Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts
The Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts is the largest college at LMU. In addition to instructing all LMU undergraduates in the University core curriculum, the college administers 14 departments (21 majors, 9 minors), and five graduate programs. These programs involve approximately 140 full-time tenure track faculty, 22 staff, 1,800 undergraduate students and 130 graduate students.
Collectively, the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts contributes over 10,000 hours of direct community service, and invests approximately $270,000 in community outreach events and activities. For more information on the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts please click here.
THE BELLARMINE FORUM
The Bellarmine Forum is a week-long symposium that is the signature event for the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts. Each year, the forum focuses on a particular topic of international importance that is explored through panel discussions, speaker presentations, documentaries, artistic expression and human interaction. Past topics have ranged from genocide, race and religion, to the nature of violence and the notion of a “just community.” The forum is open to the public.
The 2006 Bellarmine Forum will focus on Environmental Responsibility, examining such issues as environmental injustice, environmental economics, Catholic teaching on the environment (together with a panel incorporating Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist perspectives), environmental ethics, nature and spirituality, green design, cultural ecology and the green city. These topics are designed to challenge participants to think and act in environmentally responsible ways.
The Bellarmine Forum costs approximately $125,000 to run each year and over 1,000 volunteer service hours are put into the program design, development and presentation.
THE BOOKWORM PROJECT
The Bookworm Project is a community literacy program where LMU student tutors are paired with needy children in local schools and after-school programs to work on developing early literacy skills. LMU students also work with the families of these children to help make literacy an important part of their home environment by modeling shared reading experiences and providing them with access to engaging age-appropriate books.
Many children in our local schools start kindergarten well behind their peers in what they know about the alphabet, vocabulary, oral language skills and the role of literacy in formal schooling. Research has shown that children who are identified as poor readers in the first three years of school are unlikely to ever achieve average reading fluency levels without intervention. Schools and families often do not have the time and resources necessary to help bring disadvantaged children up to age-appropriate levels, even though they may try doing so with every resource at their disposal.
The Bookworm Project partners with the schools and families by sharing resources available in the community; trained and bright, concerned university students; organization and planning provided by the project; scientifically-based interventions; and financial support from organizations and foundations. Many reading intervention programs are very expensive, but this program is provided free to schools, children and parents as a community service. Needy kindergarten children receive intensive reading instruction in a fun and positive environment with trained and caring tutors, working closely with classroom teachers and under the close supervision of early reading specialists. The tutors ("Bookworm Buddies") work with the children in individual sessions several times a week, and have frequent shared reading times using books that are donated. LMU’s goals are to partner with the schools to: 1) help bring decoding skills of at-risk children to age-appropriate levels by the end of the school year; 2) expand their vocabularies; 3) develop a love of reading; and 4) enrich the home literacy environment of the children’s families.
The Center for Service an Action, Student Employment Services and Career Development Services provide annual support in terms of student compensation. Supplies, books and other needs are paid for or donated through a $1,500 grant from the Target Foundation and local community members.
Street Read
Street Read is a service learning course allowing literature students to lead their own literacy workshops and book clubs in local Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs, convalescent centers, inner-city schools and other communities. The majority of students are placed at the Animo South Los Angeles Charter High School.
The program, under the guidance of LMU’s English Department Creative Writing and Creative Literature program, emphasizes the interdependence of writing and literary studies through an informed knowledge of literature and literary theory, the practice of literary creativity, and innovation by requiring a combination of both traditional and innovative “creative” literature and “creative writing” courses. This program emphasizes the social/political dimension of literature and the social obligation of the artist in a variety of communities within the Los Angeles area. The program promotes a perspective on literature that is both intergeneric and intertextual both by actively integrating the genres of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, screenplays and teleplays, and studying literary works that push or transgress generic, linguistic and cultural boundaries to think outside the box.
This program takes place within a structured classroom environment, allowing eight students to volunteer many hours mentoring young students through literacy programs.
CHICANA/O STUDIES
The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) is a community empowerment organization that connects individuals, business leaders, and religious groups with local issues concerning the economic well-being of the community, predicated on the basis of social justice. Currently, LAANE is working with students and members of our departments to support the New Century Campaign, a movement to improve the conditions of the LAX- Century Blvd. corridor by encouraging the developing of business in the areas and improving the standing of living for service employees in the hotels adjacent to LAX. Additionally, through LAANE, our department has fostered a partnership with UNITE HERE, Local 11 union of hotel and restaurant employees, which has enabled our students to do internships as volunteers who support union organizers in their efforts to organize hotel workers on Century Blvd.
Annually, LMU Staff and students spend 64 hours volunteering for this effort.
