October 29, 2018
A unique, multidisciplinary program that reflects St. John’s University’s mission of social justice and human rights advocacy—grounded in Catholic Social Teaching and the Vincentian tradition—the Master of Arts in Global Development and Social Justice has prepared more than 150 graduates from 36 countries as creative and compassionate leaders ready to address issues of sustainability, development, and justice around the world.
The program began in summer 2006 as a track within the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies. It was approved as a stand-alone master’s program by the New York State Education Department in 2009. Professor Annalisa Saccà, Ph.D., developed the program with external sponsors Idente Missionaries, Caritas Diocesana di Roma, and the Institute di Santa Maria in Aquiro. Summer 2016 marked the program’s 10-year anniversary.
“The idea for this program started at a café in Rome,” said Dr. Saccà. “I had a vision for a program that would capture St. John’s Vincentian values and connect our University to issues around the world. Over the years, students in the program have formed a community of leaders in global development.”
The cohort-based model allows students entering each year to take all classes together in sequence—an approach that fosters collegiality within each cohort and helps students build lifelong friendships with their peers. “I was not only a member of a cohort of students, but of an international family that would change my life forever,” said Chabelly Acosta ’17G, now employed as a junior consultant for the international nonprofit organization Bately Relief Alliance. Said Cara McMahon ’10G, a Ph.D. student at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education: “I was changed as a human being, in spirit and heart, because of my time in the Global Development and Social Justice program. I met lifelong friends who work all over the world, seeking to make it a better place. They inspired me then, and they continue to inspire me.”
Students complete the 33-credit program over two years through a combination of distance learning and on-site residence instruction. The first six credits are delivered through hybrid (face-to-face and online) instruction during two weeks in June on the St. John’s Rome, Italy, campus. Another 24 credits are delivered fully online over the next two years as students return to their home countries throughout the world. Finally, a three-credit hybrid capstone course culminates the program on the Rome campus before the June Commencement ceremony. The capstone course offers students the flexibility to pursue in-depth research in a broad variety of key areas related to global development and social justice.
Often, students’ capstone research relates to development work they are already doing or leads them in new professional directions. Jenai Mapp-Watson ’10TCB, ’12G was inspired to register a chapter of Small Enterprises for Education and Development (SEED) in her home country of Barbados due to her capstone research. “I was hired four months after graduation as United Nations Coordination Analyst for Barbados and the Organization of Caribbean States,” said Ms. Mapp-Watson. “I was the youngest international civil servant in Barbados (even younger than the interns). In 2011, I returned to Barbados to pursue my capstone research on ‘The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Advancement of Education and Youth Development in the Caribbean.’ Once there, it was apparent that the only way to implement the proposed project was to register a chapter of SEED.”
Until 2012, 15 students’ tuition (discounted 40 percent) and travel, food, and housing in Rome were sponsored by a consortium of organizations in Rome: Unicaritas, the Rielo Institute for Integral Development, and the Idente Missionaries. These full scholarships provided students from developing countries with the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree that further enhanced their work with underserved populations around the world. Throughout the program’s history, St. John’s has also funded additional partial scholarships that provide a 40 percent tuition discount for students, who pay their own expenses for the two trips to Rome.
Beginning in May of 2013, the University assumed sole financial support of the program and began funding 10 full scholarships and 15 partial scholarships. One of the full scholarships is reserved for a graduate assistant, who receives tuition remission and a small stipend. All scholarships are awarded based on the applicant’s grade point average, experience in development or a related field, potential for continued work in the field of development, demonstrated capacity for leadership, record of public service, and appreciation for the model of Integral Human Development. Each incoming student also receives a laptop computer.
Program scholarships allow a broader and more diverse range of students to pursue a master’s degree in the field of development. “The program fills a role ignored by most other universities,” said Frank Prochaska ’16G, a legislative coordinator and lobbyist for Amnesty International USA. “Its greatest asset are the scholarships that permit students to attend from more than just a select and privileged demographic.”
“What impressed me about St. John’s is that its commitment to solidarity was not rhetoric,” added Kurt Rietema ’15G, Director of Justice Initiatives for Youthfront. “Scholarships that have been awarded largely to international students, most of whom face financial constraints unimaginable to their fellow American students, embody the idea of the preferential option for the poor. Believing that no one should be excluded from world-class education, the scholarships are a manifestation of the Church’s teaching of the universal destination of goods.”
“You think that the world revolves around your reach—then you get an opportunity to learn about how different countries have addressed various challenges, as well as what is beautiful about each country, and realize there is a different world of learning out there. You develop a global network as part of the M.A., and a student like me would not have had this kind of opportunity and exposure were it not for the full scholarship,” said Stella Wanjohl ’16G, who is now working in development in her home country, Kenya.
The program features faculty members across disciplines who are committed to helping students gain critical understanding of the causes of poverty and social injustice throughout the world through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching. Participating faculty members include: Barrett Brenton, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology; Christopher P. Vogt, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair of Theology and Religious Studies; Charles M. Clark, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Finance in The Peter J. Tobin College of Business; Fred P. Cocozzelli, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair of Government and Politics; Dr. Luca Rosi, Head of International Affairs and Senior Researcher at the Italian National Institute of Public Health; Basilio Monteiro, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Mass Communication and Associate Dean in the College of Professional Studies; Roberta Villalon, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Sociology and Anthropology; and Preety Gadhoke, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
These faculty members encourage students to develop adaptable, effective, and concrete solutions to problems facing the global community today and into the future. Courses focus on models of intervention, Catholic Social Thought, and practices of Integral Human Development and Solidarity; international organizations; economics of development; sustainable food systems; migration and refugees; project management; media strategy and politics for peace building; and health care.
“The M.A. in Global Development and Social Justice succeeds in bringing together an incredibly diverse set of students from around the world,” said Fred P. Cocozzelli, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair of Government and Politics, who teaches in the program. “The depth of connections that the students make in their online experience is extraordinary.”
Program alumni find employment within national and international organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and across the private and nonprofit sectors. Some graduates have even established their own NGOs. Others are employed in several agencies of the UN including the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and other international organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. They also work within multinational corporations, international media, law firms, emergency relief and development efforts, diplomatic missions, and faith-based organizations. Still other graduates have enrolled in law and doctoral programs after completing the master’s degree.
“Studying at St. John’s has equipped me with unique and invaluable skills on issues of global development and social justice,” said Haron Njiru ’13G, now working with UNICEF supporting the Somali government’s efforts to strengthen their data collection system in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. “This has opened a whole spectrum of career opportunities for me, to influence national, regional, and international policies.”
Said Taniya George ’10G, who serves with the World Youth Parliament and studies theology at Pontifical Lateran University in Vatican City, Italy: “The program taught me to think more critically, analyze problems, search for inclusive solutions, and broaden my horizons. Together with my fellow students from around the world, we strengthened our shared concern for social justice issues in our own countries and for global development in general.”
“The program in Global Development and Social Justice at St. John’s made me believe that I have a role to play in making the world better,” said Jean Davilus ’10G, case manager for a nonprofit organization that helps refugees seek asylum. “It forced me to open my eyes and see those less fortunate than myself and compelled me to help whenever I am able. It taught me that every person has inherent value and that social injustices are a violation of that value and dignity.”