B UILDING SOCIALLY E N G AG E D L E A R N I N G AT D E PAU L

THE IRWIN W.

f o r Co m m u n i t y-based S ervi ce Learning & Community Servic e Studies

 Engage PARTNER REFLECT

DIRECTORS’ LETTER
It is with great pleasure that we offer you the first Annual Report of the Irwin W. Steans Center
for Community-based Service Learning and Community Service Studies. The projects reflected
upon in this report are the product of the hard work of DePaul students and faculty, Steans
Center staff, and our many community partners who allow us to collaborate with them to create
meaningful educational opportunities.

The Steans Center creates educational partnerships that bring students and faculty together with
residents of communities throughout Chicago and internationally to share knowledge in order to
Howard Rosing better understand and to positively change the world around us. Our mission reflects that of the
Executive Director university’s Vincentian mission of service and preferential option for the poor in that it supports
social equality in terms of access to educational resources for underserved communities and in
addressing the interests of low-income, exploited and oppressed groups. Our work facilitates an
academic connection to the mission by directly integrating service into DePaul’s curriculum.
By applying theory to practice through creative service opportunities directly linked to course
learning goals and objectives, we create experiential and values-based learning that distinguishes
DePaul as one of the most socially-engaged universities in the country.

Behind the scenes of the many projects supported by the Steans Center is detailed preparatory
and logistical work required to facilitate successful service learning courses and programs. This
work could not take place with out the talents of multiple full-time and part-time professional
Marisol Morales staff and numerous student workers who dedicate long hours to developing relationships
Associate Director internally, locally and internationally and to making the service learning experience for students
as seamless as possible.

In the pages that follow, you will see that we value local knowledge and respect community
partners as purveyors of that knowledge. Our role as facilitators is in connecting the great work
done by faculty in the classroom to the applied knowledge of community partners. As a result,
DePaul students enrich their educational experience and become socially-engaged leaders. As
you read through the report, please note that the information presented only reflects examples
of the many partnerships and programs we support. Please offer us feedback as well as feel free
to inquire about any of the vast variety of courses and projects that we supported during the
2006-2007 academic year.
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CSS DIRECTOR’S LETTER

Community Service Studies (CSS) is an interdisciplinary minor that offers students a context
for critically reflecting upon and engaging in community service. The CSS program started
in 1998 when a group of DePaul faculty and staff gathered to discuss how to provide students
with a greater integration of the pedagogy of community-based service learning in their
general course curricula. As a result, the CSS minor consists of three core courses addressing
historical and contemporary perspectives on community service, nonprofit management, and
a community internship. Students then choose three additional courses from across disciplines
that address issues surrounding community service, social justice, community assets, and
Alexandra G. Murphy the possibilities of social change. Students can also choose their three electives from among
Associate Professor, recently created concentrations within the minor such as community service and the arts,
Communications sociology, psychology, political science, and women’s and gender studies. These concentrations
and Faculty Director, allow students to focus their learning in areas most relevant for their practical and academic
Community Service interests. An exciting new interdisciplinary concentration in community-based research is also
Studies underway.

The program is designed for students interested in developing a deeper understanding and
practice of community service either as a prelude to a career after graduation or to enhance
their personal sense of social justice as they enter the world of work. In this way, students
are provided with the opportunity to integrate progressively deeper and more challenging
forms of service and social engagement with more challenging intellectual reflection. CSS has
grown from the initial 22 students to over 100 students from a variety of majors across the
university, including a competitively selected group of community service scholars who receive
a scholarship for their participation in the program. This growth is expected to continue as
more and more students become aware of its existence and how it can complement their major
program of study.
Engage PARTNER REFLECT

The Mission of the Steans Center is to

in Vincentian community values to DePaul
mutually beneficial, reciprocal relationships
develop a sense of social agency in our
community internships and placements,

Looking Back

In 1998, DePaul established the Office for Community-based Service Learning

to support the development of service learning throughout the university’s
curriculum. In 2001, the Office was renamed the Irwin W. Steans Center
for Community-based Service Learning following a generous endowment
from the Steans Family. Since the Center’s inception, the number of service
learning courses and students served has expanded yearly. During the 2006-
2007 school year, the Center supported 176 courses containing a service
learning component resulting in 2,831 students working with more than 100
community organizations in Chicago and internationally. DePaul is now
nationally recognized as one of the top academic service learning programs in
the country (U.S. News and World Report, Americas Best Colleges 2008).
 H T T P: // C B S L . D E PA U L . E D U | 4

provide educational opportunities grounded

students. The Center seeks to develop
with community organizations in order to
students through enrollment in CbSL courses,
and community-based student employment.

students Enrolled in d e paul course and

service learning courses student support ay 06-07

courses # of
01-02 1,181
supported students

02-03 1,716 Fall Quarter 54 865

Winter Quarter 59 1,034
03-04 1,646
Spring Quarter 56 861
04-05 1,883 Summer 2007 7 71
Total 176 2,831
05-06 2,589

06-07 2,831
 Engage PARTNER REFLECT
Steans Center Programs
Service Learning Courses at D e Paul
DePaul University is dedicated to teaching, research and public
service. Service learning is a teaching methodology that engages
students in meaningful service to communities as an integral part
of their course curriculum. The service provided must enhance
course content as well as benefit DePaul’s community partners. The
Steans Center provides support to faculty, students and community
organizations in the development, monitoring, and evaluation of
service learning courses. This includes one-on-one consulting with
faculty, quarterly faculty and community development workshops,
logistical support for community organizations, reflection sessions for
students, and evaluations of student learning and community impact.
Community Service Studies Minor
Community Service Studies is an interdisciplinary academic minor
that offers students a context for critically reflecting upon and
engaging in service and volunteerism. It is part of a university-
wide effort to extend opportunities for learning through practice
into multiple curricula at DePaul. The six-course minor combines
three foundations courses with electives from several disciplines
and students can choose to specialize their elective choices in a
specific discipline with pre-grouped concentrations. Two of the three
foundation courses are offered as part DePaul’s study abroad program
in Merida, Mexico.
McCormick Tribune Community Internships
Through the support of the McCormick Tribune Foundation,
DePaul undergraduates from all disciplines participate in advanced
internships that apply their knowledge and skills to benefit an
organization while simultaneously gaining valuable work experience.
These paid internships are reserved for the University’s best and
brightest students who have exhibited a commitment to community
service and academic excellence. During the 2006-2007 school year,
the Center supported nine interns in 11.5 quarters of internships.
International Service Learning
International Service Learning is an exciting opportunity for DePaul
students to broaden their educational experience by learning
from communities outside the United States. The Steans Center
collaborates with DePaul’s International Programs Office and
Study Abroad to offer a variety of international service learning
opportunities for students. Students have the ability to learn
how global issues affect local communities by working in service
partnerships that the Steans Center develops with local non-
governmental organizations. The Center supports short-term and
term-long service-learning programs in Latin America, Europe,
and Africa. The trips combine service abroad with the intention of
engaging students in critical issues that are relevant across borders.
Short-term programs work under the “Bringing it Home” model
where students engage in relevant service projects upon returning
from their study abroad experience, highlighting the transnational
quality of critical social issues. Service learning programs are offered
in Nogales, Mexico, Merida, Mexico, El Salvador, Rome, Italy,
Budapest, Hungary and Kenya.
Catholic Schools Initiative (CSI)
The CSI is a mission-driven, paid community service program that
allows DePaul University students who are Federal Work Study
eligible to work in selected K—12 urban Catholic schools to provide
tutoring, mentoring, and supplemental enrichment activities. The
mission of CSI at the Steans Center is to leverage resources at DePaul
to enhance the resources at selected Catholic school partners in the
city of Chicago. CSI provides one important and consistent connection
between DePaul University and Chicago’s Catholic, schools. CSI
currently funds 27 DePaul students at seven area Catholic Schools:
Visitation, San Miguel - Back of the Yards, San Miguel - Gary Comer,
Josephinum Academy, St Pius V, Maternity BVM, and St. Agatha
Catholic Academy. Since the Fall Quarter 2006, CSI students are
enrolled in CSS 101 Catholic Social Teaching, a year-long DePaul
course that fulfills an elective in the Community Service Studies Minor.
The Black Metropolis Project (BMP)
The BMP is a collaborative effort of the Steans Center and Dr. Ted
Manley in the Department of Sociology to conduct a longitudinal
study of Chicago’s original “Black Belt”—the area known as
Bronzeville. The project is designed around a year-long course
sequence that recruits undergraduates to partner with high school
students from Chicago Public Schools. Students are given the
opportunity to engage in hands-on community-based research that
enriches the cultural and historical understanding of Bronzeville
as residents face displacement due to redevelopment of the
neighborhood. In 2007, the BMP published The Way They Saw It:
The Changing Face of Bronzeville, a documentary of Bronzeville
including photographs, student reflections, and interviews with
long-time residents.
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Community Service Scholarships Jumpstart

