Course Numbers:  POLS 313-01/WOMS 313-01
Instructor:  Dr. Laura Brunell
Contact Information: brunell@gonzaga.edu
Course Meeting Time:  MW 2:10-3:25 p.m.
Location:  Hughes 201

Course Description: The course has two aims, one intellectual, one practical.  The intellectual aim is to develop our awareness that globalization is precipitating changes in the nature of the American economy and in the nature of civic life.  While most argue that globalization has brought about a diminution of civic activity, this is not the inevitable result of these changes.  Rather, this course’s practical aim is to educate students about these changes and to consciously develop the civic skills and “habits of the heart” globalization demands.

 The course features several learning modes:  exposure to traditional academic reading, engagement in classroom discussions, and engagement in service, leadership training and community activism.  

We will explore how American civic life has changed over the past generation and why.  We will consider how economic changes associated with globalization have precipitated changes in how we live, work, and engage as citizens and created new institutions that govern our world.  We will work with locally based groups devoted to economic justice, community activism and service to women and children.  We will discuss what means are available to us to bring about a more socially just form of globalization in our own communities as well in the “global village”  while at the same time developing the skills and knowledge needed for active citizenship in our era.