Georgetown College is proud to introduce the Social Responsibility Network, a new program designed to help students pursue careers in nonprofit and public service fields.

“Here in Georgetown College we take the idea of ‘women and men for others’ seriously,” College Dean Chris Celenza said. “We are immensely proud of our many students and alumni who work in non-profits, education, and other service-based sectors. The SRN will help them make connections that will serve them throughout their careers.”

Applications will be posted later this spring for the program’s inaugural cohort of about 15 students, and programming will begin in the Fall 2019 semester.

Modeled after the College’s successful Baker Scholars Program, the Social Responsibility Network will provide lessons, programming, networking, and mentorship for students who seek out careers centered around doing social good.

“Since I administered the Baker Scholars Program for many years — and knowing that many College students pursue careers in nonprofit work, education, and community development — I suggested that we build a new program,” said. “I am excited to share that we have an outstanding group who have agreed to be part of this new initiative.”

The SRN will connect students with an advisory board composed of alumni currently working in a wide range of service-based careers.

Some alumni went straight from the Hilltop into service careers. Davine Scarlett (C’09) worked in the AmeriCorps City Year program in Miami before pursuing her master’s in public administration. She now works as a grant manager at , a humanitarian agency for those experiencing poverty and homelessness.

“My job choices have always tried to be in line with our mottos of ‘Cura Personalis,’ ‘People for Others,’ and ‘Educating The Whole Person,’” Scarlett said.

Others tested the private sector waters before turning to service-oriented work. Mackenzie Copley (C’15) worked in consulting before co-founding , a D.C.-based community health screening organization. Adrienne Villani (C’06) worked in emerging markets investing before joining , a nonprofit media development organization.

Chiarolanzio sees these backgrounds as valuable in advising undergraduates who are trying to figure out a viable career path.

“I often hear how our students choose to attend Georgetown because of our Jesuit values, and in particular serving others,” he said. “Students want to use their Georgetown College liberal arts degree to benefit the greater good, and this will allow them to connect with alumni who have centered their careers on helping others.”

The SRN will host a dinner panel for College students on Monday, February 25. All members of the Advisory Board will share information about their career trajectory and current work. The panel will be moderated by College Dean Chris Celenza. An invitation will be emailed to all students in February.

The dinner was the final 2018 installment in the College’s Sophomore Success Dinner Series, which began last fall.

explained to students that the dinners came to be after he realized the significance that sophomore year holds in a student’s educational career.

“Students wanted a sense of assurance in their sophomore year,” said Chiarolanzio. “I learned that it would be really helpful if we could assemble recent Georgetown College alumni to come back to campus and talk about how they navigated their sophomore year.”

Mentors and Learning

While audience members ate, the panel answered a series of questions about their College experience.

Jose Altamirano (C’17), who currently works at the Baker Center for Leadership and Governance at the McCourt School of Public Policy, advised students on studying abroad.

“It’s not guaranteed to be a great time — it really is what you make of it,” Altamirano told the group of sophomore students. “What really helped me have a fantastic time was my homestay. I really recommend living in a homestay if you can because it really provides that balance of traveling all the time and getting some sort of cultural immersion in the place that you are.”

Panelists also discussed the people that particularly impacted them during their sophomore year. For Harrison Williams (C’16) an international trade consultant at Wells Fargo, his faculty mentor both guided him in the classroom and helped him learn more about himself.

“If any of you are thinking about foreign languages —  was actually one of the people who taught me what type of learner I was, which is an auditory learner,” Williams said. “She actually took office hours to help me understand how I learn and how I develop.”

Diversity of Classes

The panelists discussed how the College’s broad range of class offerings influenced the directions of their academic and professional careers.

“The diversity of academic classes is something you can only get from the College,” said Altamirano. “I took Spanish, German, economics — things beyond the gen-eds. I appreciate that I could branch out and experience different fields.”

Chiarolanzio hoped that students would walk away from this discussion topic with both a greater appreciation for the liberal arts education and more confidence in their paths.

“I want students to have faith and trust in the Georgetown College liberal arts degree,” Chiarolanzio said. “I want students to see young Georgetown College alumni who majored in a discipline that they were passionate about but that their current career is not tied to their specific major. What matters are both the hard and soft skills students are learning in their majors.”

Leslie Telleria (C’21) was comforted to hear that it’s not necessary to spend sophomore year making career moves.

“It gave me some reassurance that I don’t need to do all these things to come off as impressive and that I can focus on what I’m passionate about,” she said.

