Sonya Maria Johnson
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Critical Identity Studies,
Mouat Junior Professor of International Studies
Working for social justice, equity, and change
What is your dream career?
Like Patrick Fraser’17, your path to a career might start with a first-year seminar on the U.S. war on terrorism, continue with an internship at Mothers at Risk in Brussels, Belgium, turn into winning a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in Malaysia, then lead to working as a civil rights advocate at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont.
Or you might take your experience advocating for transgender rights on campus to the Iowa statehouse, fighting for healthcare equality like Tobias Gurl’12.
Or your time at Beloit working at the nearby Winnebago County Public Defender’s Office might launch a legal career with the Bronx Defenders, serving low-income Bronx residents in criminal, civil, child welfare, and immigration cases, like Harvard-educated criminal defense lawyer Ruth Hamilton’07. More interested in forensic psychology? Jolene Goeden’94 used her experiences at Beloit to launch a career with the FBI.
Chart your own path
With support from professors, staff, and alumni mentors, you can take advantage of all Beloit has to offer. Courses that spark your passions, resources found only at Beloit, and internships and study opportunities across the globe are your stepping stones.
Your new professional network
Beloit’s long-standing commitment to human rights and social justice provides students with a wide variety of alumni and friends across the world. From embassies to the State Department to non-profits to foundations to grad programs, Beloiters around the world are here to guide and support you.
Justice & Rights
Justice & Rights
Your Mentors
Daniel Brückenhaus
Daniel Brückenhaus studies how both prominent anti-colonial leaders and grass-roots members of anti-colonial movements used laughter as a form of resistance.
Michael Dango
Michael Dango and his students examine contemporary art, media, and literature to see how people are developing frameworks for making sense of urgent political, social, and environmental questions.
Joseph P. Derosier
Joseph Derosier and his students examine literature, film, and other forms of media to understand how our world has been imagined and realized, and how we ourselves participate in how these worlds are perpetuated, altered, and reimagined.
Beth Dougherty
A political scientist with an international relations focus, human rights figure largely in Beth Dougherty’s research, teaching, and college service.
Pablo Toral
Pablo Toral takes students into the field to learn sustainability from the ground up, working with the communities they visit.
Ron Watson
Ron works closely with students interested in working in public health and other community-based health promotion work, as well as research pertaining to racial justice, equity and equality.
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
Learning about lobbying
Five Beloiters recently traveled to the nation’s capital to learn more about lobbying for immigration rights. Funded through the Weissberg Program in Human Rights and Social Justice, the trip showed the students how young people can advocate for lasting change.
Jan9th
Career Accelerator 2023
Your professional development is more than finding the next job. (Although that’s important, too.) It’s about applying what you’re learning in a new environment, discovering the ways that your passions can impact the world, and unlocking the keys to your success.
Get started on your future with the Career Accelerator.
Helping communities protect themselves from flooding
Rain gardens? Rain barrels? Tidal surge flow rates? Stormwater management? Martu Kollie studied it all, during a summer internship to help communities in New Jersey.
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