We cultivate leaders, scholars, and activists committed to social change

The Jones Center began as the nation’s first joint JD/MA program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and we are proud to have grown into a groundbreaking Center with a mission to train and cultivate leaders, scholars, and activists committed to social change. To fulfill this mission, we work strategically to support student research, provide enriching learning experiences, offer innovative programming, and engage in community partnerships.

Our Mission

The Jones Center works to cultivate leaders, scholars, and activists committed to social change. Recognizing that solutions are best crafted working with affected communities, the Center’s touchstone value is collaboration. Students, practitioners, scholars, and activists work together with the support of the Jones Center to address the interactions of multiple forms of oppression.

Our History

The Jones Center grew from the desire of students, the passion of faculty and staff, and the commitment from administration. Beginning with the joint degree program in Law and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in 1995, the Center added a clinical component in 2005 with the Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic, and in 2007 launched an academic journal, The Freedom Center Journal. With these foundational elements in place, the Center was officially established in 2010 as the Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice with a mission to cultivate leaders, scholars, and activists committed to social change.

Since 2010, the Center has provided students with experiential learning, research, and other opportunities for interdisciplinary inquiry. In 2019, the Center was renamed the Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice, in honor of the late Judge Nathaniel R. Jones. With the renaming, the Jones Center further strengthened its dedication to achieving a new level of impact and engagement of its core mission.

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