Loyola University Maryland

Messina

The Visionary 1

Cities of God: Theology and the Built World (EG103V)

The pyramids and Gothic cathedrals as well as transportation, communication, and sanitation systems are just some examples of our engineered world. Students explore what makes engineering unique in the sciences, the elements of design and creative problem-solving. Emphasis is given to the historical and social contexts of engineering design. We will explore the vision that drives innovation and the skills necessary to turn ideas into reality.

Faculty Biography

Suzanne Keilson earned a B.A. in Physics from Yale University and master’s and doctoral degrees in Applied Physics from Columbia University. Her post-doctoral studies in the signal processing of speech by the auditory system brought her to Johns Hopkins and Baltimore. Her research interests in engineering include biomedical engineering, signal processing, sustainable engineering and design education. She is an active member and serving on the board of the American Society for Engineering Education. She is surprised to find herself the mother of three children, a dog and a cat and firmly rooted in Baltimore, a successful transplant from Brooklyn.

Thinking God for the World (TH201V)

What is the relationship between the lives we lead and the beliefs (truths) we hold about God, the world, and ourselves – between “strong truths, well-lived”?  Our world is constituted by diverse and competing answers to this question – we might call them diverse and competing “visions”.  We will read and write, listen to and talk about such visions in Jewish and Christian Scriptures and traditions as well as in contemporary novelists, philosophers, and poets.  Students will learn about other peoples’ visions as a context for their own.  Thus we learn to think God not only for ourselves but for the world.

Faculty Biography

James J. Buckley, professor of theology, was born in Massachusetts, raised in Missouri, schooled in California and Connecticut, and has lived in Maryland for thirty-five years.   He enjoys writing on various topics in contemporary Catholic theology, including who God is, and what God is up to in a world of beautiful things, wrecked with violence.  He and his spouse Chris enjoy the sights and sounds of Baltimore, and have (besides friends and relatives in the places they were raised and schooled) a son and daughter-in-law (with their two children) in Louisville, Kentucky.

Mentor Biographies

A native of Baltimore, Dave Opitz has been a Sr. Security Analyst for Technology Services  at Loyola for 14 years, after working in the federal government for 13 years.  Dave has a BS in Math from the University of Notre Dame and a MS in Computer Science from the University of Texas.  Dave enjoys watching sports, playing strategy games, reading comics, and participating in the Encounter El Salvador program with Loyola’s Center for Community Service and Justice (CCSJ).

Cristina Caridad Garcia - A native of Yonkers, New York, I began working at Loyola University Maryland (in ALANA Services) in July of 2011. Before coming to Loyola, I was at Davidson College for one and a half years where I served as the Diversity Program Advisor and Area Coordinator. I obtained my B.A. in English at Siena College near Albany NY in 2007 and my Masters in College & Agency Counseling at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh in 2009. Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my dog (Shadow), as well as playing tennis, swimming, spinning, listening to music, cooking, exploring my "new" surroundings and most of all spending time with my family.

A group of students posing for a photo, with the harbor and Baltimore skyline in the background
Advising and Support

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Loyola student leaders support and guide students through their first-year experience.

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