Jesuit Higher Education Events

Jesuit Higher Education Events

Members of the Initiative played leadership roles in the Laudato Si’ Commission, which presented proposals for expanding learning about integral ecology at the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) Assembly, held at Loyola University Chicago. The Assembly is a triennial gathering focusing on how Jesuit higher education institutions can advance justice in all they do.

Christopher Bacon co-chaired the Laudato Si’ Commission, Chad Raphael led the Commission’s subgroup on networking and organized a panel on incorporating integral ecology across the curriculum, and Iris Stewart-Frey organized a panel on fostering environmental & social justice through community-engaged research. (Lindsey Kalkbrenner of SCU’s Center for Sustainability also served on the Commission.)

The Laudato Si’ Commission was one of six charged with envisioning a hope-filled future for Jesuit education by AJCU President and Initiative Advisory Board member, Fr. Michael Garanzini, SJ. The Commission conducted an inventory of existing contributions to integral ecology across the AJCUs and issued recommendations for making environmental justice and sustainability a hallmark of Jesuit colleges and universities in their operations, academic affairs, community formation, and civic engagement. Commission members enthusiastically committed to continuing to work together after the Assembly.

The Initiative’s Chad Raphael co-hosted over 30 Jesuit and Catholic secondary school educators at SCU for a three-day summit on incorporating environmental justice and integral ecology across the high school curriculum. Participants learned about promising practices for teaching about sustainability and justice in secondary education, how to make whole-school curricular transformation, connecting with Jesuit and Catholic educational networks and social ministry organizations, and forming a new professional development network. SCU’s Center for Sustainability and de Saisset Museum offered environmental justice tours of the campus, and Bellarmine College Prep hosted participants for lunch in their campus garden.

The Summit helped participating teachers and administrators move from narrow approaches to sustainability toward education for integral ecology and environmental justice, and from individualistic approaches toward learning and action for systemic change. The need to address environmental justice in relation to racial and economic justice, and a more inclusive approach to Catholic education, resonated especially with educators from Cristo Rey schools who attended. 

Co-organized with Michael Downs of Bishop O’Dowd High School and Brenna Davis of the Ignatian Solidarity Network, the summit was generously supported by SCU’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education and Inclusive Excellence Division, and John Burns (SCU ‘66).

The Initiative’s Chad Raphael and SCU Center for Sustainability’s Lindsey Kalkbrenner, Veronica Johnson, and Leslie Gray taught three-week-long online workshops for 49 faculty and sustainability officers from SCU and 26 other institutions, including many Jesuit and Catholic universities. A grant from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) supported California Community College instructors in participating for free. Many participants completed multiple workshops, which focused on integrating sustainability and justice across the curriculum, teaching environmental justice and integral ecology, and pedagogy for sustainability and justice. Each workshop included two tracks: one for faculty to design new courses and modules, and one for sustainability officers to design training programs to offer at their own institutions. Participant evaluations highlighted the wealth of resources provided and the value of the individualized feedback from instructors. This professional development program is a collaboration between the initiative’s Laudato Si’ across the Curriculum program and the SCU Center for Sustainability, which is a national training center affiliated with AASHE.

The Initiative’s Christopher Bacon, SCU Center for Sustainability Director Lindsey Kalkbrenner, and SCU Vice-President of Mission and Ministry Alison M. Benders presented to Chief Mission Officers and Campus Ministry Directors from Jesuit institutions, who visited SCU in November for an Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) meeting. Bacon, Kalkbrenner, and Benders summarized how Jesuit higher education is engaging with Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ encyclical and recent exhortation Laudato Deum, which calls for urgent action for climate and environmental justice. The trio also presented a case study of SCU's collaborative Laudato Si’ Action Planning process, sharing strategies for sustainability governance, integration with university-wide strategic planning, and community engagement. As part of his work as Co-Chair of AJCU’s Laudato Si’ Commission, Bacon shared his research conducted with students Annika Sodergren, Mary Xiang, and Katie Duffy, showing that more than 90% of the Jesuit higher education institutions in the U.S. and Canada have committed to Pope Francis’ 7-Year Journey Towards Integral Ecology, and preliminary results of a carbon emissions and climate action inventory. The Laudato Si’ Commission is currently developing transformative proposals for Jesuit higher education as they prepare for high-level presentations at the AJCU Faith, Justice & Reconciliation Assembly July 16-19, 2024.

