My greatest takeaways from the peace, justice and conflict studies program at Goshen College all revolve around the idea that ‘Nobody is the worst thing they have ever done.’ At Goshen, we thought endlessly about ways to better serve the world around us. We thought about how to build relationships with individuals who do not think or act like us. We learned about the importance of hearing others and them feeling heard.”
Peace and Justice Studies
Minor
The crossroads of justice and peace
Learn how 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’ll 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. Despite Goshen’s small setting, 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. Through studying this, you’ll build the analytical tools to understand conflict, and the practical ones to address it.
Because it’s interdisciplinary, you can shape the minor around your own field and questions. View the complete program requirements in our catalog.
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. At this small college, you’ll engage the world.
On campus, you can get involved in peacemaking and social justice through student clubs, speaker series, and events coordinated by the religion, justice, and society department, 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 like La Casa, The Center for Community Justice and Mennonite Central Committee.
Clinton Stroble '19
community supervision officer with the Georgia Department of Community Supervision
Paying for Goshen
Goshen College offers a variety of financial aid and merit-based awards with broader aid that reaches nearly every student. Most traditional students receive financial aid. To see your own price after aid, run the net price calculator or explore your options at the financial aid and scholarships pages.
Common questions about the peace and justice studies minor
It pairs with a wide range of majors, including social work, education, 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.
The minor enhances almost any career path. Many of our 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.
Yes, and it will be broader than you expect. The minor pairs with any major, so your classmates in Mediation are nursing students, future teachers and business majors — people who care about the same questions and will meet them in very different rooms.
Peacemaking is one of Goshen’s core values and part of the Goshen Core every student takes, so two of your electives will put you alongside students from across campus. You won’t be explaining why this matters.
Several courses build community by design. Inside Out meets in a correctional facility, with half the class incarcerated and half Goshen students, working through questions of justice together. Transforming Conflict and Violence asks you to examine your own conflict style alongside your classmates. Conflict-Healthy Groups works from real cases of structural injustice. These are not lecture courses.
Rob Brenneman
Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology
Regina Shands Stoltzfus
Professor of Peace
Justice
and Conflict StudiesLuke Kreider
Associate Professor of Religion and Sustainability
Alicia Maldonado-Zahra
Scholar Activist Fellow
