One Word: Thoughtful

UIW faculty and staff are actively engaged in service learning and social justice efforts to support, enhance and bring voice to the needs of the public interest and the campus community. Moreover, the University is open to thoughtful innovation that serves the spiritual and materials needs of people.

The following is a snapshot of various activities, curricular offerings and programs conducted by University faculty and staff to continue to work towards a more just, equitable and socially conscious world. We hope to build and graduate students who are concerned and enlightened citizens within the global community.

  • Solidarity Embodied: University Mission and Ministry mobilized the community (faculty, staff and students) to respond to the Haitian Crisis, 2010.
  • The Ethics of Teaching Workshops presented by Dr. Paul Lewis, Summer 2010
  • John Markey’s presentation to the Board of Trustees on community, 2011
  • John Haughey, S.J., led a discussion with faculty regarding Information and Adoration, October 2011.
  • June 2011: Faculty workshop on Service Learning and inclusion of social teaching in the curriculum throughout 2011
  • Collaboration with Dr. Michael Guiry, author of “Cultivating the Understanding of a Catholic University’s Mission and the Principle of Catholic Social Teaching” through a Faculty Service-Learning Project
  • Being Genuinely Catholic: Intercultural Living and Ministry in a Global Church. This presentation was given by Dr. Robert Schreiter, Catholic Theological Union.
  • Catholic Intellectual Tradition: "Charism in a Globalized World,” March 2012
  • Charlie Bouchard made a presentation on mission and ministry and shared governance, August 2014
  • Office of Mission and Ministry invited the University to provide aid to Migrant Minor, October 2014.
  • Fall Faculty Workshop, August 2015. Dr. Aurelie Hagstrom, associate professor of Theology, Providence College addressed the faculty on the topic of hospitality.
  • Faculty Shared Governance Workshop, August 21, 2015 plus three others led by Fr. Charlie Bouchard, OP
  • Dorothy Day Conference at Oblate School of Theology, December 2015. Twenty students, three faculty members, and four administrative personnel participated in the weekend conference—social justice, diversity, inclusion and equity.
  • Annual Faculty Gathering, August 2016 - Dr. Renita Weems
  • Social Justice, Ethics and Spirituality, April 8, 2017 at Oblate School of Theology. Topics discussed matters of church and state that are crucial to our awareness; Scripture that addresses contemporary issues, such as education, domestic violence and disparity in healthcare.
  • First Mission Academy, October 2016-October 2017. Topic of social justice presented by Dr. Pat McCormick
  • Response to Hurricane Harvey: The Office of Mission and Ministry led this effort to answer the call to stand in solidarity with those impacted by the hurricane, September 2017.
  • Social Justice Institute: Daniel Berrigan and a Spirituality of Prophecy: Oblate School of Theology, sponsored by UIW Office of Mission and Ministry
  • Second Mission Academy: October 2017-May 2018. University Ethics presented by Fr. James Keenan, author of University Ethics. Part 2 and Part 3 of 2 nd Mission Academy were presented by Jeremy Cruz on bias, etc.  
  • Third Mission Academy: October 2018-October 2019: Topic: Gender and Contemporary Reality. Megan Clark, Social Ethics, St. John’s University, was the presenter. 
  • Annual Faculty Gathering: Encounter – Circles of Trust/Story
  • Fourth Mission Academy: October 2019-September 2020. Eucharistic Hospitality. Presenter Dr. Tim O’Malley, McGrath Chair, University of Notre Dame
  • Fifth Mission Academy: October 2020 - May 2021. The Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Presenter Dr. Gregor Floyd, Seton Hall University
  • Coaches Retreats for the past five years: Carmen Nanko Fernandez addresses them annually. Last year, the focus was on social context. The year before that was on Sports at the Service to Humanity.
  • Coaches Retreat: Don Nesti, Catholic Social Teaching, 2015
  • Working Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation with Biology faculty after an act of exclusion of Senior Women Faculty 2019 - a year long process
  • Retreat on Jeanne de Matel’s Beatitudes
  • Community in Mission study the USSCB pastoral on “Open Wide Your Hearts,” letter on racism.
Service Learning Course Offerings
Course Number Title

