Why Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership?
The Program in Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership (CAL) equips and inspires students to understand and engage with communities in the United States, the Americas, and the world. The CAL curriculum prepares students for civic engagement and public leadership. Through real-world experiences and innovative coursework, students develop the knowledge, values, and skills they need to contribute to a better future.
The name Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership signals the key components of the program and the competencies students need regardless of what they pursue after graduation.
- Culture speaks to the importance of understanding history, people, and institutions, which need to inform any effort to make a difference in the world.
- Advocacy speaks to the public-facing, community-engaged projects students will undertake as they develop a voice and a vision all their own.
- Leadership speaks to the ideas, experiences, and skills that students must draw on when uniting people to tackle common problems.
The CAL major is both structured and individualized. All students take required foundational courses, but they also customize the major through courses they choose and real-world experiences related to their passions. Discover ways to customize your major.
Because CAL is both strcutured and individualized, it can work especially well when combined with other majors. Currently there are CAL students also majoring in
- African American and Diaspora Stuies
- Anthropology
- Child Development
- Climate Studies
- Cognitive Studies
- Economics
- Elementary Education
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- History
- History of Art
- Human and Organizational Development
- Medicine, Health, and Society
- Neuroscience
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Public Policy Studies
- Sociology
- and more
That’s because the skills, values, and perspectives you learn in CAL are beneficial wherever you go after graduation.
Because CAL is unique to Vanderbilt University, it helps you stand out from your peers and tell a distinctive story about how you adapted the major to your own goals, passions, and career plans.
