This July, the Social Transformation Research Collaborative (STRC), co-directed by the Center for Black Diaspora and the Center for Latino Research, is embarking on a new initiative: a one-week Summer Institute for newly admitted students.Twenty-six students have been selected to attend the institute, which will run from July 24th- 29th. The primary purpose of the institute is to build community at DePaul by introducing new students to faculty and peer mentors, and familiarizing them with important campus resources for student success, including DePaul’s Multicultural Resource Centers. Students in the Summer Institute will be earning college credits as they participate in the mini-courses taught by the faculty co-leads of the institute, Dr. Juan Mora-Torres and Dr. Monica Reyes. As Dr. Mora-Torres explains, “The course will use Chicago as an extension of the classroom. [Students] will attend field trips to different inner-city neighborhoods so that they can experience such concepts as segregation, boundaries, gentrification, inequality, resistance, and so on. In brief, [the course] will introduce new students to Chicago as a site of learning about the world.” Dr. Julie Moody-Freeman, one of the co-directors of the STRC, points out that, “Some exciting stuff is going to go down! Just hearing the curriculum and activities that the faculty have planned is so exciting – I want to be a student in that class!” Participants in the Summer Institute come from a diversity of backgrounds and from all across the country -- including Texas, California, Tennessee, Minnesota, Louisiana, and of course Illinois! As Dr. Bill Johnson González explained, "We couldn't have done this without the support of Dr. Margaret Storey in the Dean's Office. We have all put quite a lot blood, sweat, and tears into organizing this Summer Institute. Everyone has worked so hard, and we have pulled resources and support together from across the university, so we can’t wait to meet the incoming students and introduce them to DePaul.
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