Integrated Learning-Living Communities

By William Trollinger

Notwithstanding the challenges of the pandemic, it has been quite the year in the Core Program. Here are a few highlights:

• Fall: In a program launched this autumn, Core students who major in Philosophy can now finish an undergraduate and law degree thanks to a partnership with UD’s School of Law. Associate Professor of Philosophy Myrna Gabbe, who helped develop the program (and who will also be teaching in the first-year Core class), noted that “if you are interested in being a civil rights lawyer or similar jobs where your clientele doesn’t have a lot of money, then you might want to pursue a program that fast-tracks you and gives you maximum in terms of your career.”
• November-December: Sophomore and junior Core students in Dr. Suki Kwon’s Core class, “Comparative Visual Cultures in Film,” produced short videos that concentrated on life in the pandemic.
• January: The six young women of the Core House enjoyed a virtual pizza dinner with three members of the UD Board of Trustees, reporting that “we all really getting to know the board members and talk to them about the University.” Among other things, the Core House residents “were able to reflect on how the University’s pre-existing commitment to the common good is what sets it apart from other institutions, and what sets UD graduates apart from others.”
• February: Four Core students – Maya Drayton, Emma Grace Geckle, Emily Rotunda, and Mira Wilson – were among the six awardees receiving the 2021 Fr. Jack McGrath Award for Research in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. This “award recognizes outstanding student research in the Common Academic Program (CAP) that focuses on text, themes, and/or thinkers that are associated with the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.”
• March: Two junior Core students – Anna Biesecker-Mast and Sebastian Quinones – participated in a Faith in Public Life panel on the topic, “Climate Justice: Faith, Activism, and Protecting Our Common Home.”
  March: Six first-year Core students (out of 15 total) were selected to be part of the Honors Program’s Chaminade Scholars cohort.
• March: Two senior Core students – Shannon Stanforth and Claire Sullivan – participated in the Romero Award Symposium sponsored by the UD Human Rights Center. The focus was on Environmental Justice; as Claire reported, “I am passionate about environmental justice issues surrounding water . . . [and] I plan to continue working to protect our water ecosystems and the people and species that depend upon them well beyond graduation.”
• All year: Our intrepid Core Fellows – second-year Core students Will Bryant, Maya Drayton, Michael Quick, and Abigayle Smith – spent this academic year working with first-year Core students over Zoom. The much-appreciated Fellows are featured in this collection of selfies taken by Philip Cicero and Mira Wilson.