The program prepares graduates with an in-depth understanding of the interaction between education and the larger culture, understanding the dynamics inherent in knowledge and learning processes, the development of communities for learning, and the use of critical democratic and alternative pedagogies for enhancing the flourishing of human lives.

• Gain theoretical understandings across several fields, including but not limited to, feminist and queer theory, critical race theory, critical social theory, diversity and co-culturalism, inclusive democratic theory, and critical and alternative pedagogies
• Develop the capacity to read, write and communicate at the graduate level with a critical and empowering perspective
• Synthesize academic concepts with the goal of engaging in ?praxis? in educational contexts
• Understand that an educator as a ?public intellectual? has an ethical responsibility to work towards meaningful and transformative social change in the pursuit of the ideals of a robust and inclusive democracy