ACCT

6342

Accounting for Non-Profit Organizations

ARTS

4357

Advanced Project in Photograph

EDUC

3335

Advocacy/Exceptional Learners

RELS

3325

Arts for Christian Worship

PSYC

6373

Assessment/Testing Workplace

PHIL

4350

Bioethics

INTD

4375

Capstone II

PSYC

43CS

Capstone Project in Psychology

MATH

63CSA

Capstone/Mathematics Teaching

NUTR

61CS

Capstone: Master's Project

EDUC

63CS

Capstone: Clinical Teaching

EDUC

3325

Child Development and Play

RELS

3320

Christian Symbols and Celebrations

NUTR

6400

Clinical Dietetics Practice

EDUC

4905

Clinical Teaching

NURS

4562

Community Health Nursing

NUTR

6200

Community Nutrition Practice

PSYC

3340

Community Psyc/Drug Use Prevention

ENGL

1312H

Composition II Honors

ACCT

3313

Cost Accounting

EDUC

3385

Culturally Responsive Teaching

EDUC

3383

Curr Design/Assess Sec Settings

EDUC

6327

Curr Design/Secondary Settings

EDUC

3327

Developing/Fluent Reader

EDUC

3337

Developing/Strategic Reader

EDUC

3347

Differentiating Lit Instruct

BMKT

6355

Digital Media for Marketing

DWHP

3300

Dimensions of Wellness Bridge

DWHP

3300

Dimensions of Wellness Bridge

DWHP

1200

Dimensions of Wellness

BIOL

1401

Diversity of Life and Lab

NURS

7365

DNP II:  The Capstone

PSYC

4490

Drug Prv/Crim Justice Research/Intrnhp

PSYC

3465

Drug Use Prevent/Intervention

CRJU

3325

Drugs/Crime in Moden Society

INDR

8370

Ethics for the Professions

NURS

7388

Family Nurse Prac Residency

NURS

7480

FNP I/Adults-Chronic/Acute

NUTR

6300

Foodservice Management Prac

OPT

114

Fund of Vision Science

HIST

4345

Global Refugees

RELS

3335

God and Human Sexuality

NURS

3341

Health Promo/Disease Prevention

ARTH

3357

History of Photography

EDUC

3379

Instruction and Assessment

EDUC

3380

Instruction Des/Classroom Mgmt

EDUC

3340

Instructional Technology

NURS

3125

Integrated Clinical II

BINT

6311

International Business

BINT

4340

International Entrepreneurship

CIS

3319

Internship in CIS

CRJU

3390

Internship in Criminal Justice

ARTS

2315

Intro Photographic Portraiture

RELS

1305

Intro to Theology and Ethics

ENGL

2340

Intro to Women's/Gender Studies

ACCT

6342

IS:Acct for Non-Profit Organizations

METR

4315

IS:Air Pollution Meteorology

NURS

2310

IS:Integrated Health Science

BINT

4340

IS:Internati Entrepreneurship

ENSC

4460

IS:Research in Water Quality

ARTS

4398

IS:Soc Justice/Photo/Sus/Eniv

ARTS

4398

IS:Social Justice Photography

CRJU

3350

Juvenile Justice

EDUC

3373

Learning Theories

ENGL

2360

Literary Theory

CRJU

3365

Media and Crime

PSYC

3385

Multicultural Issues

MUTH

2351

Music in Therapy I

MUTH

3353

Music in Therapy III

MUTH

4301

Music Therapy Internship

MUTH

4188

Music Therapy Service Center

NUTR

4139

Nutritional Practicum

OPT

318

Optometric Prac Development

RELS

1315

Origins of Christianity

ARTS

3360

Photo II: Documentary Photo

NURS

6331

Population Health Assessment

NUTR

6290

Practicum in Nutrition

MUTH

2152

Practicum Lab II

ACCT

2311

Principles of Accounting I

ACCT

2312

Principles of Accounting II

PEHP

3315

Principles of Health

CRJU

3343

Probation, Parole, and Community

RELS

3330

Religion, Values, and Film

ENSC

3410

Research in Soil Conservation

BIOL

4460

Research in Water Quality

ENSC

4460

Research in Water Quality

CRJU

3327

Restorative Justice

ENGR

4490

Senior Capstone

PSYC

3351

Social Psychology

SOCI

3351

Social Psychology

RELS

1335

Spirituality and Prayer

BINT

6399

ST:Cross Border Bus

PSYC

4399

ST:Drug Use Prevention Research

CIS

3199

ST:Project Management

PSYC

4399

ST:Psychology in Hollywood

BFIN

4325

Student Managed Fund

EDUC

2315

Sur/Student Divs/Inclusive Set

EDUC

3367

Teaching Child/Kinder/EC Settings

EDUC

3346

Teaching Students w/Emot/Behav Disor

EDUC

6313

Teaching/Learn Elementary Settings

EDUC

6325

Teaching/Learn Secondary Settings

EDUC

6317

Teaching/Lrng Elementary Settings

EDUC

3377

Teach Children/Interm Grades

EDUC

3375

Teach Children/Primary Grade

RELS

1325

The Religious Quest

EDUC

6304

Theories of Learning

ARTS

4385

Topics in Photography

PEHP

3307

Worksite Health Promotion

ENGL

2310

World Literature Studies

Innovation Programs: Sponsorships of Events and Activities

The Ettling Center for Civic Leadership and Sustainability invites you to submit a co-sponsorship application to support events and activities that are designed to foster a more inclusive campus climate. We appreciate your time and effort in creating and offering activities that will enhance campus climate through educational and social programs focused on equity, diversity and inclusion. Our office hopes to encourage more of these activities by providing some financial support. Co-sponsorships are provided based on alignment with the institution’s strategic plan, diversity goals, availability of funds and volume of requests. Co-sponsorships will be granted at four per academic semester and range between $100 - $500. For more information, please contact the Ettling Center at (210) 832-3208 or rigonza4@uiwtx.edu.