The Initiative’s Chad Raphael presented at a workshop about the integration of environmental and climate justice into K-12 science classrooms for visiting science teachers and Education Board Officers from Incheon, South Korea, hosted by Dr. Won Jung Kim (SCU School of Education and Counseling Psychology). Raphael discussed examples of community science research and learning projects for environmental justice. He also gave feedback on an example project the visiting educators developed through previous workshop sessions with Dr. Kim.  

The Initiative’s Chad Raphael presented on how to integrate environmental justice and integral ecology into Jesuit K-12 schools’ curriculum and pedagogy. The workshop for educators, entitled Bringing the Universal Apostolic Preferences to Life in Our Schools, was organized by the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus. Raphael introduced an approach to designing curriculum and pedagogy for sustainability and justice, shared a variety of curriculum development resources, and engaged the group in reflective writing to inform their discussions and plans.

Chris Bacon and Chad Raphael led workshops for the Ecojesuit 2023 Meeting in Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines, which convened Jesuit educational leaders from Africa, Asia, Australia, India, and Europe to strengthen their shared commitment, collaboration, and communication for integral ecology. Bacon led a workshop on “Community-based Research on Food and Water Justice: Methods and Process of Accompaniment.” Raphael led a workshop on "Communications and Networking for Advocacy and Climate Action.”  The Initiative has a longstanding collaboration with Ecojesuit and Fr. Pedro Walpole, S.J., who sits on the Initiative’s advisory board.

The Initiative’s Chad Raphael and SCU Center for Sustainability’s Lindsey Kalkbrenner, Veronica Johnson, and Leslie Gray taught three week-long online workshops for 58 faculty and sustainability officers from SCU and 18 other institutions, including many Jesuit and Catholic universities, and our first high school participants. Many participants completed multiple workshops, which focused on integrating sustainability and justice across the curriculum, teaching environmental justice and integral ecology, and pedagogy for sustainability and justice. Each workshop included two tracks: one for faculty to design new courses and modules, and one for sustainability officers to design training programs to offer at their own institutions. Participant evaluations highlighted the value of the individualized feedback from instructors and the wealth of resources provided. This professional development program is a collaboration between the initiative’s Laudato Si’ across the Curriculum program and the SCU Center for Sustainability, which is a national training center affiliated with the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

AJCU Climate Conference at Loyola University Chicago Chris Bacon, Iris Stewart-Frey, and their research students:Ben Grundy; Emma McCurry; Julia Jenak; Lilah A. Foster; Chloe Gentile-Montgomery; Daniel McCabe; Erica Martinez; Gabi Ballardo; John W. Rzepczynski; Paige Whittaker; Raeleigh Price and Skyler Kriese presented a total of 6 posters on food justice and the disparate impacts of agricultural activities in the Central Valley:        

Exposure of Disadvantage Underserved Communities to Pesticides in the San Joaquin and Tuolumne Watersheds (Central Valley, CA)

Nitrate and Uranium Pollution affect Household Wells in Disadvantaged Underserved Communities in Stanislaus County (CA)

A student assessment of Food Security and Sovereignty as Universities Respond to COVID-19

Toward Real Food and Climate Neutrality on Campus: Assessing new tools for measuring institutional food system sustainability, transformation, and change

A Participatory Assessment of Diversification, Food Security, and use of Agroecology for Food System Change with Organized Smallholders in Nicaragua

The Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative at  Santa Clara University,in collaboration with Ecojesuit Global Network  and Jesuit Conference of South Asia organized an online dialogue on ‘Using agroecology to drive food system change : Responses and collaborations to address the present economic-ecological crisis‘. 150 plus participants from USA, Latin America, India, Philippines and other parts of the world participated in the webinar on Zoom platform. The event was also live broadcasted on Youtube to reach out to the wider audience. Dr. Pedro Walpole, Coordinator – Ecojesuit Global Network, Dr. Vandana Shiva, founder of Navdanya International and  Dr. Chris Bacon, from SCU enriched the audience with their sharing on the concerns and issues related to poisoning of Agricultural production due to extensive use of chemical fertilizers, Food and Health Security for All, Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture and Covid-19 in a global context. Video testimonies from the Community Food System & Urban Agricultural Model in the Bay Area, California, Fresh Approach, whose mission is to improve access to healthy food in California,  La Mesa Verde,SHCS, a network of Urban Gardeners and Valley Verde  creating access to healthy and culturally appropriate food for everyone; provided the audience with examples of various initiatives emerging in the context to meaningfully engage and respond as individuals, communities and organizations. The Q&A and Round Table Dialogue sessions addressed the concerns of the audience and the broader issue and mandate in the field of Agroecology.

Transcript of Dr. Shiva's presentation

11.17.2020 Agroecology and Food Systems Change CB Presentation

The testimonial videos: Valley Verde, Fresh Approach, and La Mesa Verde

Post event article: Industrial Agriculture is Creating Poison, Not Food: Say Agroecologists

Chris Bacon presented on Community-based action research to build back a fairer food system as a breakout session during the Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice virtual conference, entitled ”Prophetic Resilience: Breaking Down. Building Up." This is the largest annual Catholic social justice conference in the U.S.  After the talk, participants shared ideas about how to address rural hunger and food justice, including responses to food insecurity induced by Covid-19.

Chad Raphael organized a session entitled “Another Just Transition: Community-Engaged Research and Learning for Environmental Justice” at the annual conference of the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Chad presented on the value of community-driven research for producing actionable knowledge about environmental justice at Jesuit and other universities, drawing on a research guide he wrote on this subject. Co-presenters discussed research collaborations that have shaped sustainability policies and practices in the conference’s host city of Milwaukee. Kate Nelson (Chief Sustainability Officer, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and Willie Karidis (Rails to Trails Conservancy) presented their study of how to make access to bike trails more accessible and equitable  in neighborhoods of color. Chelsea Wait (Ph.D. candidate and Adjunct Professor, School of Architecture and Urban Planning) presented on the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Field School, a university-community partnership that engages community members and students in storytelling, ecological conservation, heritage preservation, and civic engagement.

The Initiative’s Chris Bacon, Iris Stewart-Frey, and Chad Raphael helped organize and presented to the Community-Based Research (CBR) in Environmental Justice (EJ) at Jesuit Universities workshop. Leaders in Jesuit education for sustainability attended, including Nancy Tuchman (Loyola Chicago’s Dean of Sustainability, Fr. Pedro Walpole (Ecojesuit), and  Fr. Michael Garanzini, Secretary for Higher Education for the Society of Jesus, who said  that CBR for environmental justice and sustainability is a key strategy for the future of Jesuit higher education. Raphael led a workshop on forming community-university research partnerships.  Bacon and Stewart-Frey co-presented with Raul Diaz (CII-ASDENIC) and Misael Rivas (PRODECOOP), who traveled from Nicaragua to co-present lessons learned from a decade of participatory action research for food and water security in the context of climate change and other hazards. Bill Sundstrom (Economics) and the Initiative’s Ed Maurer (Sustainable Engineering) also contributed analysis to this presentation. The SCU research team was one of three that the conference organizers funded to travel to the workshop.See this Jesuit reflection on the event in the International Association of Jesuit Universities' newsletter.  

Photo: Selected Participants at the Community-Based Research in Environmental Justice Workshop in Chicago