Skills and Theory Classes

The following are the courses required for students who participate in the INVST Community Leadership Program:

INVS 3302: FACILITATING PEACEFUL COMMUNITY CHANGE
Students gain knowledge and skills that enable them to become effective organizers and facilitators of community goals.  Learners  focus on understanding the processes of community building, with a multicultural emphasis.  Students are encouraged to apply concepts to life experiences and to examine themselves as potential change agents.  Same as WMST 3302.

INVS 3402: IMPLEMENTING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
This course examines grassroots democracy as a means for creating comprehensive, solution-based strategies to address social and environmental problems.  Students develop an understanding of the use of democracy for positive social change, identify how changes are initiated within movements, and learn the theory and practice of effective and responsible change efforts. 

INVS 3932: COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP INTERNSHIP
This skills-training course develops students' competencies as community leaders working for a just and sustainable world.  Under the supervision of the instructor and a community supervisor, students learn organizational and leadership skills by serving as volunteer staff members at community-based organizations.  First-hand experience provides students with a deepened understanding of the complex issues facing humanity. Learners are exposed to solution-based strategies for positive change.

INVS 4302 (4732): CRITICAL THINKING IN DEVELOPMENT
This course requires students to critically evaluate explanations, presented in assigned or optional readings or in student papers, on the success or failure of development. Learners look at policy proposals for facilitating development.  Prerequisite:  ECON 2010 and 2020, PSCI 2012 and one upper-division PSCI, or instructor consent. Same as PSCI 4732 and similar to PSCI 4012. Approved for Arts and Sciences core curriculum: Critical Thinking or Contemporary Societies.

INVS 4402: NONVIOLENT SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
This course explores theories of nonviolence and social change, with analyses of major movements in different national and international settings.  Students will focus on cultural variations, means and ends, spirituality, decision-making, and ecology, examine the relationship between nonviolence and violence, and explore global possibilities.  Same as SOCY 4115.

INVS 4932: COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP IN ACTION
This skills-training course develops students' expertise as community leaders working for a just and sustainable world.  Under the supervision of the instructor and a community advisor, students learn leadership skills by designing, implementing and evaluating a community-based project.  First-hand experience provides students with a deepened understanding of the complex issues facing humanity. Learners develop competence with solution-based strategies.

INVS 4999: Teaching Social Justice (optional)
INVST CLP students participate in a teaching assistantship under the supervision of an instructor.  They explore teaching strategies for implementing concrete educational goals, with an emphasis on the pedagogies of service learning and participatory education.  Focusing on issues of social justice and environmental sustainability, teaching assistants learn how to encourage higher levels of creativity and analysis among students. Prerequisite:  Admission to the INVST Community Leadership Program.

Some of the curricular content of the INVST Community Leadership Program is based upon the work of Seana Lowe Steffen, Ph.D.