Lowney, Chris

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Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 40 Re-creating Jesuit Higher Education: TheGeneral's Challenge Article 129-1-2011Jesuit Commons: What It Is and How You CanHelpChris LowneyFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationLowney, Chris (2011) "Jesuit Commons: What It Is and How You Can Help," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: Vol. 40, Article12.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol40/iss1/12Conversations 27The global Jesuit network is vast. . . . . .....But too often, the “network” existsonly on paper, barely scratching the sur-face of its collaborative potential. . . . . . . That, in part, is the rationale behind theJesuit Commons, a recently launched effortto catalyze collaborations across the globalJesuit network to benefit the world’s poor-est communities. Consider a few facts: Jesuits and their lay colleaguesstaff more than 200 higher education institutions andnearly a 1000 secondary schools that together count mil-lions of students and alumni; more than a million more ofLatin America’s most impoverished students are educatedannually in the Fe y Alegria network; the Jesuit RefugeeService is accompanying displaced persons in dozens ofcountries. A plethora of social service agencies, parishes,and spiritual centers touch others in more than 100 coun-tries. Taken together, this may be the world’s most exten-sive and expert network of educational, social services,and spiritual organizations.How to unlock our network’s untapped potential tobenefit the world’s poorest communities? The JesuitCommons is attempting to do so, beginning with twofirst-of-a-kind initiatives, one to use emerging socialmedia technologies to link the Jesuit world, and theother to use online educational technologies to bringhigher education to refugees. Though these two initia-tives are quite different in scope and nature, commonworking values animate both. Leverage emerging tech-nologies. Welcome all talent throughout the Jesuit net-work. Ignore institutional boundaries, Collaborate acrosscontinents. Experiment. Be humble and open to learn. www.JesuitCommons.org, one of the initiatives, is aplatform for students, faculties, and all others touched bythe Jesuit mission to learn about what is happening inthe network, develop groups for common research oradvocacy projects, donate expertise or funding to Jesuit-sponsored grass roots projects in developing world set-tings, and make connections with others in the network.Dozens of projects and networks have already beenlaunched by individuals from multiple countries whohave discovered the Commons website during its “publicpilot” phase. Visitors, for example, can join networksaround issues such as global ecology, education, literacyor advocacy. Or, visitors can make secure online dona-tions to support a range of projects and schools run bythe Jesuits across the developing world, ranging from aprimary school in a Caracas slum to job training forimpoverished women in rural India.Kyle Outlaw, an experienced professional whodesigns web and mobile internet strategies for large cor-porations, has volunteered to lead the evolution ofwww.JesuitCommons.org, motivated by Jesuit spiritualityand his interest in exploring how social media can be ofbenefit to the very poor. He has introduced a “permanentbeta” mindset to the project: that is, we will continuallyimprove the site as technologies evolve and as the Jesuitnetwork around the world communicates its needs andinterests.But to make that vision work, the Commons projectsneeds to broaden the community of experts willing toinvest time and expertise in this quixotic venture. WeJesuit Commons:What It Is and HowYou Can HelpBy Chris LowneyChris Lowney is the author of several books, includingHeroic Leadership (Loyola Press), applying the principlesof Saint Ignatius to practical issues, including business. 1Lowney: Jesuit Commons: What It Is and How You Can HelpPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 201128 ConversationsBy your studentsyou’ll be taughtBy Mary McFarland“My life had been so good in Rwanda, before the wind startedblowing me out of my mind and make me homeless…We neverget used to being homeless, and uneducated--- we need arespectable life and improved kind of education so as when wewill go back to our countries we will make a change… (Rwandan refugee applying to Diploma Program)Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins (JC:HEM)serves those who hunger for education but life has placed themin the rugged environment of the margin. Addressing Fr. Nicolás’s call is a pilot project, in partnership withUS Jesuit Universities and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), offeringCommunity Service Learning Tracks (CSLT) and a 45 credit diplo-ma in Liberal Studies program, on-line, for refugees in KakumaCamp, northern Kenya, in Dzaleka Camp, Malawi, and in Syriawith urban Iraqi refugees. Faculty from several Jesuit universitieshave volunteered to develop curriculum, teach, or coordinateCSLT offerings. Faculty, staff, and a university regent serve on theinter-university Ricci Technology group. Faculty from four univer-sities serve on the inter-university curriculum committee. Over 40faculty and staff from numerous Jesuit universities helped scoreessays written by the refugees as part of the admission process.Multiple Jesuit universities making a difference!A Jesuit currently teaching a refugee group on-line posed to hiscolleagues “is anyone else having trouble teaching with their jawdropped open?” Faculty are awe-struck by the potential of thestudents, their commitment to learning, and by the insights thefaculty themselves are gaining. invite talent from throughout the Jesuituniversity network to help lead the siteforward. The project could use faculty,staff, and students who are willing to vol-unteer a limited amount of time; all talentis welcome, though we could especiallyuse those with skills in editorial, graphicdesign, website administration, those whomight help market the site to various con-stituencies around the world, and thosewho can help with translation, especiallywith Spanish, French, and Portuguese.Interested members of the Jesuit networkcan contact me, Chris Lowney, the volun-teer president of Jesuit Commons, at chris-lowney@verizon.netTeaching