In The News

ReSEARCHING for Justice May 8, 2023 This year, the center launched a new fellowship for graduate students from across campus whose scholarship intersected with questions of justice. The diverse group of 14 came from the College of Arts and Letters, College of Engineering, Keogh School of Global Affairs, the Law School, and College of Science. The goal of the fellowship was…

Undergrad research shows understanding trauma key to developing better solutions for those seeking asylum May 5, 2023 This May, 43 graduating seniors will complete capstone projects addressing topics connecting their field of study to questions of justice––food insecurity, mental illness, sustainability, and more. These students are a part of the center’s two minors: the Poverty Studies…

What would an economy of celebration look like in the US today? May 5, 2023 Adam Gustine and José Humphreys had each been thinking about communities for a while. What makes them flourish? What prevents their flourishing? Both had written about the relationship between churches and the communities of which they’re a part when they…

Visiting practitioner fellow engages faculty, staff, and students around global human rights advocacy April 12, 2023 Monalisa, an Indian human rights attorney and expert on global human trafficking joined the Institute for Social Concerns and the Higgins Labor Program in March as a weeklong practitioner in residence. But this was a bit of a homecoming.…

Rewired for a just society: 2023 conference keynote urges shift to nonviolence April 5, 2023 In the years following September 2001, Marie Dennis tried to demonstrate in her work with Pax Christi that violence and war were not an appropriate response to the 9/11 attacks. In the process of doing so, she began to realize…

Called to the common good? March 19, 2023 Vocations without the virtues will lack substance. Virtues without vocations will seem arbitrary.—Stanley Hauerwas, 2023 The Institute for Social Concerns is launching a new 3-year initiative to study and pilot best practices for cultivating a lifelong commitment to the common good among college-aged students. The project begins with…

Keona Lewis brings ballet, Buddhist meditation, and hope to academic DEI initiatives March 17, 2023 When Keona Lewis was in high school, she toured with an African ballet company in a ballet titled Crucifixion. It told the story of the Soweto Uprising, a riot led by black school children in South Africa opposing the use of…

Pokagon Art Collection opens with celebration and collaboration March 16, 2023 Family and friends from the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, faculty, staff, students, and local community members filled the coffeehouse to celebrate the opening of the Pokagon Art Collection on February 23, a part of the center’s Arts of Dignity series. Like other events and initiatives in…