Centers and Institutes

The Center for the Advancement of the Humanities supports teaching and research in humanities that is forward looking while seeking new approaches to traditional humanistic disciplines. It also will develop faculty and student affinity groups across disciplinary boundaries.

The Center for Cyber Security Awareness and Cyber Defense provides excellence in education about cybersecurity, service through partnerships with the university and community, and research opportunities in cybersecurity technology, cybersecurity preparedness and cybersecurity education. The center oversees the specialization in information assurance and cyber defense that is an option of our professional master's degree program in computing.

The Center for Data, Ethics, and Society officially launched addresses the ethical, social and political dimensions of an increasingly data-driven society.

Grounded in the university’s Catholic, Jesuit mission of social justice, the center will focus on confronting data ethics issues such as the controversies and consequences of our increasingly data-driven lives and spaces, unfair algorithmic biases, the unequal effects of computational decision-making, the privacy threats of ubiquitous surveillance systems, and the role for corporate social responsibility and accountability. The center will take up these concerns through an applied and interdisciplinary approach to research, pedagogy and community engagement.

The Center for Peacemaking operates at the intersection of thought and action. Informed by the Jesuit mission of reconciliation and working for peace, the Center fosters research and action for the promotion of social justice, human dignity and peace. As the only academic center at a Catholic university that explicitly focuses on exploring the power of nonviolence, our programs bring together students, faculty and the wider community to achieve three main objectives: (1) Formation-shaping values of youth and young adults through unique educational, experiential and applied learning opportunities. (2) Scholarship - producing high-quality and community-based participatory research that expands our understanding of how to address inequalities, resolve conflict and promote human dignity; and (3) Community peacemaking - leading programs that disrupt cycles of violence, address root causes of conflict, and help build strong, resilient and inclusive communities. The Center of Peacemaking works with partner organizations to model creative nonviolent responses to pressing problems and to achieve a distinctive impact locally and internationally. Our key partners include: Catholic Relief Services, Milwaukee Public Schools, Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Near West Side Partners Inc., Voice for Creative Nonviolence and Afghan Peace Volunteers. Students interested in learning the causes of violence, theories of nonviolence and successful social movements and in gaining the skills of nonviolent conflict management can explore a major or minor in Peace Studies.

The Center for Psychological Services (CPS) located within the Department of Psychology is dedicated to providing affordable and effective treatment to the general Marquette community, including its Milwaukee neighborhood. Like the university as a whole, CPS is dedicated to the principle of equal opportunity. CPS provides treatment regardless of race, sex, age, marital status, religion, veteran's status, sexual orientation, or national origin.

The Center for Transnational Justice seeks to facilitate greater understanding of the challenges and paths to achieving transnational justice. Marquette University is a Catholic, Jesuit institution with a global reach, committed to intellectual inquiry incorporating diverse faith-based and secular traditions to gain insights into how best to serve others. The Center builds on this tradition by organizing scholarly conferences and speaker series, and providing seed money and multidisciplinary networking opportunities for faculty and student research. The institute also works with departments and other institutions and centers at the university to facilitate course development.

Formerly known as the Institute for Urban Life, the Center for Urban Research, Teaching and Outreach was renamed in 2015. The Center for Urban Research, Teaching and Outreach continues the commitment to addressing Milwaukee's urban challenges and has expanded its urban-focused scope regarding research, reaching and outreach.

The mission of The Les Aspin Center for Government is to prepare young people to serve the public effectively and ethically and provide opportunities to enhance public policy awareness through educational programs. Through international exchanges, the center promotes mutual understanding between the United States and other countries. Its programs provide graduates a solid foundation for careers in public service, especially on Capitol Hill. Students from diverse academic disciplines have interned at nearly 100 congressional offices, the State Department, the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Secret Service, the White House, the Department of Defense, the Wisconsin Office of Federal-state relations and offices for Wisconsin-based corporations.