THE URBAN INTERNSHIP
The Urban Studies Program curriculum offers students the opportunity to take various specialized courses that depart from the conventional approach of most college classes. In these courses, students will; hear from guest lecturers with direct professional involvement in urban affairs and policy; have the opportunity to work alongside real-world professionals addressing important problems in today’s cities; and conduct original research on important urban problems. These special courses take advantage of LMU’s many linkages to metropolitan Los Angeles, the extraordinarily dynamic, multicultural, postmodern city in which the university is located.
All Urban Studies majors and minors complete a supervised internship in either public administration, social service, urban planning, law enforcement or related urban topic. Individual assignments are based on the student’s academic preparation and career aspirations. This program affords an invaluable opportunity to have a real-world work experience, network with practicing professionals in areas of potential employment, and/or gain practical preparation for graduate study. Many Urban Studies students have obtained their first job after graduation from connections they made during their internship.
On an annual basis, approximately five students take part in this internship experience, many of whom work a 40-hour work week in the summers and part-time during the school year, totaling approximately 3,600 hours annually.
Department of Theological Studies
The LMU Department of Theological Studies makes an essential contribution to the mission of Loyola Marymount University through its teaching of theology and its investigation of the broader area of religious experience. The strengths and uniqueness of the program lies in its concern for global and cross-cultural theological studies, with a special emphasis on the Roman Catholic tradition. The mission of the department includes the education of undergraduate and graduate students at LMU, participation in the scholarly community of academic theology through presentations and publications, and service to the church community.
In keeping with these foundational traditions, the Department of Theological Studies gives back to the community it serves on many levels. One of the most successful and prominent outreach efforts it carries out is a special training program with the Diocese of Orange, which train individuals to serve in pastoral ministry.
The financial and service-based impact of the Pastoral Training Program is widespread. This program has an operating budget of approximately $150,000 each year, with LMU contributing $100,000 of that total. There are currently 20 individuals from the Diocese of Orange and approximately 75 individuals in the Los Angeles area that are participating in the program.
RESEARCH/STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS/ FeLLOWSHIPS
The Bellarmine College focuses on two funding opportunities that enable undergraduates to conduct research domestically and internationally. The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) grant program funds four students and invests $20,000 annually into creative research projects that incorporate work within their major program. Additionally, the Escallier Foreign Study Awards program funds a total of six students and invests $8,000 annually to encourage and support their work abroad with conducting research in areas where civilization began. Additionally, each year, the Bellarmine College, in conjunction with the Center for Service and Action, arranges Alternative Break trips for students to conduct service and experience cultural immersion at more than five worldwide destinations. Lastly, the Fitzgerald Fellowships contribute $10,000 to undergraduates who wish to take on internships and other jobs in the political field during the summer or school year.
Notable Professors
MATT DILLON: IN AFRICA, THE ROOTS OF LANGUAGE AND CIVILIATION
Professor Matt Dillon teaches a two-week Latin course for students from the College Bound program to help them prepare for college and the SATs. But Dillon found the introduction to Latin books that he was using with pictures of fair complected looking characters culturally and pedagogically inaccurate for the predominantly African American students. He wanted a booklet that could effectively address his students, so he decided to teach the same Latin material but from an African perspective. Professor Dillon authored a new-text and named the book, “In Africa: The Roots of Language and Civilization”
The purpose of the course is to improve English comprehension by building vocabulary skills, understanding of the structure and roots of words and other grammatical concepts to prepare students for the SATs. The booklet contains five chapters and analyzes 10 words in depth per chapter.
The book was produced in collaboration with Ethan Adams and Nicholas Rauh from Purdue University and is illustrated by Herbert Rauh. William Fulco, S.J. is contributing some of his archeology collection from Egypt and North Africa.
Dillon plans to teach the two-week course in the fall ’06 and spring ’07 and possibly teach it as a semester course. There are plans to develop a 2nd edition with an additional five chapters.
“In Africa: The Roots of Language and Civilization” has received funding from the Irvine Foundation. The Marymount Institute will is funding the production of the booklets.
College Bound is a program that aims to increase the number of high school students who will move through and beyond high school, thereby making them eligible for higher education and financial aid from the UC, CSU, community colleges as well as private university/college systems.
JODI FINKEL: THE LATIN CONNECTION
Professor Jodi Finkel has been a dedicated member of the Political Science faculty at Loyola Marymount University for the past six years. Through her student interaction and her thirst for social justice, she has worked extensively to place her students in internships, fellowships and other service opportunities, domestically and internationally. Professor Finkel’s concern for justice and equality came while she was an undergraduate at UCLA. It was during this time that one of her professors raised an interesting question: If Latin America has 17 percent of the world’s arable land and only 9 percent of the world’s population, why are its people starving? For Finkel, the question was more than a lecture topic. It brought together her long-term interest in politics and Latin American culture, and sparked a passion that would later become her career.