UIW Social Justice Funded Projects

Towards a Zero-Waste University: Expanding UIW’s Compost Initiative

Project Director: Dr. Benjamin Miele

The UIW Compost Initiative is a student-centered enterprise steeped in the University's Mission values of communicating truth to students and the broader community, of using innovation to solve current climate-related problems, and using education to instill the value of faith and service in responding to global warming. The objective of the project is to complete the set-up and to increase its capacity to compost organic material produced by the main campus’s dining halls. We started this initiative in 2017 with Professor David Pryor and continued it since his retirement in 2018—collaborating with the Headwaters Sanctuary and local businesses to get frames for twelve compost bins. We have enjoyed the support of dedicated, passionate students and fellow faculty members in building the frames, but progress has been slowed by a lack of funding. Currently, one bin is ready for use, and twelve frames are waiting to be completed. With financial assistance, we could reach our goal of turning all the frames into fully operational compost bins.


Identifying Needs, Developing, Assessing Service-Learning Support, Pilot of Four-Year Longitudinal Study on Social Justice Transformation

Project Director: Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, Th.D, Dr. Gabriel Saxton-Ruiz

The goal is deeper social justice transformation among students than is being shown in current reflections for fulfilling community service hours. Faculty will be encouraged in the high impact teaching method of service learning, given consistent supportive services before, during, and after through the Ettling Center, and given methods for leading students to critical thinking and social justice analysis. Assessment of faculty satisfaction in regard to support and students’ deeper level thinking will be done. 


Alignment of Nurse Leader Strategies and the Multi-generational, Multi-Ethnic Workforce’s Expectations of Leadership to Improve Patient Outcomes and Achieve Nursing Excellence

Project Director: Dr. Monica Ramirez and Dr. Jean Dols

This research study is planned to examine the implications of a multi-generational, ethnically diverse nursing workforce and the alignment of strategies used by leadership with nursing staff as they navigate towards Magnet® recognition. Leadership, empowerment of nurses, and engagement of nurses is needed to improve nursing practice and patient care. Being there is no research specific to this topic, it is imperative to determine the type of leadership needed by each generation and ethnicity in order to facilitate all aspects of nursing excellence seen in Magnet® facilities.


An Economist Investigates: A Study of the Economic Impact of Refugees in the U.S.

Project Director: Dr. Nursen Zanca

The goals of this project is to draw a detailed map of refugee services (type of various services and its associated fiscal costs) across the refugee pockets in the U.S., and to examine whether the impact of current integration policy and the economic success of refugees are interrelated. This project aims to assess the economic impact of refugees from published peer-reviewed articles in academic journals.


Where is My Shangri-La Challenges and Successes of Bhutanese Refugee Resettlement in the United States

Project Director: Dr. Lopita Nath

This research focuses on the challenges of resettlement among the Bhutanese refugees. The Bhutanese refugees bring with them specific cultural and psychological vulnerabilities, which require careful approach for successful resettlement. The significance of this book is that it will bring together refugee testimonies from both sides of the globe. It will be an unbiased and analytical retelling of the entire story of the refugee resettlement. This book will add to the scholarship and the discourse on refugee resettlement, on how certain refugee communities assimilate better than the others to resettlement. It will evaluate the U.S. Refugee Resettlement policy and examine the impact of these policies on both refugees and American host society.


Rehabilitation Patterns and Clinician Preparedness when Treating Patients with Parkinson’s Disease in Rural Clinical Practice

Project Director: Jennifer Penn

The aims of the proposed study are to (1) investigate rehabilitation utilization patterns for individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) living in rural areas; (2) depict referral sources and primary impairments associated with referral for patients with PD living in rural areas; (3) understand clinician training and preparedness to develop a disease-specific, evidence-based plan of care when treating rural patients with PD; and (4) identify knowledge gaps that create barriers to the provision of informed physical therapy assessment and treatment in rural and underserved communities, where there is often a shortage of providers with expertise in neurological conditions.


