DePaul hosting national conference on community-based service and learning

DePaul University is hosting the third biannual National Faith Justice and Civic Learning Conference June 20 and 21 in the Lincoln Park Student Center Room 314 A & B. Representatives from 14 universities and 11 community partners have already registered to attend.

The conference will involve a collaborative process of reflection, dialogue and learning among invited experts and participants, most commonly those involved in college and university-based community service, service-learning, service immersion experiences or community-based research, including representative community partners

DePaul Wind Symphony to salute Sousa at outdoor concert

The music of famed American composer and conductor John Philip Sousa will be performed by the DePaul University Wind Symphony at an outdoor concert June 2 on the McGaw Hall patio, 802 W. Belden Ave.

Sousa-Palooza is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., weather permitting. The concert, which closes the School of Music’s centennial celebration, also will feature faculty soloists as well as give-aways and refreshments. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. The event is free and open to the public.

Bahrain program hosts ninth commencement ceremony

Fifty-seven students who completed their studies in DePaul University’s graduate business programs in Bahrain received their diplomas during a commencement ceremony hosted by program partner Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance in Manama, Bahrain.

The graduating class included 24 students who earned MBA degrees, 23 who received Master of Science in Finance degrees and 10 who were awarded Master of Science in Human Resources degrees. Dan Heiser, associate dean of the Driehaus College Business, presented diplomas at the ceremony April 1, and Matthew Krause, business manager for the Driehaus Center for International Business, attended. (Photos courtesy of the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance)

Staff reminded about new vacation carry-over policy

The Office of Human Resources (HR) reminds full-time staff that the maximum amount of unused vacation time that may be carried over into a new calendar year is one week. As of Dec. 31 each year, unused vacation time in excess of five days will be forfeited.

For more information, visit the HR website.

New self-service pages will help organize employee information

A new and improved way of organizing employee information is being added to lessen the stress for managers at DePaul.

The Office of the Secretary’s Director of Board Technology, Chad Jordahl, said the new self-service management pages in Campus Connect will allow managers to view all their direct and indirect reports in one location, including their employees’ demographic and employment information.

This system will make it easy for managers to view their employees' job-related information as well as send notifications to employees requesting updated information, such as email address and mailstop. Now, managers can view all employee information in one spot, making it simple to manage. Jordahl added that higher-level managers will be able to search and view all the employees in their entire division.

“From a university-wide perspective, this will help to verify the accuracy of employee data, as well as provide an avenue to automatically populate the DePaul Information Directory and other online systems,” said Jordahl.

The self-service manager pages will go live May 9.

DePaul holds annual Vincentian Service Day

The 13th annual Vincentian Service Day on May 4 is an opportunity for DePaul University students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners to come together in the neighborhoods of Chicago for a day of service.

The day strengthens DePaul’s connection to community and puts its Vincentian mission of service into practice. Join the more than 1,700 DePaul community members and 100 community partners in making a difference this year.

Members of the DePaul community can still register on the day of the event at the DePaul Athletic Center, 2323 N. Sheffield Ave., where there will be a “walk-on” registration table. The event begins at 8 a.m. At 1:30 p.m. after faculty, staff and students return from their day of volunteering, there will be a picnic and peace festival in DePaul’s Quad at Fullerton and Seminary avenues.

DePaul panel discussion on China

The Chinese Studies Program is hosting a panel discussion on resources available to DePaul students who are interested in learning about China at DePaul or going to China to study or work. Eight professors from distinct disciplines and one academic advisor will be on the panel.

The event will be held May 9 from 6-8 p.m. in room 108 of McGowan South, 1110 W. Belden Ave.  RSVP here for the event.

Duke professor to deliver keynote at Student History Conference

Thavolia Glymph, associate professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University is delivering the Daniel Goffman Keynote Lecture April 26. Glymph will give a talk related to the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation titled "Emancipation and the Meaning of Freedom.”

The lecture will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Park Student Center, Room 314.

Author and activist to talk about being a social entrepreneur

International human rights advocate Don Mullan, a best-selling author, publisher and media producer, will describe how he is making a successful career for himself as an independent entrepreneur while making the world a better place at an upcoming DePaul forum.

His presentation, titled "Create Your Future, Don't Wait for It!" will be held on April 24 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Park Student Center, Room 324. Admission is free and pizza will be provided.

Mullan, whose investigations into the “Bloody Sunday” tragedy in Northern Ireland helped expose the British government’s cover-up of the massacre, has worked on behalf of human rights and humanitarian causes in such places as Rwanda, South Africa and Brazil. Mullan joined DePaul last year as an advisor and guest lecturer and received an honorary degree from the School for New Learning in 2011.

The event will be sponsored by the Hay Leadership Project, the Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning and the Division of Student Affairs.

DePaul sponsors conference for students with children

Adult, Veteran and Commuter Student Affairs is planning its first-ever Conference for Students with Children on Saturday, May 4 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at various locations in the Lincoln Park Student Center and the Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center. The conference features programs and workshops on early-childhood education, stress management, spirituality, long-term planning and pursuing a passion while parenting.

