Illustration by Gwen Keraval

When Pope Paul VI spoke these words in Stockholm as part of his World Day of Peace message in 1972, he echoed a timeless truth: That justice begets peace. That principle guided the naming of Georgetown’s major, Justice and Peace Studies, which launched in the fall of 2014. A decade later, JUPS is not just the College’s most popular interdisciplinary major — it’s a movement.

“It’s education as a catalyst for change,” said Noa Offman (C’25), who was named a Rhodes Scholar. “So many of my peers are using these courses to pursue careers in the area of justice and reform they care most about.”

For 10 years, JUPS has empowered students to confront injustice in all its forms — through policy, advocacy, education and grassroots organizing. The program’s strength lies in its understanding that today’s complex challenges demand collaboration across disciplines and communities. That’s why JUPS students are tackling issues ranging from criminal justice reform to sustainability, and going on to careers in law, health care, public service and beyond.

As the program enters its second decade, here we spotlight four students whose work reflects the heart of the JUPS mission: to understand the structural injustices that cause war and violence — and to alter them in pursuit of lasting peace.

Dia Chawla

FROM: Greenwood, MS
MAJORS: JUPS and government (C’26)
INTERESTS: Rural development and educational policy
EXTRACURRICULARS: Tutor at DC Reads, public policy and regulation intern at Holland & Knight, legislative intern for Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), and co-president of Georgetown Bipartisan Coalition

Why JUPS

“I came to Georgetown pretty set on a traditional pre-law track, majoring in government. When I was looking for classes spring of my freshman year, a friend recommended I take Intro to JUPS, and literally within the first week, it felt like something had clicked. I felt like a door had been opened and I transitioned to a double major.”

Motivation

“I’m the child of two immigrants and grew up in a very small town in the Mississippi Delta, which is a historic part of the South in terms of the civil rights movement. I went to private school in a very under-resourced school district and have always been interested in rural-urban divides and how rural communities in America suffer in different ways.”

Favorite Course

“Probably Intro to JUPS, but I’m taking Human Rights and Justice right now with Professor Brian Kritz, and we went to the DC Superior Court and watched a criminal trial case. It was incredible. That’s what I love about the JUPS program. They really encourage you to put faces behind the things you’re studying and see the application.”

Transformative Experience

“I participated in the Cape Town, South Africa, study abroad program the summer after my freshmen year. It was daunting. I didn’t know a lot about South Africa or apartheid, and it was heavy material — we visited sites of historic bloodshed and listened to stories from people who were involved. But Intro to JUPS encouraged me to learn to thrive in uncomfortable situations. I’m glad I did because that trip was a watershed moment for me in terms of wanting to commit my life to social justice causes.”

Biggest Lesson

“Ideal scenarios may seem naïve but are important to have. You may not be able to reach them, but the process of trying is incredibly important.”

Up Next

“Hopefully participating in a panel at the Peace and Justice Studies Association’s annual conference next fall. Then, after graduation, I want to spend two years doing service work, go to law school and pursue policymaking that addresses poverty in the South.”

Josh Chang

FROM: Honolulu, HI
MAJORS: JUPS and sociology (C’26)
INTERESTS: Environmental justice and educational equity
EXTRACURRICULARS: Research assistant at Hawai’i Green Growth, Georgetown Law’s Denny Center for Democratic Capitalism, the Georgetown Climate Center, sociology department and Yonsei University; Americorps Teaching Fellow at Breakthrough Collaborative; and intern at the Hawai’i State Senate

Why JUPS

“I actually applied to Georgetown as a JUPS major because I valued the program’s interdisciplinary approach. I’d already been really interested in a ton of different fields within the humanities and social sciences so the JUPS major was the perfect way to integrate diverse disciplines for a more holistic and practical understanding of justice and peace.”

Motivation

“I loved my environmental science and marine biology classes in high school. I remember we watched the documentary Seaspiracy about the exploitative and unsustainable fishing industry, and it got me to really care about environmental justice issues. Around the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement was going on and I was exposed to environmental racism. I knew what was happening wasn’t right, and we needed to do something about it.”

Favorite Course

“Intro to JUPS during my freshman year is still one of my most memorable courses at Georgetown. Every reading, every single class discussion was about something I was passionate about and it got me excited about being in college.”

Biggest Lesson

“The intentional application of love and empathy, towards oneself and others, is a way of combating the ever-growing sense of cynicism, hopelessness and alienation felt by many. That’d look like picking up a book, taking a walk, organizing a meal with friends, having difficult conversations or sharing your time and resources through mutual aid.”