This program, which began in 2002, seeks students who have
demonstrated an exceptional record of community service. The
Center provides mentoring for these students throughout their
college career and connects them to community service and
academic programs through the minor in Community Service
Studies. In addition to completing the minor, Scholars conduct a
minimum of 30 hours of service per quarter. Approximately
30 freshmen entered the program during AY 06-07 and
received an annual scholarship of $6,500. Currently, there are
102 Community Service Scholars.
North Lawndale Initiative (NLI)
The NLI works to build partnerships between DePaul University
and organizations in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. The
Initiative builds on the Steans Center’s core work of placing students
enrolled in service learning classes with North Lawndale community
partners and establishes new faculty and staff projects in support of
the neighborhood’s organizations and schools. The Center launched
the Initiative by developing relationships with the administrative
leaders of three schools: North Lawndale College Prep, KIPP/Ascend,
and LEARN Charter School. These relationships have led to numerous
projects including: DePaul nursing students, nurse practitioners, and
faculty providing physicals, health education, and other services;
implementation of a teen violence prevention program (“Take Back
the Halls”) coordinated by Dr. Beth Catlett in the Women’s and Gender
Studies program; and an oral history project at LEARN Charter School
involving LEARN social studies classes and DePaul history students
from Dr. Amy Tyson’s Public History Course in the process
of capturing the history of the school.
Jumpstart, a national AmeriCorps program, trains DePaul students
to deliver an innovative early education program by developing
one-on-one relationships with preschool children in low-income
communities over the course of a year. Participants work with
children on language, literacy, and social and initiative skills for at
least 300 hours during the academic year. During the 2006-2007
academic year, Jumpstart supported 60 students working at six
community preschools across Chicago. DePaul’s Jumpstart program
is recognized as one of the strongest in the Midwest and in the
country. Last academic year, Kristen Wickline (Communications
and Psychology Honors Student) was selected as a Pearson Teacher
Fellow, an award for Jumpstart alumni who commit to teaching in a
Head Start preschool for two years. Matthew Andereck, a third-year
Jumpstart participant, received the American Eagle Spirit of Service
Award and received a scholarship of $5,000 to further his education.
Jumpstart is currently developing a course that will be integrated
into the Community Service Studies Minor.
The Richard J. and Joan M. Meister Scholarship
The Meister Scholarship is an award of $1,500 for DePaul University
students. All DePaul students are eligible, with a special consideration
for students ages 25 and older. The scholarship supports DePaul
scholars who critically reflect on societal issues and problem solving
methods to achieve societal goals, engage in service within the local
and/or global community, and encourage other students to act in this
manner. Students can only be nominated by DePaul faculty and/or
staff. Ten students were awarded the scholarship for the 2006-2007
school year.

Community Partners Internships (CPI)

The CPI program provides DePaul students with the opportunity to
gain work experience that combines professional development and
community involvement. Students eligible for Federal Work Study
employment work for 15 hours per week at a DePaul community
partner and, in turn, are compensated at the rate of $10 per hour for
the full academic year. The CPI program works to deepen the Steans
Center’s relationship with community partners by providing a more
consistent level of assistance to organizations that support service
learning students who circulate in and out quarterly as part of their
courses. During academic year 2006-2007, the program supported
19 internships.
Socially Engaged Learning at DePaul: Reflections on Educational Partnerships

Socially Engaged
Learning at DePaul:
Reflections on
Educational Partnerships
Intercambio Spanish Service Learning Program:
Learning a Language in Community

When he started his freshman year at DePaul,

Kenneth Froehlig did not know that he would be
participating in an immigration march with thousands
of people in Chicago. Or that he would be engaging in
weekly conversations at Erie Neighborhood House
with a woman from Peru during which they would
talk about key issues of the day while he learned
Spanish and she learned English. These are among
the experiences Froehlig, a Spanish and Sociology
major, had last year while involved in the innovative
language immersion program.

“The program encourages students to go way beyond a book in

their learning,” said Dr. Susana Martinez, who teaches courses in
the sequence that makes up the program. “It’s about using language
in an important context.” Martinez noted that the program creates
a peer environment at the sites where there are no tests and no
grades. “At the same time,” she says, “the experience helps them
build on the basics for class, like vocabulary, verb tense, and so on.”
Each quarter, students participate in 25 hours of community
service outside of the classroom, or about three hours a week, at one
of four neighborhood sites including Erie Neighborhood House.
The yearlong sequence involves three courses.
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“It’s about using language in an

important context.”
— Dr. Susana Martinez

DePaul students and community members in the program typically start a session
with a friendly icebreaker, and may later engage in exercises where they do role
playing or other activities. At the end of class, they take part in reflection and talk about
pertinent issues facing Latinos in the United States.
DePaul graduate Cindy Martinez worked as a student mentor in the program at
the Instituto del Progreso Latino (IPL), which serves the Little Village and Pilsen
communities in Chicago. She sees her job as not so much about teaching students,
but about being a “facilitator of knowledge” between DePaul students and community
members in the program. Martinez said that a big part of the program is about “creating
a comfortable space” between DePaul students and participants in the program. “In
the beginning, many people are shy and very uncomfortable about speaking Spanish
or English,” she said. “One of the ideas behind this program is that you learn language
through a shared community. DePaul students hook up with Latino students for the
whole length of the program. They get to know each other on an individual basis as well
as issues facing Latino communities.”
Susana Ortiz, community literacy coordinator at Erie Neighborhood House
who has worked with the program for years, added that students from DePaul and
community participants in the program “are working together and helping each
other on the same level. Both are teachers, both are students, and they both have
responsibilities. The program shows how people can share their values and their
culture with each other.”
Visiting the program, one sees how service learning enriches the experience
of studying a language. “My fluency in Spanish has definitely grown through this
program,” said Froehlig. At the same time, he added, the program was about much more
than that for him. “On March 5, we met at Erie House, and we marched all the way to
Grant Park, where we saw oceans of people—not only Latinos, but all races united to
support the cause of immigration reform. To have that first-hand experience while
learning a language—it was profound.”
 Socially Engaged Learning at DePaul: Reflections on Educational Partnerships

Black Metropolis Project:

Keeping History Alive

“It’s so important to document the history of a people,” said Rosetta

Coleman. “Without documenting what happened, our history is lost.” “We were not just driving by public housing, but walking through it

Coleman, who is branch librarian at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and talking to people.”

