“Learning Not to Despair of Our Own Age”: The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul in This Time of Pandemic

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul marked the 175th anniversary of its founding in the United States. The Society’s usual works are described. Timothy Williams explains how the organization adapted to continue them during the pandemic, and particularly how it substituted for the home visits that have been the Society’s signature work since its founding. The Vincentian Family and the Society were created in times of political strife, widespread illness, and economic catastrophe, so the words and actions of their founders can inspire and comfort us now. The Society took special action in response to George Floyd’s murder. As Williams writes, “Our response began with self-examination, grounded in our spirituality and in our obligations to each other as Christians. To understand the faults we perceive in society, we must have the humility to examine and accept our own faults.” A webinar series allowed members to share their stories related to social issues, such as economic discrimination, crime, and violence. After the webinars, paired groups of members of different races shared more of their experiences. This strengthened their understanding of each other and equipped them to better serve their neighbors

Relational Identities: Reclaiming Ourselves through Recreating Each Other in Collaborative Conversations in Group Therapy Work

This project took place at an outpatient mental health setting, and offers new understandings in our pursuit for communal well-being. It documents the unique participation of group members in the co-creaction of new knowledge and better understanding of human relationships using a participatory action research methodology. The article explores how improvements can take place in the lives of people diagnosed as chronically mentally ill. It demonstrates how a postmodern, collaborative approach to group therapy impacted the ways in which persons diagnosed with serious and chronic mental illness recreated their identities, thereby affecting their ways of relating to others and to themselves. It examines the social and communal components of understanding human behavior, moving away from an intrapsychic and individualistic framework. Doing so allows us to expand our awareness and utilize our humanity in the treatment of people who have been diagnosed with mental illnesses. The role and power of collaboration are illustrated by considering the unique ways group members presented their ideas and behaved with one another. Possibilities for more sustainable ways of living together and sharing meaningful moments are considered. This article can serve as an invitation for how mental health professionals can also contribute to a culture of peace

President’s Column (2015) 51 Page 131

It is not the critic who counts; nor the one who points out how the strong person stumbled, or where the doer of a deed could have been better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; . . . who strives valiantly; . . . who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”—Theodore Roosevelt, The Man in the Arena: Citizenship in a Republic. I am humbled and thankful that our fellow AJA members have elected me to be your “Man in the Arena” this year. In a sense, the minute we take our oath of office as judges, all of us are immediately “in the arena” of public scrutiny. Our motto at AJA is “Making Better Judges®,” and we hope that this year we can help you better withstand that public scrutiny as we help each other shine and sparkle while toiling in the “arena” of our courtrooms and chambers. Many times our decisions require great courage, other times we are required to exercise great patience; sometimes compassion is called for, and at other times, we must stand firm. But at all times, we must treat all who appear in the judicial “arena” with fairness and dignity to better serve the ends of justice

Research exercise: Working Together for a Greater Tomorrow

As members of the Building Communities through Social Justice Learning and Living Cohort (BCSJLC), we are committed to the ideal of improving literacy in the surrounding Miami Valley community. In November of 2011 our cohort participated in the Cleveland Elementary School Book Buddy Program where we donated books to students in grades four and five and also special education. We were trained by Project READ to tutor students in grades K-8 and also young adults. Then we were assigned students in the Dayton Early College Academy and the Dayton Public Schools. The Dayton Early College Academy (DECA) is a college preparatory school for inner city high school students. Through tutoring in various subjects and interacting with the students one-on-one we learned the true importance of education, literacy, and the value in helping others succeed. When we tutored our students we worked to develop relationships where we could discuss how educational success may be difficult at times but how hard work had paid off for us. Our overall goal is to empower students to become better readers and better thinkers by means of social justice. Through our work and watching the students achieve small successes and understanding, our experience epitomized the Marianist ideals of learn, lead, and serve. The experience of working one-on-one with selected students, granted us friendships and inspiration by the youth of Dayton.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/1050/thumbnail.jp

Put Some Respeck on the Respect of the First-Gen Student Experience

First-generation students bring various experiences and understandings to the educational environment that can enrich the overall experience for students, faculty, and staff members. Although this student population has meaningful past experiences to share, they often do not know how to capitalize on those experiences or how the experiences align with ultimate college success. As educators, we often miss the mark focusing on the task of being a “student” versus building on the strengths learners already have within them. It is easy to view and interact with these learners from a deficit mindset, negating the abilities they already have. At Rutgers-Camden, we recreated our onboarding student experience that allowed us to concentrate on learners’ strengths rather than perpetuating a deficit mindset. While creating a pre-immersion experience for first-generation students, our focus shifted from skills deficits to reflection on action. Reflective practice supports learners to better understand their abilities and how those abilities align with the new expectations in an educational environment. This process helped learners to begin to develop their college identity which will continue to serve them throughout their college experience. Students created digital storyboards showcasing how they will use their previous experiences to be successful in college

Measuring the Impact of Residency Requirements and the Relationship with the Citizens in the Community

