School of Social Research and Justice
Studies at the University of Nevada,
Reno
About the School of Social Research and Justice Studies
Mission Statement
The School of Social Research and Justice Studies desires to provide a rich context for research and
teaching as it relates to understanding modern society, especially the role of justice in society. The broad
vision of the school enhances our contributions to the mission of the University of Nevada, Reno. The
academic mission of the school is to contribute to the understanding of how societies are organized and
function, and to improve the quality of thinking and research about social justice. Teaching about social
justice requires an interdisciplinary approach and the scope of concern is necessarily global. Both
humanistic and social science approaches are integrated in the new school's focus. Successful teaching
about modern society and social justice requires diversity in outlook and background in the faculty and
in the student body. The approach must be change-oriented and linked to the pressing justice concerns of
our time. Focusing on critical inquiry, we seek to develop critical reading, thinking, and problem-solving
skills in our students. Our research mission is to conduct research designed to further an understanding
of modern societies and the realization of social justice in our free democratic society. Interdisciplinary
research efforts fostered by the new school will most often be the key to the realization of these goals.
Goals and Objectives
Teaching
Creation of the School of Social Research and Justice Studies will lead to a more efficient teaching
process. Existing resources would be more efficiently utilized, resulting in an increase in the number
upper-division courses offered by the separate elements of the school, more classes at the graduate level,
and more students taking classes outside departmental boundaries from other units within the school. It
is also appropriate to expect that the creation of additional graduate degree offerings would allow
advanced graduate students to teach specific lower-division classes, thereby releasing faculty time for
more graduate and upper-division teaching.
Research
The School of Social Research and Justice Studies, following its establishment as an interdisciplinary
research and teaching organization, should generate considerable research and grant activity.
Individually, each of the elements of the new school has had moderate to good success with grant
acquisition, and all have been strong producers of academic research. What has made the grant
acquisition process more difficult has been the paucity of time available due to teaching responsibilities
and the absence of administrative assistance with the grants, as well as a lack of available and qualified
graduate students to work as research assistants on the grants. After the school has become established,
any overlap among classes eliminated, and the faculty have been allowed to focus more on research and
grant writing, the acquisition of more research funding should be a natural result. Furthermore, with the
placement of the Grant Sawyer Center within the school, grants obtained by any of the elements of the
school will be more easily administered without placing any additional administrative strains on the
individual departments of the school. The acquisition of more grants will, of course, allow more
graduate students to be supported in the units as Research Assistants.
Service
All units that will form the new school have public service responsibilities, given that they are affiliated
with the university, which is a Land Grant institution. This is especially the case with the Sawyer Center,
which is part of the university's statewide programming designed to serve the public statewide. The new
school will be an interdisciplinary organization. Social service and governmental agencies that interact
with one of the elements of the school will have the opportunity to more conveniently receive assistance
from other departments within the school. Again, this increased access to interdisciplinary perspectives
will improve the quality of assistance offered to these agencies, and may create new research
opportunities for those elements previously unassociated with these agencies or individuals.