Art Munin, dean of students at DePaul University, will be the keynote speaker. The conference, which includes a continental breakfast and lunch, is free. Child care will be available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ray for $5. Children can stay with parents during breakfast and lunch.

Faculty and staff, who are welcome to attend, are asked to encourage students with children to attend. Registration will close April 24, so register soon. For more information, contact Adult, Veteran and Commuter Student Affairs at adultstudents@depaul.edu or 312-362-6216. 

DePaul again named to service honor roll

DePaul University has again been named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).

“The Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities,” said Wendy Spencer, chief executive of CNCS, the federal agency that engages more than 5 million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, the Social Innovation Fund, and Volunteer Generation Fund. She also leads President Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve.

“The Honor Roll reflects DePaul’s long-term institutional commitment to community service, a commitment widely and deeply embedded in both the university’s mission and its extensive curricular and co-curricular programs,” said Howard Rosing, executive director of DePaul’s Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning and the Egan Urban Center. DePaul has been named to the Honor Roll every year since the program’s inception in 2006.

Faculty host symposium to talk about race and representation in a digital age

Academics from across Chicago will come to DePaul University on March 7 for a symposium titled “Race, Resistance, Representation: Cultural Criticism in the Digital Age,” with Visiting Ida B. Wells-Barnett Professor Daniel McNeil as moderator.

The African & Black Diaspora studies program will host the event, which is open to the public, in Courtelyou Commons at 4 p.m. To attend, please RSVP to DMCNEIL2@depaul.edu.

The purpose of the symposium is to “explore the provocative, explorative and imaginative work of cultural critics in our digital age,” said McNeil. “It is particularly concerned with what we can learn from cultural critics that were inspired by the moral criticism of Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon and other activist-intellectuals.”

The symposium will feature three writers: English Professor Francesca Royster, who recently published her new book “Sounding Like a No-No;” Armond White, editor of “City Arts;” and Lewis Gordon, professor at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

Those who attend the symposium will hear “new meanings and perspectives on an age often considered to be ‘post-race,’ ‘post-soul’ and ‘post-black,’” said McNeil.

Royster said the symposium is a chance for participants to engage in new ideas about blackness in the digital age. “It isn't often that we get the chance to think creatively and theoretically about the futures of black identity,” she said. “The symposium will be a space of dreaming and thinking of new possibilities about blackness and about humanity, and the role of new technologies in expressing those ideas.”

The symposium is an opportunity for people across Chicago to engage in the issues surrounding violence in Chicago. “The homicide rate in Chicago is international news,” noted Gordon. “Chicago is central to the study of race in American history, in terms of the many migrations, racial lines and practices of segregation, and the current national and international attention occasioned by the First Family’s connection to the city.” 

Northern Ireland peace activist to speak at DePaul

The Rev. Bill Shaw, who has worked for many years on conflict resolution in Northern Ireland, will speak at DePaul University Feb. 27 from 4:20 to 5:50 p.m. in Room 161 of the Schmitt Academic Center. The event is free and open to the public.

A resident of Belfast for the last 15 years, Rev. Shaw, a Presbyterian minister, has been the director of the 174 Trust, an organization involved in conflict resolution and social justice advocacy in a community with a long history of sectarian violence. His work has been recognized by Queen Elizabeth II, who awarded him the Order of the British Empire in 2012.

His presentation titled "Building Peace & Promoting Reconciliation in Northern Ireland - a Personal Perspective” is co-sponsored by the history and geography departments and the Irish Studies Minor. For more information contact: Euan Hague, chair, Department of Geography, 773-325-7890; ehague@depaul.edu; or Kara Dempsey, adjunct professor, Department of Geography, 773-325-3267 kdempse5@depaul.edu.

School supply drive

Staff Council is collecting supplies for Chicago-area schools. Be on the lookout for boxes marked with the yellow school bus. Donations will be collected through March 28.

Items needed include:

*Pens/Pencils/Crayons/Markers

*White Paper, 3 Hole Punch paper

*Folders 

*Glue Sticks

*Kleenex

*Hand Sanitizer

*Notebooks

Rabbi featured speaker for Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture at DePaul

Rabbi Meir Y. Soloveichik will be the featured speaker at the 18th annual Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture at DePaul University on Feb. 20. Welcome remarks will be delivered by Francis Cardinal George, archbishop of Chicago.

Rabbi Soloveichik is director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University and associate rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City. His lecture is titled "Jews, Catholics and the American Idea." The lecture will be at 7 p.m. in the Lincoln Park Student Center, Room 314AB. Admission is free.

The event will be hosted by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, the American Jewish Committee, Chicago Board of Rabbis, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.

DePaul co-sponsors are the Department of Religious Studies, Department of Catholic Studies, Center for Interreligious Engagement, Center for Intercultural Programs, Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity, University Ministry and the College of Law’s Center for Jewish Law and Judaic Studies.