Library in Chicago’s Bronzeville community, speaks from personal Meanwhile, Manley suggested that data the Project has

experience: She was born and raised in the community, which is the uncovered tells a different story than we are accustomed to hearing

subject of the Black Metropolis Project, a service learning project at about this community. “We have often seen an analysis of this

DePaul that began in 1999 and has diligently chronicled the storied community that focuses on poverty, but let’s talk about it in terms

history of Bronzeville. of real estate. There’s massive displacement of people in this

Under the guidance of Dr. Ted Manley, students have researched, community right now, and we are seeing that when people don’t own

read and written about, held meetings property, they can ultimately be removed.”

on, and photographed the Bronzeville For students, faculty, and people in the community, keeping this

neighborhood. Among the activities have community’s history alive remains a priority. Coleman praised the

been town hall meetings at area libraries way history was revealed and discussed in town hall meetings this

including the King branch. The goal is not year at the King library. “The way it was presented, you could tell this

to give students a reading assignment, a was more than a class assignment,” she said. “There was a change in

test, or a term paper to complete. It is to how people were talking about the Black Metropolis.”

involve students in the active study of a

community. “I have tried to make history
something that not only informs students about the past,” Manley
said, “but informs us about the present and the future. History is
lived—and studying it is a continuous way of assessing how far we’ve
come and where we might be going.”
In the last half-century alone, this area has gone from a
vibrant new home of African-Americans who had migrated to
Chicago, to a community largely neglected by public officials and
now to an area that is being redeveloped so rapidly it can be hard to
track all the changes.
In the last year, the Black Metropolis Project (BMP) has
partnered with Pershing Middle School on the city’s south side,
where student Cassi Brandt has taught eighth-graders about the
area’s history, and high school students also took the class at DePaul.
In addition, the Project is in the process of publishing a photo
documentary of the transition from public housing to redevelopment
and an oral history of public housing residents.
For Brandt, who graduated this year with a degree in Sociology
and minor in African and Black Diaspora Studies, the experience of
studying Bronzeville was a unique one for her at DePaul. “The reality
of it is that in other classes you read about a subject, but it takes
learning to a different level when you go out into the field,” she said.
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Center for Writing-based Learning:

Telling Your Story

Last year, DePaul students working with the University Center for
Writing-based Learning (UCWbL) came to EXCEL Academy on The UCWbL has been around for more than twenty years,

Chicago’s West Side for a service learning project. The goal: to work but this year has marked the first time courses were aligned with

one-on-one with students at the school and encourage them to do the Steans Center and service learning was done outside of the

something they had rarely done before—tell their stories to the world, classroom. With locations in Lincoln Park and downtown, the

in writing. The plan was for DePaul students to work with EXCEL UCWbL provides services through more than 40 consultants who

students to write about, as the project put it, their “heroic journeys” work directly with students who want to improve their writing. In

about personal experiences that made an impact on their lives. addition, the program features services aimed at faculty members

“It’s a heroic journey for these kids just to come to school every who want to integrate writing into what they do.

day, and you see that in the stories,” said Jeanne Walker, an art In the last year, service learning

teacher at EXCEL who worked closely with DePaul students and the benefited students at EXCEL and at

UCWbL. “DePaul students did everything in their power to work with DePaul. “So many college students have

students and move this project forward.” been praised for so many years for

Meanwhile, in another service learning course, students their ability to write well,” said Dr. Peter

functioned as a design team that worked together to create a Vandenberg, director of the UCWbL.

website for the student stories. “In effect, it separates them by class and
sometimes racial boundaries. The goal in
this service learning course is to bridge
those differences.”
“I was a writing tutor as an undergraduate, and when I came here
I wanted to find meaningful work that combined people skills and
my love for writing,” said Kristin Thomas, a second-year graduate
student getting a master’s degree in International Studies who took
the service learning course. “For one student I worked with, I would
type and he would tell me his story. He was so proud of his story—and
just getting his voice out. Another student struggled with verbal
skills, but was so poetic in his writing. What this class allows students
to do is come forward, without being judged or criticized. The most
important thing for students was expressing what they think and
feel. As a writing tutor, my job was to identify what’s missing for that
student, what’s stopping them from expressing themselves.”
Lorenzo White, a junior at EXCEL, wrote about the experience
of having his jaw broken at school. A young woman named Tatiana
wrote about being in foster care, another young man about his
journey to a juvenile center. Their stories can be seen at www.
exceljourneys.com. When asked about working with DePaul students,
White noted simply that “I like writing,” and “I would do it again.”
 Socially Engaged Learning at DePaul: Reflections on Educational Partnerships

Money and Banking Course:

Service Learning Targets Financial Literacy

Jeanne Valenta has been working for a

credit union for 14 years, but through a she reflected on her experience. “You could see how a basic check
College of Commerce class this year she accounting management class would make a difference, and could
learned something one can’t always learn in help improve someone’s life.” The real issue, she noted, is that people
a job—or in another class, for that matter. she encountered who had not been exposed to financial information
Valenta was a student in Dr. Ann Marie may lack confidence about how to use financial tools.
Klingenhagen’s Money and Banking class, Cleora M. Murff, a learning program specialist at Mercy Housing
which offers students an opportunity to Lakefront who worked with Valenta and the class, says the class
participate in service learning experiences “gives students the opportunity to give back to the community—and
with nonprofit organizations. “We look for projects that will be strengthens the community as well. It really helped the participants
meaningful, that really reflect what is going on in the real world,” said become more economically aware.”
Klingenhagen. Meanwhile, Klingenhagen said the service learning project
Through the class, Valenta facilitated financial literacy brings something new to this Commerce class—a required course in
workshops at Mercy Housing Lakefront, which develops and operates the major, though the service-learning project is optional.“We focus
supportive and program-enriched housing in Chicago for adults and on return on investment, since this is a money and banking class,”
families who are formerly homeless or low-income. Many live with she says. “By having students work with nonprofits, it gives us more
substance abuse problems and/or a mental illness, and struggle to of an opportunity to learn about the impact of financial realities on
hold down a job or rely on Social Security or Disability funds. The communities.”
experience, Valenta says, enhanced what she was learning in the class
about the financial lives of low-income people in this country.
Data students are exposed to in this class convey the challenges
low-income families face in this country. For example, twenty-two
percent of low-income American families—over 8.4 million families
earning under $25,000 per year—do not have either a checking or
savings account….A broader population of low- to middle-income
families have bank accounts but still rely on high-cost non-bank
providers to conduct much of their financial business—a population
referred to as the “underbanked.”
Meeting people in the workshops who experience these realities
in their lives gave Valenta a more vivid way of understanding their
situation. “At the introduction of this assignment, students are
given statistics about the number of people who don’t have a bank
account,” she said. “After meeting some of those people, you can
really put a face to those statistics and see why people are in that
situation. After that, you can also begin to see how they can turn it
around.” What she learned, she said, is that many people do not have
the information they need to see how excessive some financial fees
are and think they have to buy money orders every week to get by.
Many, she added, do not know how to balance a checkbook or how
to use a debit card. “The whole experience brought to the forefront
the need for financial institutions to be involved in the communities
they serve,” says Valenta, who wrote a paper for the class in which