RefugeesThe other key initiative of JesuitCommons, Higher Education at theMargins, is using online education tech-nologies to deliver accredited universitycourses to refugees who have had no pre-vious access to tertiary education. Dozensof refugee students at camps in Malawi andKenya have already begun coursework.They log onto computers powered by solarcells or generators, download course mate-rials, and interact with Jesuit university fac-ulty sitting halfway around the world.The effort is a groundbreaking multi-lateral partnership. The Jesuit RefugeeService, which works alongside refugeesin fifty countries, is providing on theground coordination and expertise. RegisUniversity in Denver is serving as the cre-dentialing institution and administrativelead. And faculty from more than tenJesuit universities have already steppedforward to grade application essays, teachcourses, or provide other support. Long term, the program aspires notonly to expand to other locations but,more generally, to develop scalable, inno-vative models of delivering Jesuit-inspiredhigher education in the world’s lowest-resource settings. Dr. Mary McFarland, for-2Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 40, Iss. 1 [2011], Art. 12http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol40/iss1/12Conversations 29Seattle University students at the Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi discuss the water management program with refugees whileparticipating in community service projects. Photos courtesy of Janet Quillian.mer dean of the School of Professional Studies at GonzagaUniversity, left her position to lead the implementation ofthe refugee education effort, “What’s so exciting about it,”she says, “is that we are giving our universities and therefugee students a chance to worktogether to build an entirely newand dynamic global network ofJesuit higher education for those atthe margins.” Not only is the effortoffering academic coursework, it isalso pairing those on the ground atrefugee camps with experts acrossthe Jesuit university network todevelop learning or training strategies relevant to the campenvironment, for example, in counseling for trauma sur-vivors, in English as a second language studies, in specialneeds, maternal-child health, and so on.But, like www.jesuitcommons.org, higher educationat the margins will only maintain its momentum andthrive with the investments of time and talent from acrossthe university network. The program welcomes facultymembers willing to teach an online course now andthen; faculty from all disciplines are welcome, but espe-cially valuable in the short runwill be those with expertise in lib-eral arts, in healthcare or busi-ness, in English as a foreign lan-guage, with expertise in coursedesign, or who have taught beforein the online environment. On aninstitutional level, the programseeks at least one other universityto join Regis University in credentialing the academicdiploma. Interested colleagues are invited to email MaryMcFarland, mcfarlandm@gonzaga.eduThe Commons has been conceived as a largely vol-untary effort, a wager that there would be sufficientgoodwill and interest around the Jesuit network to driveNeed: Experts willing to invest time and expertise3Lowney: Jesuit Commons: What It Is and How You Can HelpPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 201130 Conversationstwo ambitious projects that call for high levels of expertiseand problem-solving skills. So far, that wager has paid off.Talented colleagues have been stepping forward. And,being an infrastructure-poor start-up has other advantages:no bureaucracy. The Commons has been able to experi-ment, make decisions, and move forward nimbly. Withinsix months of the day, pilot funding was secured, for exam-ple, computer labs were erected in two refugee camps,solar panels purchased and installed, electricity and band-width secured, the first couple of courses plotted, andenrollment protocols developed, some 300 student applica-tions reviewed, and, most gratifyingly, course work wasbegun. To guide its efforts, the Jesuit Commonshas assembled a board of directors fromfive continents, including university presi-dents, the head of the Jesuit RefugeeService, and other senior Jesuits. Fr.Charles Currie, S.J., President of theAssociation of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU)and a founding board member of the Jesuit Commons,puts it this way: “The Commons project reflects one ofthe founding ideals of Jesuit education – educating thosewho have traditionally had no access to an education. It’sgreat to be part of such a life-changing endeavor.”When Jesuits and colleagues around the world metin Spring of 2010 at the Mexico City conference, theSuperior General of the Society of Jesus, Adolfo Nicolás,S.J., powerfully endorsed the Jesuit Commons as aninnovative way to address the disparities between richand poor, and create a sense of solidarity with those strug-gling on the margins: “Globalization has created newinequalities between those who enjoy the power given tothem by knowledge, and those who are excluded from itsbenefits because they have no access to that knowledge,”said Fr. Nicolás, “Thus, we need to ask: Who needs theknowledge we can share, and how can we share it moreeffectively with those for whom that knowledge can trulymake a difference, especially the poor and excluded? Inthis connection, the work-in-progress of the JesuitCommons is extremely important, and it will require amore serious support and commitment from our universi-ties if it is to succeed in its ambitious dream of promotinggreater equality in access to knowledge for the sake of thedevelopment of persons and communities.”The readership of Conversations represents anextraordinary array of talent, and the Commons initiativewelcomes all those who want to help rise to the chal-lenge enunciated by Fr. Nicolás.  ■Seattle University students at the Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi. Photos courtesy of Janet Quillian.4Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 40, Iss. 1 [2011], Art. 12http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol40/iss1/12

Jesuit Commons: What It Is and How You Can Help

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Jesuit Commons: What It Is and How You Can Help

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