Tuesday, January 29, 2008
5 - 7 p.m.
This program is an opportunity for Graduate Students, Faculty
and Alumni to participate in table discussions of applied research
in the Vincentian tradition directed toward poverty alleviation and
the promotion of social justice.
Agenda
5 p.m.
Gathering and Welcome
Dr. Joanne Marie Robertson, Ed.D.
The School of Education
5:15 p.m.
Roundtables Session I
5:45 p.m.
Roundtables Session II
6:15 p.m.
Roundtables Session III
6:45 p.m.
Closing Remarks followed by informal networking and
refreshments
Dr. Nancy McGarr, Ph.D.
St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Roundtables
Roundtable #1 - Achieving the Right to Food
and Ending Hunger
Without question hunger is a violation of human dignity. To move
toward ending hunger we must continue to stress that access to
adequate and nutritious food is a fundamental human right. This
Roundtable will begin with an overview of global hunger and related
fieldwork on international nutrition. It will then highlight local
ongoing interdisciplinary community-based research that seeks to
alleviate hunger and diet-related chronic disease as part of the
Bed-Stuy Provider Network Nutrition Improvement Project.
- Barrett Brenton, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of
Anthropology and Sociology, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences, Senior Vincentian Research Fellow
- Sue Ford, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences,
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Vincentian
Research Fellow
Roundtable #2 - Border Crossings:
Volunteering in Nicaragua
This discussion introduces graduate students to previous as well as
ongoing service projects in Nicaragua conducted by faculty,
students, and staff at St. Johns. Although most of our efforts are
focused on individuals with special needs, other areas in need of
assistance will be discussed. Given the scope and extent of
economic, social and educational need, students from a variety of
disciplines will be encouraged to consider ways that they (or their
disciplines) might become involved by sharing their individual
talents and expertise.
- Peggy Jacobson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of
Speech, Language and Communications, St. John’s College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences, Vincentian Research Fellow
Roundtable #3 - Health Care for the Poor:
Experiences of a Service-Learning Course for Pharmacy
Students
Disparities in health and inequities in access to medical care
among the indigent have challenged the health professions. It is
critical that health profession students learn the unique
challenges in serving the underserved and methods to address their
needs. Through a partnership between the College and Project
Renewal (an organization dedicated to serving the homeless of NYC)
a service-learning course was developed for pharmacy students. This
roundtable will provide a forum for discussion of this course.
- John M. Conry, Pharm.D., BCPS, Associate Clinical Professor,
College of Pharmacy & Allied Health Professions, Senior
Vincentian Research Fellow
Roundtable #4 - The Multidisciplinary
Approach of the Child Advocacy Clinic at the Law School
The primary goals of the Law School’s Child Advocacy Clinic
are to provide high quality legal representation to victims of
child abuse and neglect within the local Queens community while
affording a hands-on experience for law school students. In this
clinic, the law students work in collaboration with other graduate
students. Graduate students from the School of Law, St.
John’s University Department of Human Services and Counseling, and
the St. John's University Center for Psychological Services and
Clinical Studies (CPSCS) work collaboratively, overcoming obstacles
to more fully serve the multi-faceted needs of child victims of
abuse and neglect.
- Dale Margolin, J.D.,Interim Director, Child Advocacy Clinic,
St. John’s University, School of Law
- Christian Kubric and Vanessa Pairis, Students of Law
- Dina Matic, Doctoral Candidate, Psychology
Roundtable #5 - Serving the Underserved:
Community Based Action That Helps a Silent Minority Find Its
Voice
This project, involving professors, students, religious leaders,
and concerned citizens engaged an underserved community in a
low-income, ESL neighborhood in a sensitive and responsive way that
addressed the stated needs of individuals, specialized groups, and
the community as a whole. The result has been an increase in
community involvement, a greater sense of belonging, reduced
isolation, and most importantly, a belief that the future can be
better than the past. This Roundtable will address how the project
was started, how obstacles were overcome, and future directions for
this project.
- Andrew Ferdinandi, Ed.D. ’91, Assistant Professor, Human
Services and Counseling, The School of Education
- Rev. Luiz de Aguilar, Pastor, Pius V Roman Catholic Church
- Estanislao Jaquez, ‘08 Ed.
