Introducing JUST

This Fall the Honors College launches a new Honors Interdisciplinary Studies Degree. Interdisciplinary study is not new to honors at ACU by any stretch, but this year marks a new way of going about it – one that is at the heart of who we are at ACU and that has the potential to transform what we do.

The Honors Interdisciplinary Studies Degree at ACU allows students to combine multiple areas of study as a part of an interdisciplinary studies team engaging justice and urban poverty. We refer to this as the Justice and Urban Studies Team (JUST). From the first semester students set foot on campus until they complete their degree, students on the JUST team engage the problem of urban poverty – and not just in the abstract. Students are studying urban poverty as it occurs in a particular place and people. Specifically, our students will engage poverty in south and east Dallas in partnership with CitySquare. The team will be present in the context of Dallas, moving from initial immersion experiences to living and learning fully within the context. They will partner with neighbors in Dallas to discover solutions to real problems. It’s a new way of learning that not only requires critical thinking from multiple perspectives, but forms students who will offer themselves – the gift of their intellect, skill, motivated abilities and passions – for the sake of God’s world, particularly in its most vulnerable places.

They will become doctors, lawyers, teachers, public servants, and business executives who understand clearly their vocation in participation with the mission of God in the world.