Investigative Journalism:
Understanding a Community
Just a few miles from DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus, Logan Square
resident Jose Skerrett guides DePaul students through a tour of the
neighborhood that includes a view of dozens of vacant lots. He also
shows them the spot where 38 units of affordable housing will break
ground next year.
The experience may not be what some students think they’ll
be getting when they come to the university. It also may not be the
Chicago they see on television or read about in the papers. It is,
however, the real experience of a Chicago neighborhood—a place
that students in Laura Washington’s Investigative Reporting classes
got to know last year through a service learning project that led
students to pursue stories in the Logan Square neighborhood.
“What I love about Steans projects is that they force students
to work outside of the classroom and community, and meet people
they wouldn’t normally meet,” said Washington, a veteran Chicago
journalist and DePaul professor who is also a contributing columnist
with the Chicago Sun-Times and Senior Editor with In These Times.
“It opens up a whole new world for them.”
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In the Internet age, when information is quickly—though not
always accurately—gathered in seconds at any time of the day,
students may not be used to the experience of going out into a
community to learn about an issue like they do in this class.
In this class, however, they do get used to it. “There’s no
substitute for shoe leather and knocking on doors,” Washington said.
“To actually go out and knock on someone’s door and have no idea
who they are, that takes courage for a journalism student to do that,”
added Stephanie Ratanas, who worked as Washington’s research
assistant for the class. “It’s an important experience.”
The class, like many that involve service learning, connected
students with a community organization—in this case, the Logan
Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA). The group has long had
strong connections to neighborhood leaders as well as a history of
working on issues impacting the community. Washington, however, is
quick to point out that students were not partnering with LSNA—they
were involved in a reporting project that relied on the community
organization as a source. “This is an example of service learning in
which students learn to make connections in a community while
maintaining their independence,” she said.
In a city where low- and moderate-income neighborhoods
are often forgotten or neglected, the class put students right in
the middle of this neighborhood’s politics, culture, and struggles,
including the struggle to understand the vacant lot issue. “It’s subtle—
you may not see anything happening until a development is going
up,” said Ratanas. “You pass by it every day, and then suddenly there
is change.”
Ratanas and Lauren Vinopal, a student in the class, were so
inspired by the project that they started an independent publication
called Vacant Lot, which aims to be a resource that documents
community assets and “fills a void where discussion needs to happen.”
In the course of the year, the project benefited students and the
community. John McDermott, Housing Organizer for LSNA, said that
“having information this class collected has helped us understand the
size and scale of this challenge. The class has done major work by
interviewing neighbors, documenting where these lots are, what the
conditions are, and creating a database students could update online.”
For Vinopal, the experience has had a major impact on her. “I
learned how to ask better questions, and to examine my own biases
about the city, politicians, and community members,” she said. “This
kind of class really challenges you to go beyond a typical college class.
It’s not just about working in a community—it’s about understanding it.”
 community service studies minor

Community Service
Studies Minor

Innovative Program Links Students, Service

When it was time for Andy Witt to pick a college,

community service was a major factor. Witt, now a
sophomore who had been involved in community
service throughout his high school career, knew what
he was looking for. He chose DePaul, and said the
Community Service Studies minor was the reason.
More than 100 DePaul students have selected the
minor, including participants in the Community Service
Scholarship program.

The range of elective and required classes, and myriad service

learning opportunities, define the Community Service Studies minor.
The minor provides an infrastructure through which students can
pursue curricular options tied to social change and social justice.
“The Community Service Studies minor is almost unique nationally,”
said Allison Tyndall Locke, Community Service Studies Program
Coordinator at the Steans Center.
The minor provides students with a wide array of options and
the chance to explore them through service learning in community
settings around the city. The many classes offered through the minor
are interdisciplinary. Dr. Lexa Murphy, Director for Community
Service Studies, says the program is growing, but one of its truest
measures may be in the stories of students who carve out their own
path with the help of the minor.
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“One of its truest measures may be in the

stories of students who carve out their own
path with the help of the minor.”
— Dr. lexa murphy

Murphy shares the story of another student who took the Perspectives in
Community Service class. “This woman was a Sociology major, then switched to
Women and Gender Studies. She is now on a path to be a certified midwife. Because
of her service learning experience, she was working with kids—and figured she
wanted to work with moms.”
In his first year at DePaul, Andy Witt received community service experience at
three different sites in the city—a grade school in the Englewood community on the
city’s south side, a middle school in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, and a
homeless shelter in Lincoln Park.
Lauren Winkates, Development Associate/Alumni Counselor at KIPP Ascend
Charter School in North Lawndale, one of the sites where Witt was placed, said
that Witt and other DePaul students helped out at the school in a variety of ways,
from mentoring students and providing support to fundraising staff, to painting the
hallways or organizing a room for a teacher.
“DePaul student volunteers made a real impact at KIPP Ascend,” she said. “Their
efforts directly benefited our students and they were always eager and willing to do
whatever was necessary to complete tasks. I also found that DePaul students were
able to link their theoretical coursework with experiential learning at our school
level.”
Through classes tied to his service learning experiences, Witt said he gained
valuable perspective about social problems. “I learned how specific issues affect
people, where the need is in the city—and what you can do to contribute. The classes
also teach you how to function in a group, and that’s useful to anyone. Everything
about the program exceeded my expectations,” he said.
 community service studies minor

Catholic Schools Initiative:

“If you want change to happen, why don’t
“It’s a Two-Way Relationship”

