MORE ABOUT GREG RICKS

Read over these articles to learn more about Dean Greg Ricks. In your essay or video, be sure to share why you are interested in applying and how these stories inspire you.

As a lifelong advocate of equal opportunity education, diversity, and youth activism, his arrival highlights aspects of the college experience that seem to be lacking on our own campus at the moment.

Ricks comes to Providence College from Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa where he is a Senior Fellow of Multicultural Education. Throughout his career he has served as academic dean at Dartmouth College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Stanford University, and more recently, vice president of City Year, a nonprofit organization that focuses on mentoring at-risk students, and founder of City Year in South Africa.

Global studies and public and community service students and faculty joined Ricks on Wednesday night for an ice cream social and community conversation.

Ricks shared with students his passion for working with young activists, his past experience co-creating civic engagement conferences and organizations, and his excitement for the potential that globally minded, community-oriented students possess.

Ricks shared the story of how he was involved in the foundation of the Campus Outreach Opportunity League, or COOL, in 1984. COOL formed in response to a lack of structured opportunities for university students to become engaged with their communities and carry out service in a thoughtful, organized way.

His friend and fellow student at Harvard University, Wayne Meisel, first conceptualized COOL as a way for college students across the country to become more involved in campus and community service and activism. To begin to spread his message, Meisel walked from Maine to Washington DC.

In response, 300 students attended a campus meeting addressing the offensive photo and immediate steps are being taken by administration in an attempt to stop such incidents from happening again.

When events like these happen, and they have with some frequency since I arrived at PC, the power of united student voices that follows is impossible to ignore. What we are slowly learning is the dire need for a more inclusive educational experience that encompasses cultural competency and an awareness of one’s position in both Providence College and global communities.

Meisel, Ricks, and many others were at the forefront of a national student movement based on civic engagement, student leadership, and community-based learning.

The prevalence of these values is clear on our own campus in the form of global service-learning (GSL) courses. GSL is the product of the deep partnership that exists between the Feinstein Institute for Public Service and the Global Studies Department. Students from different majors and areas of study should, if time and resources permit, consider applying for a GSL course.

These courses are well crafted and structured to be a mutually beneficial experience for Providence College students and our partners around the world.

They are an excellent way to diversify one’s education and become more aware of pressing global issues that matter for PC student life just as much as they matter in the bigger picture.