Finkel’s research is on the rule of law and democratization in Latin America. She conducts research in Mexico, Argentina and Peru, and has presented her work at conferences in the United States, Latin America and Europe. Finkel has published several articles on judicial reform, including in the Latin American Research Review. Her current research examines the conditions that facilitate the development of effective Ombudsman Offices (institutions that protect human rights) in Latin America. Today, through her courses in comparative politics and human rights, Finkel encourages students to find their passion and make a difference. Each week, Finkel presents two opportunities available to students, an "Internship of the Week" and "Study Abroad Opportunity of the Week." Through these projects, such as an internship with the Coalition to Abolish Human Trafficking or an alternative spring break opportunity, she hopes to inspire students to get involved while they are still in school.
Outside of the classroom, Finkel practices what she preaches. She has been instrumental in the formation of two non-profit organizations: Leer Es Power, which works with illiterate indigenous prostitutes in Guatemala, and Por Un Mejor Hoy, which brings young people from around the world to volunteer in the community in Mexico City. Finkel is also a board member for the Democracy Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the development of stable democratic institutions.
Collectively, Professor Finkel’s students have contributed approximately 5,000 hours of community service domestically and internationally, and has saved non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations more than $40,000 in labor costs due to the internship and service that her students engage in.
MICHAEL GENOVESE: POLITICAL AWARENESS
LMU was named the 2006 Private University of the Year by the Washington Center in recognition of the work of the LMU Institute for Leadership Studies and Professor Genovese. The institute promotes the study and advancement of leadership in a number of ways through the Oxford Scholars Program, Dilemmas of Democracy Conference and White House internships.
One LMU student is chosen annually to intern at the White House over the summer months. Besides the practical work experience and knowledge gain form such an internship, interns practice in a weekly speaker series, job-skills workshop, and evening issue lectures. Seminars are on a wide range of job-related issues ranging from time management to career planning. Participating LMU students have the opportunity to work in various departments of the White House.
The Oxford Scholars Program takes place at Queen’s College at Oxford University. Held over the summer, the program includes upper division courses with lectures and semester.
DEENA GONZALEZ: EDUCATION FOR ALL and SANTA MONICA YOUTH CENTER’S LGBTQI
When Professor Deena J. Gonzlez first began teaching history and Chicano studies at Pomona College in California, she had to start from scratch. "There were no text books at that time, she said, “we had to create our own text."
More than 20 years later, things have changed thanks in no small part to pioneering scholars like Gonzlez. As the chair of LMU’s Department of Chicano/Chicana Studies and director of the American Culture Studies Program, Gonzalez works to uncover the untold stories of people in "the borderlands" and delineate the contours of racial and ethnic conflict in these areas.
That goal has frequently meant bringing the borderlands into the mainstream, as in her role as co-editor-in-chief for the new, four-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States Editing the encyclopedia was a monumental effort involving 500 scholars producing more than 1,000 essays.
Gonzalez’s efforts to put a spotlight on the Latino experience has found an audience: She was recently named one of the 50 most important historians in the country.
Professor Gonzalez volunteers as a tutor and counselor at the Santa Monica Youth Center’s LGBTQI, which focuses on providing services for gay and lesbian adolescents in the City of Santa Monica. Professor Gonzalez has been active volunteering for the past two years and has contributes over 10 hours annually to this center.
HOLLI LEVITSKY: 1939 club
Students in the “Tolerance in the Arts” undergraduate course and the “Trauma, Narrative, History” graduate courses of the English Department are assigned Holocaust survivors from the “1939” Club in Los Angeles to interview about their “survival stories,” then write biographies of each survivor to accompany a portrait gallery of them at Chapman University.
During the course, students and members of the “1939” Club interact in various ways: the survivors come to LMU for various events, such as the 9/10/06 event and presentations by students in class; the students are invited to all of the “1939” Club events, which include a lecture series at UCLA and at Chapman University, and several social events/luncheons at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The project involves working with elderly people who lived through historical times and have extraordinary tales to share. Students in these courses are utterly changed by their interaction with the Holocaust survivors.
Seventeen students per class spend an average of 10-15 hours interviewing and writing a biography for a total of 510 hours annually.
KELLY YOUNGER: ART OF MONOLOGUE, UNHEARD VOICES
The goal of ENGL 398 Art of Monologue is to promote the interaction of LMU students with unheard voices in our midst: the poor, dispossessed and underrepresented, as well as the voices of the people who have dedicated their life’s work to taking action with them. Through a series of interviews, students create dramatic monologues based upon life experiences (both their own and others’). The students will discover, through listening, reading and writing, the value of identity; of walking in someone else’s shoes; and of dramatizing the true stories in order for those stories to be heard.
There is an off-campus service component of 1 ½ to 2 hours working with local service agencies to be determined by the student in consultation with Professor Younger and the Center for Service and Action. The final product is either performed, broadcast or podcast.
The class has 15 students enrolled for Fall ‘06 and has received an internal social justice grant of $5,000. On average, 1000 hours are served by the students.