For two years, DePaul student Charlene you be that change that you want to see in
the world?”
Rhinehart has tutored students at Visitation
Catholic School in Chicago—but tutor
— Charlene RhineharT
doesn’t quite do her work justice. She has
also provided a support system for young
students, as well as the voice and presence of at the Steans Center, said students who participate in the program
a college student who shows students a real- have a chance to engage in a wide range of activities. In fact, she
life example of someone who is succeeding notes, “We’ve tailored the program to meet the needs of the schools.”
at college. For example, students working in the program may teach an art
Through the Catholic Schools Initiative, Rhinehart and other class once a week, provide technology assistance, work in a school’s
students gain work experience, learn about and have a chance to admissions office or as a development assistant at a school.
impact younger students and a community, and enroll in Catholic For Rhinehart, a junior in Accounting and Finance with a minor in
Social Teaching Reflection, a yearlong course sequence that is closely Community Service Studies, when she reflects on the program, she
related to their service experience. The result, for Rhinehart, has imagines the word “empowerment.”
been an experience rooted in the everyday experience of working “I feel like I was there to empower the students, and I also was
with children who benefit from this program—and the opportunity to there to gain leadership skills,” she says. “It’s a two-way relationship.”
study and understand the social context that surrounds their lives.
Every week, she said, that meant many things—from tutoring a
student on a one-on-one basis, to creating a multiplication game that
challenged a larger group of students.
Stephanie Hicks, development coordinator at Visitation, said
students “look up to DePaul students who are tutors, and count on
them for words of encouragement. It’s also great for them to be
working with someone who is succeeding in college.”
Meanwhile, the experience is closely tied to a student’s academic
career at DePaul.
“The Catholic Schools Initiative is distinctive in the way it
combines work, service, and academic learning,” says Pauline
Villapando, who teaches the Catholic Social Teaching course
sequence. “Because students are paid, they need to show that they
can be professional. At the same time, the academic aspect of this
program holds students more accountable to the experience of
learning. In the process, they are serving as witnesses and role
models to younger students.”
The Catholic Schools Initiative program expanded from two to
four partners in the spring of 2007, and expanded to a total of six
schools in the fall of 2007. In addition to Visitation, the program was
offered last year at San Miguel School in Chicago’s Back of the Yards
neighborhood.
Melanie Sillas, Catholic Schools Initiative Program Coordinator

Jumpstart:
Students Focus on Early Childhood Development
Twice a week for a year, Kristen Wickline and other DePaul students who
participate in Jumpstart, a national Americorps program, worked closely
with children between the ages of three and five. Their goal: to encourage
student learning through one-on-one attention.
Wickline said she was so moved by her experience with a young
3-year-old girl named Brittney that she decided to pursue a fellowship to
work with a classroom of children in an early learning center. She now
teaches young children in Kansas City, Missouri through the Pearson
Teacher Fellowship.
Students who participate in the Jumpstart program receive training
in early childhood development, early literacy, and problem-solving with
children. In addition to working directly with children, students also
volunteer in classrooms for several hours a week, giving them hands-on
experience as they help build a sense of community in an early learning
environment.
H TT P : / / C BS L . DE P AU L . EDU | 1 6
Wickline, a Psychology and Communication major who graduated
in June, worked in two different capacities for the program. As a junior,
she spent a year at Christopher House–Uptown, a social service agency
on Chicago’s north side, where she partnered with a child and learned
strategies related to play using dialogic reading, problem-solving, and
developmentally appropriate practice. As a senior this past year, she
worked as the volunteer coordinator for the program, planning volunteer
events like family literacy nights to enhance Jumpstart’s services to
schools and communities.
Jennifer Hayes, a former teacher at Christopher House–Uptown, could
see firsthand the impact of the Jumpstart program. “Many children were
from broken homes or living in shelters, and the program helped build
social skills and self-esteem,” she said. “We had a great partnership with
DePaul because students reinforced on a more intimate basis what we did
every day on a larger scale.” Hayes also noted the bond between Wickline
and Brittney. “She and Kristen made a book with photos of the two of
them, and she carried the book around throughout half the next school
year,” Hayes said. “I could tell Kristen really made an impact on her life.”
Wickline wrote about her experience with Brittney:
I had no idea what I was going to do for two hours every Monday and
Wednesday afternoon with a little girl who barely talked and when she did
I could not even understand her. By the end of each session, I would be
thoroughly exhausted either from trying to find ways to communicate with
Brittney when she did not speak or from the amount of concentration it took
for me to figure out what she was saying when she did actually speak. By
listening patiently to Brittney and not trying to put words into her mouth,
I made sure to give Brittney the opportunity to use her words and express
herself. Using a strategy I learned from Jumpstart training, I would always
repeat back what she said after she was finished talking so that I could be
sure I knew what she was trying to say.…As a result of constantly hearing
her words repeated back to her, Brittney slowly began to speak more clearly.
By the middle of the year Brittney became quite the chatterbox and I had
no more problems understanding her.…She told well developed stories and
participated in ordinary give and take conversation with me.
“My experience in Jumpstart showed me how much a child’s life can
change,” said Wickline. “It was a life-changing, amazing experience for
me as well.”
 community service studies minor
McCormick Tribune Community Internship:
Bringing People Together
A passion for community service and bringing together people of
different faiths has been central to Usra Ghazi’s life for many years.
Through the McCormick Tribune Community Internship program,
she was able to grow in these areas—not only in Chicago, but through
an innovative exchange program that took her to Jordan.
The McCormick Tribune Community Internship is a paid program
that enables undergraduate students to gain professional experience
while deepening their commitment to community service. Students
from all disciplines and departments design and execute a project in
collaboration with a community-based organization that can take up
to three quarters to complete. All students who become interns in the
program have exhibited a commitment to community action, service,
and academic excellence.
Ghazi, who graduated from DePaul this year with a Religious
Studies degree, has been involved in community service projects
since high school, when she and a group of peers were featured
in presentations they wrote about their service work that were
broadcast on Chicago Public Radio. When she was a junior at
DePaul, Ghazi became involved with Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC),
which brings together young people of different religious and moral
traditions for cooperative service and dialogue around shared values.
During the last year, she participated in a year-long service project
with the Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries (IRIM), a
nonprofit refugee and immigrant services organization in Chicago.
“Every other week they would bring a group of refugee children
to our offices,” she said. “Our team was helping to create literacy
programs for children from Somalia, Russia, Iraq, and many other
countries.” Michael Wolven, who directs the Interfaith Refugee
Youth Program at IRIM, called the program Ghazi worked in “a great
program that was creative and imaginative, and really benefited
refugee kids who were learning how to read and write.”
Other activities included organizing a public event that helped
document activities of the Chicago Youth Council, an interfaith,
leadership development, service learning program for young people.
In addition, she consulted with two faculty advisors during her
internship.
Ghazi also worked as an intern with the organization on its
Global Youth Exchange, an international initiative funded with the
support of Queen Rania of Jordan and the Clinton Global Initiative,
which works to meet the challenges of global interdependence.
The exchange program was catalyzed when the executive director
of Interfaith Youth Core pursued discussions related to how the
organization could implement interfaith work in Jordan. “The idea,”
Ghazi said, “was to develop a program that would bring interfaith
workers from Jordan and Chicago to work together, share best
practices about interfaith service, and participate in an intensive
exchange with people from different communities.” During Ghazi’s
senior year, IFYC took Chicago youth on an exchange, during which
she accompanied staff members to Jordan on three occasions.
“I have felt while on these trips, and while doing this work, that it’s
sometimes about stepping outside of my comfort zone, but through
my experience I have seen how powerful it can be when people of
different faiths come together,” Ghazi said. “When I see a group of
people gathering and getting involved in interfaith activities, it shows
me that they have an interest in religion and pluralism. Those are the
moments that make it worth it for me.”
H TT P : / / C BS L . DE P AU L . EDU | 1 8
 Engage PARTNER REFLECT

Steans Center Financial Supporters

Harrison I. Steans and the Steans Family
Steans Family Foundation
McCormick Tribune Foundation
Jumpstart, Inc.
Dr. Richard J. Meister

