How do instructors integrate social justice in syllabi making? A communication studies assessment

This paper shares findings from a preliminary study exploring how communication studies instructors incorporate social justice into their syllabi. Using a qualitative content analysis approach, the study examined 20 departmental syllabi at a university in the U.S. in 2021–2022, identifying instances of social justice framing across course objectives, readings, assignments, and overall document. Findings reveal varying degrees of explicit and implicit integration, often shaped by pedagogical approaches and disciplinary subfields. Emerging from patterns in the analysis, the authors share a guide for enhancing social justice integration and indicate a need for intentional and reflective syllabus design to align teaching practices with social justice values. Through its focus on syllabi as a site for pedagogical framing, this assessment supports student success and retention and the cultivation of a more locally and globally connected campus community.