New offerings in the course catalog

The college where I teach is offering two fascinating courses this fall. I wish them maximum enrollment for each. Here are excerpts from the blog that announced the classes.

Does your faith inform your civic participation?
Do your values compel you to act, but you don’t know how?
Do you wonder what the role of the faithful is in reforming our society?

In this era of domination, illegitimate authority, social violence, and spiritual disempowerment, faith traditions can provide a resource for resistance and reweaving human community.

Locally, Detroiters are ruled by various forms of “Emergency Management.“ What are people of faith called to do in this moment?

Accessing a variety of faith traditions, this course will help students develop their own theology of resistance. Pedagogically, this development will be focused by reading texts in diverse sites of struggle in the city, supplemented with common readings, contextual Detroit history, non-violence training, student initiated direct action, and common reflection on all.

SJ 525 Special Topics: The Theology of Resistance

That class is a part of the Master of Social Justice degree.

When you read the second description, keep in mind this is a Catholic college, sponsored by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (for the record, my music theory classes have nothing to do with any religion). I’m really pleased to see this! I wonder, though, about the effect of the Pope's recent crackdown on nuns who think caring for the poor is more important than being rabidly anti-gay. The course description comes complete with logo.

A new topic has been added to the Fall, 2012 Social Work Course Program Schedule. Marygrove’s Social Work department will be presenting its first section of “Working with LGBT Individuals and Communities,” (SW 200-01 – Special Topics) and it promises to be an interesting and popular course.

Description

This 2-credit course is designed to enhance your professional competence in working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and communities. Course content explores social work practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels and across social, political, and economic realms.

Take this course and raise your awareness of personal, interpersonal, and institutional values and beliefs and learn how biases may manifest as prejudice, discrimination, and oppression.

The National Association of Social Workers’ (NASW) Code of Ethics will guide discussions around viewing sexual orientation through a professional lens.