Steans Center Advisory Board

Robin M. Steans, Steans Family Foundation
John M. Sirek, McCormick Tribune Foundation
Kathy Engelken, Illinois Campus Compact Steans Center Service Learning
Laura Garza, CNA Insurance, DePaul Alum Coordinators and Mentors
Amanda Holland, Chicago Academy for the Arts, DePaul Alum
Job Acosta
John Davis, Tolton Family Center
Sana Ali
Charles Strain, Academic Affairs, DePaul University
Zayd Badwan
Alexandra Murphy, Faculty Director, Community Service Studies
Ronald Brooks
Zayd Badwan, DePaul Student
Julius Cajigas
Benjamin Cox
Akil Forbes
Yaritssa A. Elizalde
Jessica Horowitz
Sarah Hughes
Chris Jaffe
Brian Kelly
Alexander Kuehr
Katherine LaBeef
Kathleen McNamara
Steans Center Staff - 2006-2007
Azalea Parrilla
Allison Tyndall Locke, Academic Development Program Coordinator Daisy Perez
Anne Rapp, Assistant Director for Academic Development Stephanie Ratanas
Ashley Stone, Community Service Scholars Program Coordinator Danny Salvatierra
Barbara Smith, Business Manager Kennette Seymour
Billie Drakeford, Student Development Coordinator Hetal Shah
Chad Williams, Assistant Director for Community Development Philister Sidigu
Chris Brown, North Lawndale Initiative Coordinator Allison Taich
Heather Little, Jumpstart Assistant Site Manager Kristin Thomas
Howard Rosing, Executive Director Cynthia Torres
Johnny LaSalle, Receptionist Maria Trajillo
Marisol Morales, Associate Director Lauren Vinopal
Melanie Sillas, Catholic Schools Initiative Coordinator
Missy Frazin, Jumpstart Site Manager
Norlin Monzon, Technology Coordinator
Raechel Tiffe, Internships and Scholarships Coordinator
Ruben Alvarez Silva, Community Development Program Coordinator
Alexandra Murphy, Faculty Director, Community Service Studies
 H TT P : / / C BS L . DE P AU L . EDU | 2 0

Ashley Cureton, a current DePaul senior, who served as Student

Planning Committee Director, a paid position for Idealist/Action
Without Borders to orchestrate the planning of the event.

STEANS HOSTS IDEALIST CONFERENCE

The Steans Center hosted the 2007 Idealist Campus Conference—a three-day
national conference held in March that brought together about 1,000 college
students dedicated to community service, social justice, and activism. Participants
focused on social action and provided information on volunteer and career
opportunities as well as graduate programs in the field.

“This conference was a great opportunity for students from across the nation to come
together and talk about social change, justice, and equality,” said Ashley Cureton,
who was Student Planning Committee Director for the conference. “In order to
create social change, you have to collaborate, and there was a spirit of collaboration
at this conference.” Cureton, a senior majoring in Anthropology and minoring in
Community Service Studies at DePaul, added that “it was good to see Steans and
DePaul recognized for its work in service learning.”

At the conference, Steans also hosted a variety of community tours in Chicago

that introduced conference participants to neighborhoods, local organizations
and community leaders in Humboldt Park, Devon Avenue, Bronzeville, Uptown,
Edgewater and Rogers Park.

To see a short video about the conference, hosted by YouTube, visit

http://cbsl.depaul.edu/IdealistConferenceVideo.asp.
 Engage PARTNER REFLECT

D e Paul Service Learning Faculty - 2006-2007

Ola Adeoye Euan Hague Melissa Ockerman

Anna Agbe-Davies Steve Harp Irena Persky
Jose Aleman Rafael Hernandez-Arias Anne Rapp
Kim Amer Rosalind Hinton Scott Kelley Reed
Christine Anderson Anna Huynh David Reinhart
Molly Andolina Julie Hwang Howard Rosing
Noel Barker Kate Johnson Robert Rotenberg
Bala Batavia Valerie Johnson William Sander
Susanne Bell Donna Jones Ilsley Lolita Sereleas
Darsie Bowden Robert Kallen Cynthia Sims
Veronica Buckley Ann Marie Klingenhagen Paul Sisul
Beth Catlett Mary Jeanne Larrabee Jessica Snowden
Gary Cestaro Helen Lavan Robert Starinsky
Sumi Cho Jacqueline Lazu Theresa Steinbach
Ramon Codina Kathleen Liston Jonathon Stoltze
Elizabeth Collier Michael Lorr Charles Strain
Yari Colon Theresa Luhrs Daniel Strunk
Shaun Cowman Aaron Lyon Patricia Szczerba
Winifred Curran Daniel Makagon Christine Tardy
Mary Jo Davidson Theodoric Manley Shayla Thiel
Mary Jane Dix Brother Mark Elder Beverly Trezek
Maureen Dolan Donald Martin Melinda Turnley
Michael Edwards Susana Martinez Allison Tyndall-Locke
Dean Eitel Felix Masud-Piloto Amy Tyson
Sylvia Escarcega Arieahn Matamonasa Kelly Tzoumis
Ronald Fernandez Catherine May Candice Van Der Eb
Kathy Fitzpatrick Young Me Lee Peter Vandenberg
Andrea Flynn Daniel Mittleman Neil Vincent
Dennis Gillespie Dominica Moe Laura Washington
Gregory Gilmore Marisol Morales Kurt Wise
Polly Gipson Juan Mora-Torres Laurie Worrall
Juana Goergen Craig Mousin Rich Young
Jason Greenberg Karl Nass
Nancy Grossman Thomas O’Brien
 H TT P : / / C BS L . DE P AU L . EDU | 2 2

International Service Learning: Merida, Mexico

Service learning through the Steans Center doesn’t just mean getting to know a
community in Chicago. For Irma Jacquez, international service learning would be
a more accurate term, as the senior majoring in Sociology spent January through
June in Merida, Mexico. She was, in fact, one of two students who chose to
extend her stay in Merida in April to pursue an internship in the community.

Through an internship and collaboration with Marista University, Jacquez was

placed in the Merida community of Emilano Zapata Sur. For her, the experience
was about working directly with a family. Meanwhile, she also had the chance to
take Spanish, Community Service and Sociology courses through Steans and
DePaul in Merida.

Jacquez spent much of her internship focusing on how children are educated in
the community. She spoke with families as well as teachers, and learned about
ideas and resources that might benefit families whose children are in school. “I
worked with two very poor families in Merida, and I learned a great deal about
inequalities that affected these families. The families talked to me about their
struggles, and I worked with them, and their children, to help them know how to
get a better education.”

