What is Digital Justice Studies?

 

When the Everett Program was founded in 1998, it was called the Global Information Internship Program. When it became established as a major concentration and minor, the course sequence was named Global Information and Social Enterprise Studies (GISES). 

In 2025, the program re-named the course sequence “ Digital Justice Studies” to better reflect the Everett Program’s mission of utilizing digital technology for social justice.

Interested in learning more about Digital Justice Studies?  Speak with your academic advisor or email Chris Benner- cbenner@ucsc.edu 

What is Digital Justice Studies

Sociology with an Intensive Concentration in Global Information and Social Enterprise Studies, known practically as GISES (pronounced, guy-sis), is challenging and designed for highly motivated, self-directed and enterprising students who have demonstrated the capacity to design and complete an honors-quality project for a civil society group.
This site and its associated materials were created to supply prospective and current GISES students with as much context, clarification, and support as possible to help them through the process of deciding if the major or minor is right for them, and then writing the Project Practicum.
Please feel free to email Dr. Chris Benner, cbenner@ucsc.edu, with any questions you may have.

Sociology Major With a Concentration In Digital Justice Studies

 

The following list describes the requirements needed to get a major concentration in Digital Justice Studies:

  1. Select TWO of the following three courses and complete with a B- or better:
  • SOCY 1 Introduction to Sociology – Offered Fall, Spring, and typically in the Summer
  • SOCY 10 Issues and Problems in American Society – Offered Winter and typically in the Summer
  • SOCY 15 World Society (CC GE) – Offered Fall and typically in the Summer
  1. Complete SOCY 30A Introduction to Digital Justice Studies with a B- or better(PE-T GE) – Offered Fall

 

Last, complete the following courses with a C or better, or a  “Pass”:

  • Three Digital Justice Core Courses: The following three courses must be completed in Winter, Spring, and following Fall quarters immediately after taking SOCY 30A
  • SOCY 107A Designing Digital Justice Projects – Offered Winter
  • SOCY 107B Project Implementation and Grant Writing (3 units) – Offered Spring
  • SOCY 196G Project Practicum – Offered Fall 
  1. TWO Lower-Division Core Courses Both courses must be taken.
  • SOCY 3A The Evaluation of Evidence – Offered Fall and typically in the Summer.
    • Double majors with Psychology may substitute SOCY 3A with PSYC 100.
    • Double majors with Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) may substitute SOCY 3A with LALS 100A.
  • SOCY 3B Statistical Methods (SR GE) – Offered Winter only
    • Students are encouraged to take SOCY 3B with the Sociology department, however, SOCY 3B can also be substituted with STAT 5, STAT 7, PSYC 2, or equivalent AP Statistics scores of 4 or 5 satisfies the SOCY 3B requirement.
    • SOCY 3B equivalents can also be found through UC Online, such as MGMT 7: Statistics for Business Decision Making offered through UC Irvine
  1.   TWO Upper-Division Core Courses: Both courses must be taken, in sequence, starting with SOCY 105A. SOCY 105A and SOCY 105B also satisfy the Disciplinary Communications (DC) requirement for the major. Courses that satisfy the DC requirement must be taken at UCSC and they have a prerequisite of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements. The courses are also restricted to students who have junior and senior class standing. 
  • SOCY 105A Classical Social Theory – Offered Fall, Winter, and Summer
  • SOCY 105B Contemporary Social Theory – Offered Winter, Spring, and Summer

  1. FIVE Upper-Division Elective Courses: Any combination of the following options may be used to satisfy the five upper-division electives in this major:

  • UCSC Sociology Department upper-division electives, numbered SOCY 110-189,
  • Upper-division electives from this list of approved electives from other departments.
  • 5-unit Independent Studies taken with Professor Chris Benner are approved to count as upper-division electives.
  • Courses from UCDC or UC Sacramento
  • SOCY 107F taken three times (six units total) can count towards one upper-division elective
  • All other courses must be petitioned. Electives must be upper-division and 5 units at UCSC (abroad courses may carry different units). If you are petitioning a new course for approval, please complete this online form. 
Non-Sociology Majors: Minor in Digital Justice Studies

ONE Lower-Division Course Required to Qualify for the Minor

To be eligible to declare the minor: students must already be declared in a major, must pass SOCY 30A with a grade of C or better, and receive approval to continue with the program to SOCY 107A in Winter quarter. The approval process takes place near the end of SOCY 30A and students who are approved to continue with the program will receive a permission code for SOCY 107A.

  • SOCY 30A Introduction to Digital Justice Studies (PE-T GE) – Offered Fall

Three Digital Justice Core Courses

The following three courses must be completed in Winter, Spring, and following Fall quarters immediately after taking SOCY 30A

  • SOCY 107A Designing Digital Justice Projects – Offered Winter
  • SOCY 107B Project Implementation and Grant Writing (3 units) – Offered Spring
  • SOCY 196G Project Practicum – Offered Fall 

   

THREE Upper-Division Elective Courses:

Any combination of the following options may be used to satisfy the three upper-division electives in this minor:

  • UCSC Sociology Department upper-division electives, numbered SOCY 110-189,
  • 5-unit Independent Studies taken with Professor Chris Benner are approved to count as upper-division electives.
  • Courses from UCDC or UC Sacramento
  • SOCY 107F taken three times (six units total) can count towards one upper-division elective
  • All other courses must be petitioned. Electives must be upper-division and 5 units at UCSC (abroad courses may carry different units). If you are petitioning a new course for approval, please complete this online form. 

 

Interested in Declaring Digital Justice Studies?

Declaration must happen after you have completed the lower-division qualifying courses detailed above. For the major this is passing SOCY 30A and two of the sociology courses (SOCY 1, SOCY 10, and SOCY 15) with a cumulative GPA of 2.8 or better. For the minor students must pass SOCY 30A with a C or better.

Do not declare until you have your Digital Justice Studies proposal approved by the Everett Staff and Executive Director.

Students should declare the Digital Justice major/minor if and only if they have a viable project on the way to being implemented, not before.

Declaring the major/minor is done with the Sociology department, see UCSC Sociology website for process.