- Antonio Currera, Community Resident
Roundtable #6 - The Sub-Prime Mortgage
Crisis and Issues Regarding Low-Income Borrowers and Their
Communities
In the last 25 years regulators have increasingly embraced a system
of market discipline to protect consumers against abusive lending
practices. Competition and self-discipline were supposed to police
the market and avoid unsafe and abusive lending practices.
Unfortunately, what this has often led to in low-income communities
is equity stripping. Are consumers to blame for their losses or are
they unable to protect themselves against abusive lending
practices? What is the alternative - consumer education, a return
to government control of the terms of permissible loans, or other
possibilities?
- Vincent Di Lorenzo, J.D., Professor of Law, St. John’s
University School of Law, Senior Vincentian Research Fellow
Roundtable #7 - Virtual Presence and Real
Learning Communities: Information Technology at the Service of the
Mission
Beginning in July 2006, St. John’s launched an initiative that puts
the University’s academic computing initiative at the service of
realizing the University’s vision ”to be known world-wide for
addressing issues of poverty and social justice”. With an
interdisplinary faculty and students from around the world who are
professionally committed to sustainable global development, the
Master’s Concentration in Global Development and Social Justice
challenges us to rethink what it means and what it takes to form
and sustain learning communities. This roundtable will showcase
this initiative together with the challenges and the opportunities
it presents and as a model at the national and international
levels.
- Rev. Jean-Pierre Ruiz, S.T.D., Director, Masters of Liberal
Studies, Concentration in Global Development and Social Justice,
Associate Professor of Theology, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences, Senior Vincentian Research Fellow
- Kate Mooney-Pryor, Graduate Student, St. John’s College Master
of Arts in Liberal Studies Concentration in Global Development and
Social Justice
- Evelyn Neves, JD, Graduate Student, St. John’s College Master
of Arts in Liberal Studies Concentration in Global Development and
Social Justice
Roundtable #8 - Creative Philanthropic
Initiatives in Response to the Needs of Alzheimer’s Patients and
Their Families
The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation is an affiliated
public charity of the Institute for the Study of Aging (ISOA), a
private foundation established to advance the mission of supporting
scientists pursuing drug discovery research for Alzheimer’s
disease, related dementias and cognitive aging. Through Biomedical
Venture Philanthropy, ADDF raises and awards grants to academic and
biotechnology industry scientists. This Roundtable will discuss
their innovative methods and impressive track record of selecting
and supporting excellent AD drug discovery programs.
- Catherine Robertson Camera, ’65 CBA, Managing Director and
Chief Operating Officer, ADDF
Roundtable #9 - Literacy: Releasing
Children from a Prison of Misclassification and
Failure
Many children in low-socioeconomic schools with multicultural,
multilingual populations have been misclassified as learning
disabled and have been placed in special education settings. The
roundtable discussion will address how some of our literacy
graduate students are changing the lives of these young children
through their intense training in multi-sensory language learning.
Their efforts are giving hope to children and their parents as they
learn to read and write effectively for the very first time.
- Fran Guastello, Ed.D., Associate Professor, Graduate Literacy
Division, The School of Education
Roundtable #10 - Leveraging Funds and
Resources to Promote Youth Mentoring and to Prepare Aspiring School
Leaders
This Roundtable is an opportunity to share examples of research and
practice from the field.
- The Youth Mentoring Initiative for International Understanding
- a partnership among: a college, a volunteer organization, and a
school district for the purpose of developing a global perspective
and the communication expertise of high need high school
students.
- The Non Public School Leaders’ Program - a partnership which
includes a university, the New York City Department of Education,
and non public schools for the purpose of providing resources and
professional development for teachers and administrators.
- Rosalba C. Del Vecchio, Ed.D., Assistant Professor,
Administration and Instructional Leadership, The School of
Education
- Ron Gonella, ’64 C., Fulbright Association of Greater New
York
- Robert Brasco, Ed. D., Director of the Professional Development
Center, The School of Education
Student
Roundtable #11 - Adjusting Poverty Rates
To Reflect The Cost Of Living
This Roundtable will discuss current research to adjust
poverty rates for the top 40 cities in the USA. Currently the
official poverty thresholds are set nationally and do not reflect
wide variances of the cost of living in various parts of America.
Government poverty assistance is based on poverty in
cities. Accurate rates will lead to more effective poverty
alleviation programs.
- Charles M.A. Clark, Ph.D., Associate Dean and Professor of
Economics, The Peter J. Tobin College of Business, Senior
Vincentian Research Fellow