“This experience really connects students with people who live in the community,
people who are feeling the effects of globalization,” added Marisol Morales,
Associate Director of the Steans Center, who says Steans plans to offer more
term-long international service learning opportunities in the future. “This is a
connection students might not otherwise have a chance to make.”
 Engage PARTNER REFLECT

Steans Center Community Partners - 2006-2007

8th Day Center for Justice Chicago Jesuit Academy Hispanic Housing
AIDSCare Chicago Lights Hoops and Hopes
Albany Park Community Center Chicago Public Schools- Service Learning Howard Area Community Center
Alternatives Chicago Religious Leadership Network Howard Brown
American Friends Service Committee on Latin America Humboldt Park Vocational Center
American Indian Center Chicago Scores I.C. Stars
Arts of Life Chicago Women’s AIDS Project Illinois Migrant Council
Assett Builders Chicago Women’s Health Center Imagine Englewood If
Association House Children of the Heart Immigrant Refugee and Immigrant Ministries
Batey Urbano Christian Peacemaker Teams Indo-American Center
Beacon Street Gallery Christopher House Inner Voice
Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation Connections for the Homeless (Evanston) Inner-City Teaching Corps
Blessed Sacrament Youth Center CO-OP Humboldt Park Inspiration Corporation
Block Club Federation Council for Jewish Elderly Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture
Blocks Together Crib Collective Instituto del Progreso Latino (IPL)
Blues Exchange David R. Lee Animal Shelter Interfaith House
Brit Tzedek Deborah’s Place Interfaith Refugee and Immigrant
Burroughs-BPNC Community School DePaul AIDS Project Ministries
CAAAELII DePaul Volunteers Serving Women Interfaith Worker Justice
Cambodian Association of Illinois Dime Child Foundation Interfaith Youth Core
CareNet Pregnancy Services Division Street Business Development Jahn School
Carole Robertson Center Association Japanese American Service Committee
Casa Juan Diego Ebony Energy (JASC)
Catholic Charities ECO of DCSA Jazz Institute, The
Center for Economic Progress ECOVIDA John Spry Community School
Centro de Informacion Eden Place Josephinum Catholic School
Centro Infantil Corretjer El Centro Journey from PADS to Hope
Centro Romero Elam Davies Social Service Center Jugganot Edutainment, Inc.
Centro Sin Fronteras Erie Neighborhood House Junior Achievement
Chicago Academy High School Ethiopian Association of Illinois Kelvyn Park High School
Chicago Christian Industrial League Fellowship of Reconcilliation Social Justice Academy
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless Free Street Theater KIPP
Chicago Committe on Fair Trade Gabriela Network Kovler Center
Chicago Commons Gads Hill Center La Casa Norte
Chicago Federation of Labor Gads Hill Pilsen (Adolescent Youth Laboure House
Chicago Federation of Musicians Program) Lambda Legal
Chicago Freedom School Harbour Emergency Shelter, The Latinos Organizing on the South Side

Latinos Progresando
Latinos United
Lawndale Christian Development
Corporation
Lawndale Christian Health Center
Lawndale Neighborhood Organization
Lifespring Ministry
Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln Park Community Shelter
Little Black Pearl Workshop
Little Village Community Development
Corporation
Little Village Environmental Corp.
Logan Square Neighborhood Association
Lolita Lebron Family Learning Center
LUCHA
Lumity
LVCDC- Castellanos
Marillac House
Marshall’s Place Community Center
Mayaworks
Mercy Housing Lakefront
Metro Senors in Action
Mexico Solidarity Network
Midewest Immigrant Human Rights
Center
Midwest Workers Association
Mujeres Latinas en Accion
Multicultural Student Affairs at DePaul
Muslim Women Resource Center
NAACP-Southside Chapter
National Immigrant Justice Center
Near Northwest Neighborhood Network
Neighborhood Technology Resource
Center
New Moms Inc.
Night Ministry
H TT P : / / C BS L . DE P AU L . EDU | 2 4
North Lawndale Adult Transition Center Theresa House Volunteers
North Lawndale College Prep Tolton Family Center
North Lawndale Community News Trilogy
North Lawndale Employment Network Tutors on Wheels
North Lawndale Learning Community UCAN
Northwest Neighborhood Federation Umoja Student Development
Nueva Esperanza Urban Youth Mission Corporation
Open Lands Universidad Popular
Pan African Association of Illinois Urban League
PCC Community Wellness Center VidaSIDA
Pedro Albizu Campos High School Vietnamese Association of Illinois
People’s Resource Center Vital Bridges/Open Hands-Chicago
Pilsen Alliance Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Pilsen Neighbors Wayman Alliance for Community Peace
Providence Family Services Winfield Moody Drop-in Center
Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce WINGS (Woman in Need Growing
of Illinois Stronger)
Puerto Rican Cultural Center World Relief
Rainbow Push Young Life
REST
Resurrection Project
Safer Foundation Youth Empowerment
San Miguel School
Sit, Stay, Read
South Side Community Art Center
Southeast Asia Center
Southwest Youth Collaborative
St. Joseph Services
St. Leonard’s House
St. Vincent’s DePaul Center
Sunlight African Community Center
TAB House
Taherah Towers, Inc.
Tax Assistance Program
Telpochcalli School
The Resource Center
The Resurection Project
 Engage PARTNER REFLECT

McCormick Tribune Community Interns- 2006-2007

Usra Ghazi, Interfaith Youth Core: Usra worked with the Interfaith
Youth Core on various projects and long-term assignments such as
IFYC’s Chicago Youth Council and the Global Youth Exchange, an
international initiative funded with the support of Queen Rania of
Jordan and former President Clinton.
Stephanie Photakis, La Casa Norte: Stephanie worked with the
executive director and development director of La Casa Norte to
develop a public relations plan for the new Solid Ground Housing
Program, a youth transitional housing program in the Humboldt Park
neighborhood.

Ellen Miller, World Relief: Through a collaborative project between Kara Wanderlich, Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago
the Steans Center and DePaul’s Asylum/Immigration Legal Clinic, Children (CLOCC): Kara worked directly on the development and
Ellen worked at World Relief where she assisted clients in completing implementation of CLOCC’s new public health education program
immigration applications including translating official documents “5-4-3-2-1 GO!” that encourages healthy eating and physical activity
and conducting legal research. for young people. She also completed a resource binder of materials
that contributed to program development.
Mollie Haley, Women and Girls Collective Action Network: Mollie
worked with the Women and Girls Collective Action Network to assist
with a documentation project and a series of meetings with social
activist and advocacy groups involved in community organizing and
community accountability work in Chicago.

Phillip Jones, Pilsen Alliance: Phillip worked with the Pilsen Alliance Richard J. Meister Scholars - 2006-2007
to study the effects of gentrification on the residents of Pilsen, to
Melissa Furlette
learn about and participate in community organizing actions, and to
Kelly Hughes
work on summarizing literature that will be translated into Spanish
Sarah Lawson
as a means to educate and empower Pilsen residents.
Doreath Lomax
Selene Arana, Casa Catalina Food Pantry: Selene worked with the Bonnie MacRitchie
staff of Casa Catalina Food Pantry in her own community of Back Susanna McKibben
of the Yards to develop mental health workshops and information Christiana Ntamere
material for local residents. Rachel Ostergaard
Mary Ellen Phillips
Eira Corral, Centro de Información: Eira researched US Census
Charlene Rhinehart
data and compiled a demographic profile of the Latino population
Pedro Serrano
of northwest suburban Hanover Park, IL for Centro de Información.
Kristin Thomas
She was also involved in community outreach initiatives and
William Wideman
updating a resource database.

