Benedict XVI – Lauds SJU Global Development And Social Justice Program

July 25, 2007 – Pope Benedict XVI captured the essence of the moment when speaking with St. John’s administrators Rev. Jean-Pierre Ruiz, S.T.D., Director of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, and Sister Margaret John Kelly, D.C., Executive Director of the Vincentian Center for Church and Society, at the Vatican earlier this month. The pontiff, commenting on St. John’s University’s two-year master’s concentration in Global Development and Social Justice stated, “This is an important work that must continue.”

And continue it has, moving ahead in the second full year of the program, having built momentum more quickly than anyone could have imagined. Conceptualized by Dr. Annalisa Saccà, St. John’s Professor of Italian, and Dr. Riccardo Colasanti, General Secretary of Caritas of Rome, the successful program accepted 20 new students to Rome for an orientation hosted by distinguished members of Caritas of Rome and St. John’s faculty. Unique in its quest for relationship-building and higher education through distance learning, the program gathered a number of master’s students from last year’s inaugural group who were in Rome to meet and acclimatize their new colleagues to the journey that lies ahead.

St. John’s University, Caritas of Rome, and the Idente Foundation provide scholarship funding for students from around the world, with a special emphasis on students from the world’s least developed nations. Students in this year’s entering class hail from countries including Bulgaria, Russia, Palestine, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Philippines, Thailand and Colombia. Each student is equipped with a notebook computer, digital camera and all the software that they will need to participate in the distance learning components of the program.

“These students are very different in their backgrounds from the excellent students in the first incoming class that began a year ago,” Rev. Ruiz admitted. “These students are just as highly motivated and eager to begin their class work. Sharing their work and experiences and networking with each other as they met in person in Rome is an important element of the program. It was a wonderful part of the orientation process.”

Applications for the program have begun to soar through word of mouth about its impressive curriculum reaching across continents in a global show of support. “The response of applications indicates we are on to something in Global Development and Social Justice with inquiries well past the prescribed deadline in March. Our numbers enable the faculty to go the extra mile and interact in a meaningful way to create a distance learning environment that benefits everyone,” Rev. Ruiz added.

Excellence in teaching is a high priority for St. John’s and the University has been proactive in providing faculty with resources for learning to teach online. Faculty members teaching in the Global Development and Social Justice concentration are required to complete a course in distance learning pedagogy that uses the same online course tools that they will use as they teach their own students.

The conclusion of the upcoming 2007-2008 academic year will mark the completion of the concentration in Global Development and Social Justice by the students who began the program in Rome during summer 2006 and who have just completed their first year of distance learning courses. Those who complete the program successfully will receive their master’s degrees at the 12th Commencement Exercises in Rome in July 2008.

“I’m really impressed with the movement of this concentration from our first conversations on the subject to its implementation as a part of St. John’s University’s curriculum today,” Rev. Ruiz concluded. “While completing their degrees will be a major accomplishment for these students, it is only after they complete their degrees that we’ll be able to assess the real success of the program, when they go back to their homelands and put what they’ve learned to use to make a difference in advancing sustainable development that is rooted in the principles of Catholic social teaching.”

For more information on the Global Development and Social Justice Master’s Concentration or the undergraduate Minor in Social Justice in the Vincentian Tradition, contact: Rev. Jean-Pierre Ruiz, S.T.D., Director, Master of Arts in Liberal Studies by calling (718) 990-1393 or e-mailing inquiries to ruizj@stjohns.edu.