Year of the City transitions into future with end-of-year reflection event During his October 2005 Inaugural Address, College President Brian F. Linnane, S.J., declared that the 2006-2007 academic year would be a "Year of the City," a time to reaffirm the College's relationship with Baltimore, to celebrate the City's history and culture, and to reflect upon Loyola’s role, as a Catholic, Jesuit institution of higher learning, in addressing the challenges faced by the City and upon the ways the College educates its students for effective citizenship. Throughout the year, Loyola students, faculty, staff, and administrators developed programs that explored City culture, encouraged intellectual engagement and provided service to those in the greater Baltimore community.  | A review of the year in images |
As the academic year approached its conclusion, the Loyola community paused to reflect upon the achievements of the Year of the City initiative. On the afternoon of April 24th, members of the community gathered in McGuire Hall for a commencement event that featured music by the Loyola College Chapel Choir, remarks by Fr. Brian Linnane, and presentations of special Year of the City projects by students, faculty, staff, and administrators. By highlighting some of the noteworthy accomplishments of the year, the event provided an opportunity to reflect upon experiences, inspirations, and partnerships that will serve as foundations for the future development of the initiative and for the strengthening of Loyola's relationship with Baltimore.
The following persons described and reflected upon their contributions to the Year of the City: - Rodney Parker (Alana Services) and several first-year students spoke about the Baltimore Cultural Tour, which introduced new Loyola students to important cultural and historical sites in Baltimore
- Candra Healy (Staff Council/Academic Affairs and Diversity) discussed Shadow Day, a professional education program that paired Baltimore high school students with Loyola employees for a full work day
- Jessica Kimak (Class of 2009) presented the work of Loyola’s Habitat for Humanity team in the rehabilitation of a house in West Baltimore [view slideshow]
- David Haddad (Academic Affairs and Diversity) represented the Baltimore’s Big 3 Lecture Series, which brought national scholars to campus to speak about health, education, and housing in Baltimore
- Kayliz Oakes (Pastoral Counseling) offered reflections on Social Justice Awareness and Client Advocacy forums that addressed the ways that social justice issues bear upon pastoral counseling
- Fr. Kevin Gillespie (Pastoral Counseling) described the conference The Urban Minister: God, Self and Congregation, which the Pastoral Counseling program put together for ministers of urban churches in Baltimore and Washington, DC [view slideshow]
- Lauren Bivona (Class of 2008) provided an overview of the After School Be Fit! program, a student-led athletics and health program for students of Guilford Elementary/Middle School
- Fr. Dan Ruff (Campus Ministry) described the Faith in the City Graphics Arts Contest and showed slides of the winning entries [view slideshow]. Fr. Ruff also spoke about the performance of the Chapel Choir and the Gospel Choir at the rededication of the Baltimore Basicila [view slideshow]
- Amy Maher (St. Mary’s/Loyola College Partnership) discussed the formation and agenda of the new partnership between St. Mary’s School of the Assumption in Govans and Loyola College [view slideshow]
- Arthur Sutherland (Theology) recounted lessons he and his students learned from a theological engagement of urban issues in his course Introduction to Theology
- Joanne Helouvry (Loyola/Notre Dame Library) described the history and accomplishments of the new St. Frances Academy Digital Library Project [view slideshow]
- Dan Schlapbach (Fine Arts) offered an overview of the Humanities Center’s contributions to the Year of the City, including the Charm City Film Series, the “Reel Cities” International Film Series, and the Humanities Symposium, which focused on Jane Jacobs’ contemporary classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities
- Jack Breihan (History) discussed various ways that he integrated explorations of Baltimore’s architectural and cultural history into several of his classes. He also described events of the Baltimore Colloquium, a seminar for Loyola faculty [view slideshow]
- Cinthia Gannett (Writing/Writing Center) and students from her seminar on Civic Literacy discussed their collaboration with the Student Sharing Coalition on the genesis and production of the forthcoming publication Changing the World Around Me: Profiles in Student Activism.
The evening concluded with expressions of gratitude and a few words about the future of the Year of the City from members of the Year of the City Coordinating Committee. |
