Programs & Special Initiatives

Here's a sampling of programs and special initiatives that have been planned for the Year of the City.  Additional items can be found on the Calendar page and in the list of proposals that have received funding from the Year of the City Coordinating Committee.  If you are sponsoring a program or special initiative that you would like to feature here, please contact the Committee.

St. Mary of the Assumption School and Loyola College Partnership
Established in September 2006, the partnership between St. Mary's and Loyola offers students, faculty and staff from both institutions a wealth of opportunities to learn from each other through academic enrichment activities, tutoring sessions, field trips, athletic programs and more.  Click here for more information.

Theology Common Text Program: The City of God (Theology) 
During the Fall 2006 semester, all sections of Theology 201: Introduction to Theology will incorporate selections from St. Augustine's The City of God as a way of reflecting on the duties of Christians with regard to the range of human societies and institutions that Augustine called "the earthly city." To enhance the student's reading of this text, the Theology Department will also be hosting two lectures by visiting scholars who will speak on Augustine's City of God in its own context and in our's.

"Mission: Mobtown" (Jean Lee Cole, English, Nick Miller, Honors Program)
This is your mission, should you choose to accept it: on the last Saturday of each month you and your team of 30-40 fellow agents will be sent into one of Baltimore's most intriguing neighborhoods. In teams, you'll compile a dossier on that neighborhood to share with headquarters. Best dossier wins a prize which will not self-destruct in thirty seconds.  This event is open to all students.

Baltimore: Its History and Architecture (Jack Breihan, History)
This will be a new course offered by the History Department. It will examine the history of Baltimore since its foundation in 1729: its growth as a center of trade and industry, its tumultuous 19th-century politics, and especially its industrial decline and unexpected revival in the 20th century. The city’s historic buildings and neighborhoods will be a principal focus of the course; students will be encouraged to leave campus to study them.

The Baltimore Colloquium (Jack Breihan, History)
15-25 faculty from across the curriculum will meet together 3 times each semester to examine the social realities of Baltimore from various academic perspectives. Most sessions will consist of presentations by Loyola faculty studying Baltimore, but occasionally there might be an outside speaker or bus tour.

Development of the St. Frances Academy Digital Library (Library staff)
Pilot project to digitize the materials needed for course instruction and assignments for high school students. Four faculty members in four disciplines will identify relevant materials needed for students to access during the academic year to produce good school assignments. LNDL will digitize and make materials available on our server. This will scale to a long-term project to develop a digital library for all subjects taught.

The Urban Minister and Care: For God, Congregation and Self (Kevin Gillespie, Pastoral Counseling)
Urban ministers from the Baltimore and Washington areas will be invited to a pastoral care and counseling program on Loyola’s main campus.

Social Justice Awareness and Client Advocacy Forums (Kayliz Oakes, Pastoral Counseling)
Through sensitizing counseling students to the social justice needs within society in general and within the Baltimore region in particular, it is expected that their counseling strategies will begin to reflect this sensitivity as well as provide the empowerment for the counselor to begin to advocate for change within their sphere of influence, be it in their places of employment, within service agencies for their clients, or within their communities.  To achieve this, the proposed program will provide exposure to selected community leaders in social advocacy through the written word and in person; provide demographic information about the scope of regional problems that will likely be reflected in the counseling issues presented by clients; and provide a resource bank for referrals and training.

Panel of Writers (Peggy O'Neill & Barbara Mallonee, Core Composition Program, Writing)
The Panel of Writers is part of a larger initiative, entitled Beyond Evergreen: Writing Our Way into the City, that has students in Effective Writing courses writing and researching essays about Baltimore and cities in general.  Twice during the academic year, a panel of local writers will discuss how Baltimore influenced their writing, how they have conducted research about the city, and the role research plays in their writing process.  Students will use the panel in multiple ways, for example as a source to learn about Baltimore as well as a source on how to do research.  In preparation for each panel, students will read material--most likely essays or excerpts--written by the panel participants.