{"id":20929,"date":"2025-04-16T15:51:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T19:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=20929"},"modified":"2025-04-17T09:09:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T13:09:56","slug":"making-a-tangible-difference-in-peoples-lives","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/16\/making-a-tangible-difference-in-peoples-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a \u2018tangible difference in people\u2019s lives\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Pronita
Pronita Gupta ’91 visits with Sustainability and Social Justice graduate students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Pronita
Gupta spoke in the Policy Analysis class and the common seminar. (Photos by Steven King)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sustainability and Social Justice students learn from Pronita Gupta \u201991, change agent and policymaker<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When Clark\u2019s Department of Sustainability and Social Justice<\/a> \u2014 a revisioning of the International Development, Community, and Environment program \u2014 launched<\/a> in 2023, faculty wanted to ensure that students across all five master\u2019s programs had the opportunity to learn from each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In transforming the department\u2019s curriculum, faculty purposefully developed a new, common seminar that is required for graduate students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited about our common seminar; this is the unifying experience for students in the department,\u201d says Dean of the College Laurie Ross<\/a>, \u201991, M.A. \u201995, longtime leader and professor in the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This spring, 52 students are participating in the inaugural common seminar, Principles and Ethics in Community Engagement, which will be offered annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur department developed the curriculum over two years as a way to weave key themes that connect the different master\u2019s programs and reflect our department\u2019s common mission,\u201d says Margaret Post<\/a>, lead instructor and an associate research professor in the department who is teaching the seminar with professors Ross, Cynthia Caron<\/a>  \u201990, Anita F\u00e1bos<\/a>, and Morgan Ruelle<\/a>, and Career Development<\/a> Director Sharon Hanna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Margaret
Professor Margaret Post, lead instructor for the common seminar for graduate students in the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe course is an opportunity to name our values, reflect on our lived experiences, learn new concepts and theories, and explore concrete strategies for transformative action,\u201d Post says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lectures, activities, and writing for the course allow students \u201cto shape and refine their values and future goals for work in fields of sustainability, environmental and social justice, and international and community development,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To inspire students as they reflect on the future, the course has included guest speakers. Among them are Deepa Iyer, an advocate for justice and author of \u201cSocial Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection,\u201d whose \u201csocial change map\u201d has guided an assignment where students create autobiographies illustrating their core values, commitments, and goals, and Pronita Gupta \u201991, special assistant to the president for labor and workers in the Biden Administration and deputy director of the Department of Labor Women\u2019s Bureau in the Obama administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, Gupta spent a day at Clark, visiting with students in Post\u2019s Policy Analysis class and the common seminar, as well as at a lunchtime roundtable with SSJ students. She discussed her work in Washington, D.C., including the development of policies that promote workers\u2019 rights, paid family and medical leave, and sick leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of the student organizations shaped who I am. I valued working and learning from so many of the student activists I met.\u201d<\/p>\u2014 Pronita Gupta \u201991<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gupta emphasized \u201cthe need to take the long view on important policy changes that will make a tangible difference in people\u2019s lives,\u201d according to Post, and \u201cencouraged students to persevere, to build coalitions, and to follow their heart in their work as change makers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gupta also reflected on her days as a student at Clark, where she served as president of the Undergraduate Student Council, became involved with the Women\u2019s Center and several anti-war groups, and worked in Worcester as a rape crisis counselor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of the student organizations shaped who I am. I valued working and learning from so many of the student activists I met,\u201d she recalled<\/a> in 2021. \u201cThey taught me everything from how to organize and how to strategize to how to make a real demand and push for change in a realistic way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The common seminar will conclude next week with a celebration of students\u2019 reflections on their learning and growth through the semester and as they look to their futures beyond Clark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Laurie
Laurie Ross, dean of the college and longtime leader and professor in the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice, left, and Pronita Gupta \u201991 (photo courtesy of Margaret Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This spring, 52 students are participating in the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice\u2019s inaugural common seminar, Principles and Ethics in Community Engagement, which will be offered annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20932,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-brand)","story_headerImg":20932,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[239],"displayed_author":[242],"featured":[494],"topic":[340,135,136],"class_list":["post-20929","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-worcester-world","displayed_author-meredith-woodward-king","featured-secondary","topic-curriculum","topic-sustainability","topic-sustainability-and-social-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nMaking a \u2018tangible difference in people\u2019s lives\u2019 | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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