ONLINE SYNTHESIS SESSIONS are the intellectual core and the social heart of the JEHN community. During the Online Synthesis Sessions, JEHN students will discuss what they are learning in their JEHN courses, make connections to current events and issues of concern, and develop ideas for their JEHN Projects. Co-taught by instructors from the different campuses, the OSS meetings will be responsive to what is happening in the students’ classrooms, communities, and the nation and world.
CURATED COURSES, across disciplines and campuses, allowing students to examine issues of justice and equity in depth and in context.
PREREQUISITES AND BREADTH: Before entering the JEHN, students should be able to demonstrate a knowledge of historical contexts for these issues, either by independent research or successful completion of selected prerequisite courses within their general education sequences.
TEACHING TO LEARN: Peer-to-peer mentoring will help to ensure that students learn, but also deeply understand the knowledge they’ve embraced when they can teach other students within their circle of peers. Students from early cohorts will have mentoring opportunities to help later cohorts of students understand the values, mission, objectives, and activities specific to learning about racism in civic history, or their other specific interests within the JEHN framework.
APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS: Over time, as the program develops, JEHN will work to create opportunities for apprenticeships or internships within business, organization, agencies, and foundations equipped with pathways to success into which students from this program are well-prepared to enter. These apprenticeships will create pipelines, shadowing connections and direct paths to begin the students’ career process and help them to step into positions of leadership with experience in innovative decision-making and organizational structures.
AN ONLINE NETWORK/PLATFORM for discussion and collegial collaboration among students and faculty. Because the class sites will be available to future students, and for past cohorts to refer back to, students will have the opportunity to share project ideas and develop leadership 
connections outside of the classroom and across the campuses and majors. Intellectual connections forged through online connections can be reinforced at the annual conference and lead to joint publications or projects during the undergraduate years and beyond.
AN ANNUAL IN-PERSON GATHERING (public health conditions permitting) for students to share ideas and projects, socialize and learn together, and carry out experiential learning projects as an entire cohort. Community service and personal connections in various geographic regions will help students to understand and be prepared to address both local contexts and global commonalities.
FACULTY CONVENINGS, virtual and in-person, to develop curricula and shared activities and provide faculty development. Faculty working together to further develop the program will ensure that the JEHN has a live and active intellectual life, with a dynamic connection to new events and needs of students and the broader intellectual and political spheres.
GUEST SPEAKERS AND DISCUSSION SEMINARS: The JEHN will invite and host guest experts from a variety of arenas (business, science, arts and literature, activism, education, etc.) to present online seminars on selected topics for JEHN students. These will give students the opportunity to engage directly with professionals in a variety of fields, learning about real-world applications and implications of their studies. These seminars will also give students the chance to establish connections for later expansion and engage the outside speakers in the work of the JEHN.
PUBLIC-FACING ONLINE GALLERIES of student work and projects. Students invest more energy and commitment knowing that their work has an effect beyond the grade and the classroom. They will begin to see themselves as part of a broader community, with an important role to play in current conversations.
A CREDENTIAL FOR GRADUATES: The JEHN Certificate awarded to students will certify and document their commitment to the issues of justice and equity, as well as their knowledge and expertise in seeing those issues in a wide range of contexts and subjects. As a credential to be listed on their resumés or included in their portfolios, the JEHN Certificate will encourage them to open conversations with potential employers or institutions for post-graduate study.