Informative Experience

“At the United Nations’ Hawai’i Local2030 Hub, I loved learning how to use census data and geographic information system tools to visualize how climate change disproportionately impacts Hawai’i’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities. I really loved producing beautiful graphics that policymakers and researchers can use to realize actual change.”

Up Next

“I’ll be focused on my JUPS capstone and sociology thesis, which will explore the role of social labels and collective identity in the South Korean women’s movement. After that, I’m planning on pursuing a master’s in teaching.”

Noa Offman

FROM: Toronto, Canada
MAJORS: JUPS (C’25)
INTERESTS: Criminal justice reform
EXTRACURRICULARS: Restorative justice developer, criminal defense intern at Solid Ground Law, and intern at both Newirth Law and Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs

Why JUPS

“My first semester, I took The Problem of God, and one of the topics we covered was the prison industrial complex. My professor, Annalisa Butticci, was teaching at the DC jail through Georgetown’s Prisons and Justice Initiative, and invited one of her students, Colie ‘Shaka’ Long, to share his lived experience with incarceration via Zoom. I decided while hearing him speak to change my major — I came to Georgetown as a global health major. He later became my mentor.”

Motivation

“My mom is a cardiologist, and I always knew that I wanted to do something that involved people and felt impactful.”

Favorite Course

“Intro to JUPS. We had a whole unit on the prison industrial complex, discussing the tension between reform and abolition as well as the issues plaguing currently incarcerated people. The fact that I was in a classroom setting, getting to talk about these things was exciting and shocking. It dawned on me how rare it is to be in a space surrounded by like-minded individuals who are all asking more of the societies that they belong to.”

Biggest Lesson

“A class called Restorative Justice gave me my greatest tool: radical empathy. As a 21 year old, I’m tasked with listening. I’m not a judge or juror, and listening, especially to people who are often silenced, is a pretty radical act.”

Kismet

“I was interning at the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and worked a lunch, focused on pairing people who are seeking release under the Second Chance Act with pro bono legal representation. Shaka walked in. It had been two years since I first heard him talk in class. I’d attended his trial via Zoom and we had stayed in touch, but that was the first time I’d ever seen him in person. It felt like seeing a celebrity and I wasn’t sure if he’d even remember who I was. But he saw me, ran over to me and gave me the biggest hug. It reaffirmed that this was the work I was meant to be doing.”

What’s Next

“I’ll be studying criminology at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. After that, I want to work in the criminal justice reform space, but I don’t know yet whether that will be through law, journalism, data analysis or something else.”

Julianne Meneses

FROM: Roxbury, NJ
MAJORS: JUPS (C’25)
INTERESTS: Immigration law and policy
EXTRACURRICULARS: Program assistant for JUPS, advocacy intern at Ayuda, 2024 Education and Social Justice Research Fellow, student repre–
sentative at The Capitol Applied Learning Labs, student consultant at Food & Friends, education coordinator for Immigrant Justice Initiatives at Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice, and research intern at Their Story is Our Story

Why JUPS

“I transferred into Georgetown my sophomore year and knew when I applied that I wanted to pursue a major in JUPS, as it offers the type of curriculum I was looking for and the chance to meet academics, professionals and practitioners who have done social justice work in various fields.”

Motivation

“My parents are immigrants from the Philippines, which has always been a strong part of my identity. To be able to discuss topics like immigration and the impact of colonization in an academic setting and explore it from a historical, holistic approach means a lot to me.”

Favorite Course

“Research Methods. I never considered research a viable path for me, but taking that class made me realize how much I enjoy human-centered research, especially interviewing. It led me to pursue a research fellowship through Georgetown and made me realize that what I want from my professional life is to learn from other people, hear their stories and find ways to help them.”

My Research

“Last summer, I traveled to Sarajevo and spent time at a Catholic youth center researching how their structures of education impacted students’ understandings on governance, specifically regarding democracy and politics. The students I interviewed shared that many of their formal school institutions focus on memorization of systems rather than really understanding how they work, but the center emphasizes the students’ agency in the process and provides a space to ask questions and contemplate how their society functions. It was really inspiring to talk to them and see their eyes light up when talking about their experiences.”

Expanded Perspective

“I took Lived Pluralism: Nepal my sophomore year, and as part of the course, we talked about the impacts of British colonialism on the country and its religion, and then spent spring break in Kathmandu, visiting different religious and historical sites and talking to people about their experiences. It was informative to me because I’m a firm believer that when trying to understand a culture, especially in international affairs, we shouldn’t impose or project our biases and priorities but listen to their perspectives.”

Up Next

“I’m currently studying for the LSAT and hoping to go to law school in a few years with the goal of becoming an immigration lawyer.”