Shannon Harmon, Visitation Catholic School: Shannon coordinated

an Art Club at Visitation Catholic School twice per week. She
established a curriculum that exposed students to various art
media and history through projects and presentations. Visitation
School serves students from the Englewood and back of the yards
neighborhoods.
 H TT P : / / C BS L . DE P AU L . EDU | 2 6

Howard Rosing and Julie Chavez Rodriguez, granddaughter of Cesar Chavez

and Programs Director of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation.

Cesar Chavez Service Season

The First Annual Cesar Chavez Service Season was launched in AY 2006-
2007 through the leadership of the Steans Center. The Season seeks to
connect the values of Cesar Chavez to DePaul’s Vincentian values through
guest speakers, lectures, presentations, films and service events. The
kickoff event and reception was held on March 1, 2006 with Julie Chavez
Rodriguez, granddaughter of Cesar Chavez, as the keynote speaker. In
addition, the Lt. Governor’s Office presented an award to the Steans Center
for “Outstanding Participation in Curriculum-based Service Learning.”
The events for the season were co-sponsored by the Office of Missions and
Values, University Ministry, the Cultural Center, and the Center for Latino
Research. The season was made possible through a Vincentian Endowment
Fund grant as well contributions from the sponsors.

Social Justice Conference at DePaul

The Steans Center co-sponsored with the Center for Latino Research
the conference Memory and Voices of Defiance, Hope and Solidarity:
Struggles for Social Justice and Equality, an international conference on
April 20-22, 2007 at DePaul University. The conference included an on-
campus and community production of El Bloque: A Young Lord’s Story
written by Dr. Jacqueline Lazú from DePaul’s Modern
Languages Department.
 Engage PARTNER REFLECT

D e Paul community service scholars 2006–2007

Job Acosta Malia Gilbert Erica Prange

Michael Almodovar Patrick Gill Anthony Repp
Sarah Andrie Jon Gogolak Kyle Ripp
Fahaad Ansari Melanie Gonzalez Roy Rodriguez
Melissa Baer Elisa Grant-Holler Nichole Rofus
Muhammad Baste Charles Gurion Rachel Ross
Alexandra Beaupre Christine Hatcher Matthew Roth
Marisol Becerra Nick Hawes Amanda Rubner
Christina Betz Jamie Lynn Huberty Ellen Schneider
Ron Brooks Camille Hutchens Trisha Schroeder
Robert Brown Anne Janasz Jocelyn Seager
Daniel Brown Leah Jeedas Amarbir Singh
Anna Burnham Helen Jeno Kate Stanley
Payten Carroll Ashley Jostes Samantha Steim
Leslie Castromayor Haileselassie Keleta Christopher Strong
Matthew Cavanaugh Ellen Kinner Rachel Tarnoff
Herjeet Chadha Catherine Knigge Taryn Tomasula
Jamil Chammas Savana Krysiak Rebekah Trachsel
Ann Colombo Katherine LaBeef Chelsea Trotter
Courtney Cotter Steven Lance Laura Uhlir
Benjamin Cox Stefania Markovska Krissy Valdez
Inez De La Fuente Cora Marquez Hilary Vander Weele
Daniel De los Rios Rebecca Martinson Lauren Vinopal
Christina DeArment Samantha Mastroberti Michelle Viveney
Gary Deleonardis Joelle Mbatchou Mary Vucekovich
Jennifer Dohm Kevin Meagher Jeremy Wakefield
Tori Duoos Daniel Nelson Robin Whitney
Amanda Dutczak Elizabeth Nussbaumer Drakia Wilkins
Bridget Fanta Kathleen O’Leary Kate Willems
Christina Feliciano Erthel Oruma Andrew Witt
Kristin Frost Robert Pabalan Colin Woodrow
Melissa Furlette Azalea Parrilla Angie Worth
John Geier Grace Posey Alexandria Yoder-Fox
Ashley George Carl Powers Nicholas Zlotek
 H TT P : / / C BS L . DE P AU L . EDU | 2 8

Conference Presentations

Associate Director Marisol Morales, Student Development Coordinator

Billie Drakeford, and DePaul Senior Stephanie Ratanas presented a
workshop and poster session at the Students as Colleagues Institute
held Nov. 2-3, 2006 at Bentley College, Waltham, MA. The title of their
workshop and poster was “Finding and Training Student Leaders on the
Lattice of Social Engagement.” See the poster in the Steans Lobby.

Steans Center Executive Director Howard Rosing presented a 90-minute

workshop titled “Teaching Community-based Research to Undergraduates”
at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology on
March 29, 2007 in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Marisol Morales, Howard Rosing and Edgar Ramirez presented a paper titled
“Colaboración Universitaria-Comunitaria: Aprendiendo y Sirviendo Contra
el Desplazamiento de las Comunidades Latinas” at the IV Taller “Aprender
Sirviendo” Conference at Universidad Marista on February 22-23 in
Merida, Mexico

Allison Tyndall Locke presented at the Strengthening Civic Engagement

and Spirituality in Higher Education conference on September 22, 2006
at DePaul University. The session was titled “At the Heart of Ministry is
Relationship: The Partnership Between Visitation School and
DePaul University”
Engage PARTNER REFLECT

Recent D e Paul Publications on Service Learning

Dr. Nila Ginger Hofman (Anthropology) and Dr. Howard Rosing (Steans Center)
published the book Pedagogies of Praxis: Course-based Action Research in the
Social Sciences (Anker - Jossey-Bass).

Dr. Charles R. Strain (Academic Affairs; Religious Studies) published “Moving Like a
Starfish: Beyond a Unilinear Model of Student Transformation in Service Learning Classes”
in the Journal of College and Character, Volume VIII, Number 1, November 2006.

Dr. Euan Hague (Geography) published “Service Learning in Pilsen, Chicago,” in

Chicago’s Geographies — Metropolis for the 21st Century, Richard P. Greene,
Mark J. Bouman and Dennis Grammenos (eds.), Association of American
Geographers, Washington D.C., 264-267 (2006).

Dr. Beth Catlett, and Dr. Irene Beck (Women’s and Gender Studies) published
“Participatory action research and the university classroom.” in Pedagogies of Praxis:
Course-based Action Research in the Social Sciences, Nila Ginger Hofman, &
Howard Rosing, (Eds.), (2006, Anker-Jossey-Bass).

Dr. Euan Hague (Geography), Dr. Winifred Curran, and Harpreet Gill (DePaul
Alum) published “Practicing Active Learning: Introducing Urban Geography and
Engaging Community in Pilsen, Chicago,” in Pedagogies of Praxis: Interdisciplinary
Perspectives on Course Based Action Research, Nila Ginger Hofman and
Howard Rosing (Eds.), (2006, Anker-Jossey-Bass).

Dr. Ted Manley (Sociology), Avery Buffa (Mission and Values), Dr. Caleb Dube
(Sociology), and Lauren Reed (DePaul Alum) published “Putting the Learning in
Service Learning: From Soup Kitchen Models to the Black Metropolis Model” in
Education and Urban Society, Volume 38, Number 2, February 2006.
acknowledgement: Bluefusion, DePaul’s Creative Agency (design) and Dan Baron (writer)
D e Paul Un i v er s i t y | T H E IRWIN W. STEANS CENTE R for Comm uni ty-based Service L earning & Comm unity Service Studies
2233 North Kenmore Avenue | C hicag o, IL 60614 -3547