Community policing is best described as how police departments work together with the community in solving problems. In several major U.S. cities, police departments have changed their residency requirements allowing their officers to reside outside of the municipality in which they are employed. One can assume that officers residing outside the community they serve may not have a high level of engagement in the area in which they work. The current movements to defund police departments led by politicians and members of various communities would imply that residing outside of the municipality in which officer\u27s work would have no impact, or may be preferred. In this study, an emphasis was placed on whether residency requirements can assist in building better relationships with the community and build trust and credibility with the citizens they swore to serve and protect. For this study, data was collected over a 14 year period from the New York police department, a municipality without a police residency requirement as well as the Chicago Police Department, a municipality requiring residency requirements. It was found that police residency had no statistically significant effect on the police department in the Midwest and a statistically significant effect in the police department in the East Coast, as measured by violent crime and citizen complaints. To better understand residency requirements and the relationship between the community and policing, this study utilized credible research to help explain the relationship between police officers and citizens in the community. Our objective was to learn about the history of residency requirements and how it has changed, if at all. Our research also sought to determine if residency requirements had any impact on the relationship between a police department and the community. The study also highlights several successful practices used by police agencies to solve community problems

Creating Incentives and Identifying Champions through an Open Education Award for Faculty

In an effort to boost the visibility of open educational resources (OERs) on campus, librarians from IUPUI University Library established an annual Open Education Award and corresponding event, dedicated to celebrating faculty who have committed to integrating OERs into their coursework. In a four-month period, we developed the award, sought nominations, selected a winner, and hosted an Open Education Award Ceremony. This poster will describe the development of the award, factors that contributed to its success, and how we are using the award to build our new OER program. While other universities, including Texas A&M (2019) and the University of Tennessee (2018), have implemented OER awards as part of established programs, IUPUI’s award is unique in its development and use as a tool to facilitate outreach for our newly implemented program. Initially, we were not aware how many faculty members on campus were already using OERs in their classrooms. By advertising the award broadly and soliciting self-nominations, we gained a better understanding of the number of faculty currently using OERs and those faculty members who could serve as ‘champions’ in efforts to save students money. Furthermore, the award reception served as a venue to not only reward and further incentivize OER use, but also to connect like-minded individuals and spark conversations. We identified several potential collaborators as a result of interactions at the reception. The development of an efficient project management process was a key factor in our success. We first developed a project charter and communication plan, and then used Trello, a collaborative project management tool, to create ‘boards’ of objectives and actions. Trello tracks which objectives are being worked on, who is working on what, and where they are in the process. This tool and regular meetings enabled us to easily and efficiently track our progress and overcome obstacles. We plan on using this process to create awards for other aspects of open scholarship that align with our library’s goals, including hosting a similar event for Open Access Week in October. Overall, this project was a success. We created and delivered the award in four months, received twice the anticipated nominations, and had a turnout of over 20 attendees at the reception. Our process for developing an open education award could serve as a model to others in higher education and similar institutions new to open education initiatives

Intercultural mentoring: how international students identify and foster key socialization relationships

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2014Mentoring is a widely studied relationship because of the critical job it serves for socialization and integration into the university system. Mentoring relationships can serve as sources of academic, social, and emotional support. Support while adapting to a new environment can heighten overall satisfaction an individual feels as well as increase the individual's overall success. Mentoring for domestic students entering the university is clearly valuable, but becomes more complex for international students. Intercultural communication is an interaction that takes place between individuals or groups who are from different cultural backgrounds. Understanding how diverse our world is can bring better awareness to all who come to the university for learning and teaching. Also, understanding how exchange students from dissimilar countries maneuver throughout the socialization process and how mentors helped can allow organizations to encourage mentoring of international students. This understanding can help faculty and administrators formulate a process where exchange students can rapidly move through the socialization process and become integrated members of the organization. Although extant research has investigated the ways mentorship can be a helpful resource for newcomers in expediting the socialization process, this particular study looks at how those key relationships were identified and transformed over time. The scope of this research offers the University of Alaska a better understanding of different types of mentors and how they help international students. It also shows how mentorship bonds are formed and maintained over time between individuals who are from different cultural backgrounds

Research in Brief - \u27My Story Ain’t Got Nothin To Do With You\u27 or Does It?: Black Female Faculty’s Critical Considerations of Mentoring White Female Students

Previous literature on mentoring, specifically that of cross-cultural mentoring, has provided some insight into the intricacy of race in mentoring. However, much of this literature has focused on the mentoring relationship of a White individual mentoring a person of color. This qualitative inquiry critically explores the experiences of six Black female faculty who have mentored White female students in higher education graduate programs, focusing specifically on how they enter into these cross-cultural mentoring relationships. Using Black feminist thought, our findings suggest that while individual Black faculty may have unique experiences entering into mentoring relationships with White female students, a Black feminist standpoint does exist. These faculty members entered into the relationships cautiously and with thought, responding emotionally to the idea of mentoring White students, and screening the students, before formalizing the relationship via a student-centered approach. The findings from this study serve as a starting point in which to better understand faculty of color’s experiences mentoring White students as well as provide implications for both faculty and students who may enter into such a relationship

\u27My Story Ain’t Got Nothin To Do With You\u27 or Does It?: Black Female Faculty’s Critical Considerations of Mentoring White Female Students

Previous literature on mentoring, specifically that of cross-cultural mentoring, has provided some insight into the intricacy of race in mentoring. However, much of this literature has focused on the mentoring relationship of a White individual mentoring a person of color. This qualitative inquiry critically explores the experiences of six Black female faculty who have mentored White female students in higher education graduate programs, focusing specifically on how they enter into these cross-cultural mentoring relationships. Using Black feminist thought, our findings suggest that while individual Black faculty may have unique experiences entering into mentoring relationships with White female students, a Black feminist standpoint does exist. These faculty members entered into the relationships cautiously and with thought, responding emotionally to the idea of mentoring White students, and screening the students, before formalizing the relationship via a student-centered approach. The findings from this study serve as a starting point in which to better understand faculty of color’s experiences mentoring White students as well as provide implications for both faculty and students who may enter into such a relationship