Effects of Pregnancy-Specific Chronic Anxiety on Placental Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Response and Birth Outcomes

Project Director: Dr. Karen Weis

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between maternal prenatal anxiety and physiological response, specifically to determine:

  • Associations of maternal anxiety to placental histological findings.
  • Associations of maternal anxiety to placental immunological biomarkers.
  • Associations of maternal anxiety to placental hormonal biomarkers.
  • Associations between maternal anxiety on pathological and molecular changes to birth outcomes.

Implementing an Evidence-Based Protocol to Identify, Intervene and Refer Human Trafficking Victims in South Texas Emergency Departments: Nurse and Provider Experience and Perceptions

Project Director: Dr. Jean Dols

As project leaders, the researchers led a rural regional medical center emergency department to incorporate human trafficking screening into the ED flow for adult patients. Screening and referral processes were determined and materials were prepared in English and Spanish. The project leaders educated the clinical staff and providers and established an ongoing orientation program to the human trafficking screening and referral process. The protocol for screening included best practices when working with trafficked individuals, a Screening Flowchart, red flag recognition, methods of securing privacy for the patient, safety for the patient, and documentation. Data analysis is currently in process.


SA 24-Poets, Composers, Performers

Project Director: Dr. Ken Metz

SA24 is a collaborative venture between members of the Composers Alliance of San Antonio (CASA), a group of composers with connections to South and Central Texas and to San Antonio specifically, area poets, and area teachers of singing and their students. Working with local poets, composers in CASA have written and will continue to write new art songs (voice and piano) specifically intended for student-level performance. Local teachers of singing will have the opportunity to assign these new compositions to their students, who will perform on a concert called SA24, to be held at the Radius Center in downtown San Antonio on September 28, 2019. Once complete, the film telling the story of this unique project will be used to promote a model of community-based artistic collaboration at conference presentations and film festivals.


MiniGEMS and MegaGEMS

Project Director: Dr. Michael Fryer

During the miniGEMS and megaGEMS camps, the students learn about different types of engineers and scientists, they learn to program and code EV3s using MATLAB, the students learn about meteorology, and they learn about the importance of healthy living. Throughout the two weeks, the girls develop skills of teamwork and self-efficacy. Each day consists of various activities and group projects that are designed around the fields of STEAM. megaGEMS goes more in depth and has slightly different challenges incorporating subjects such as chemistry, mechanical engineering, and the programming language ‘Python’.

 


Mentors Offering Manual Support (M-O-M-S)

Project Director: Dr. Karen Weis

A prenatal program building maternal self-esteem, coping and resilience and decreasing depression


Community Health and Wellbeing at the center of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Support

Project Director: Dr. Alfredo Ortiz Aragón and Dr. Arthur Hernandez

A pilot project at UIW to support design, testing and evaluation of action research approaches that increase participation and strengthen existing community health and wellbeing efforts with target groups. A prenatal program building maternal self-esteem, coping and resilience and decreasing depression


Interfaith Education: Formation of an informed empathy in relation to religion and spirituality

Project Director: Dr. Jean Dols

This grant is initiating an ongoing educational effort to expand the graduate nursing students’ understanding of faith traditions. The project will deepen the understanding and respect of Christian, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism, and Native Traditions. This project focused on the positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity and the formation of an informed empathy in relation to religion and spirituality. Within the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is the goal for all to attain access to quality essential healthcare services. This goal is central for our project. Nurses help individuals heal both physically and spiritually. Unless nurse leaders and nurse practitioners can lead the clinical teams to respond with openness and understanding to the uniqueness of spiritual needs and recognize the differences in patient support needed, the quality of healthcare suffers.


Event Information: 

Critical Thinking, Compassion, and Paths to Civic Engagement

Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

A free, virtual workshop for all San Antonio university and college educators. Faculty will learn methods to teach critical thinking, to guide students in strategies of sight, strategies of “empathetic accountability,” and effective compassionate agency.

Keynote speakers Chavez, Guzman-Foster, Kirk and Martin

Keynote speakers: Arturo Chavez, Ph.D., President of the Mexican American Catholic College, and grant leaders Sandra Guzman Foster, Ph.D., UIW Associate Professor, and Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, Th.D, and Dhawn Martin, Ph.D., SoL Center, University Presbyterian Church.

Online Registration Required