The CALL is built on partnerships forged across the Hilltop that bring together Georgetown faculty, students, and staff in innovative coursework and professional learning. With these partners, the CALL offers a selection of curated opportunities each semester for students interested in pursuing a particular experience. Centered around a professional experience, students take related coursework, intentional CALL workshops, and participate in specialized events and networks to deepen their expertise. Students can design their own semester through the CALL Classic, or participate in one of several curated experiences offered downtown. These semester experiences include Pre-Law, Creating an Equitable City (in partnership with the Kalmanovitz Initiative and Global Cities Initiative, and Humanities (in partnership with the Humanities Initiative and the Writing Program), and more.
The CALL offers small class sizes with dedicated Georgetown faculty, as well as experts across industries, all of whom take advantage of the CALL’s location and use the city as their classroom. Much of the curriculum features immersive components, including field trips, guest speakers, and assignments featuring demonstrative or hands-on opportunities.
Idol Family Summer Fellowship Program
This fellowship serves undergraduate students with high-financial need interested in enhancing their Georgetown experience through a full-time internship in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Fellows receive housing, a stipend to cover summer expenses, and public transportation allowance for June and July. Fellows live together on-campus as a supportive living and learning community, and participate in professional development workshops and opportunities.
For more information on all of the CALL’s Programs, please visit the CALL website and/or email thecall@georgetown.edu.