Taking Time to REFLECT

The group also took time to focus on reflection and contemplation — a priority for Chiarolanzio, who wants students to take time to slow down in a high-pressure environment.

“I hope they take away that they are not alone when making challenging decisions,” Chiarolanzio said. They can seek help, seek mentors, and take time to really reflect when making decisions.”

Altamirano noted that certain resources and programs can serve as an aide to reflection for students who are unlikely to do so on their own.

“Sophomore year was a lot of hustle — Georgetown is a really charged place, and no one can keep up for the entire time.” Altamirano said. “What I found really powerful was doing an through the . [The] program incorporated daily reflections, and it was a very powerful and intense experience that had nothing to do with a class or an internship.”

Williams emphasized the importance of identifying what you want out of your experience.

“I think a lot of times we just push through, instead of taking a step back and thinking, ‘What is the best thing that I want from my Georgetown experience?’” said Williams. “That was one of the biggest things I wanted to emphasize — enjoy your experience being here on the Hilltop because it is such a unique one.”

For students in attendance, the reassurance went a long way.

“I just feel significantly less stressed,” Maya Andresino (C’21) said. “I think what we learned was that everyone had a significantly different experience, but they all turned out OK.

The minor is an interdisciplinary program that combines public health theory with the studies of international health, human science and health systems. The minor culminates with the Population Health Capstone seminar, in which students are given the opportunity to utilize their diverse experiences and knowledge by working with a D.C.-based public health organization on a community service project.

Since its conception, the minor has focused on helping students build a multifaceted skill set that prepares them for the diverse set of systems and institutions in the field of public health.

“The interdisciplinary nature of the minor is likely to appeal to students of various majors and interests, including science, policy, communication, social justice, disability studies, mental health, and environmental studies, to name a few, “ said , Vice Dean of Undergraduate Education. “ For some students, the minor may be the stepping stone to an internship, to a career, or to further study in the field.  

The program will include unique attention to and integration with the Jesuit value of cura personalis — care of the whole person — something administrators believe will set Georgetown’s public health students apart from their peers.

“Over the years, many students from the College have expressed interest in pursuing the minor,” said  , Associate Dean of the NHS. “Public health is a field that feeds one’s soul — studying it is at the crux of what it means to be a person for others. We are delighted that we offer a field of study that embodies one of Georgetown’s most sacred values.”

Along with the Population Health Capstone seminar, the two other courses required for the major are Population Health Concepts and Contemporary Issues (HEST-195) and Epidemiological Approaches to Population Health (INTH-177), which can also be substituted with Epidemiological Principles, Patterns, and Practices for Healthcare Management and Policy (HEST-184). Minors must also supplement these classes with electives, selected from an approved list that focuses on key public health concepts such as health policy, health promotion, environmental health and global health, that total nine credit hours.

Georgetown College sophomore students who are interested can download the minor declaration form and should make an appointment with their dean. Juniors who are interested should schedule a meeting with their deans immediately to discuss whether adding the minor is possible.

The Sophomore Success Dinner Series brings together a small group of College alumni to share experiences with and give advice to a group of 30 current sophomores.

The program is the brainchild of , who noted that few academic institutions run programs that specifically target sophomores — even though sophomore year commonly features major decisions like academic majors, study abroad programs, and internship applications.

“There are a lot of big decisions that students have to make as sophomores — arguably more important decisions than the ones they make as first-years,” Chiarolanzio said. “So I started thinking about how we could help them through that process.”

Chiarolanzio sees a guidance program as especially important for students in Georgetown College, who have a wider breadth of options available — and a less explicitly pre-professional track — than students in Georgetown’s other undergraduate schools.

“Because the College has so many different academic paths, picking a major can be an intimidating process,” Chiarolanzio said. “We’d like to help students find a subject they’re passionate about.”

The program is intentionally structured as a series of intimate dinners with Georgetown College alumni, rather than lectures, or one-on-one meetings. Chiarolanzio believes that the informal, small group setting will help facilitate honest discussions across a variety of topics.

“It’s just a more comfortable setting,” Chiarolanzio said. “We want the students to hear from recent College graduates who will share their sophomore year decisions which then allows for open and honest conversation with current students.”

Mayte Alonso (C’20), who participated in the Sophomore Success pilot program last fall, saw the dinner as a chance to get advice on choosing a major from people who had been in the same position only a few years earlier.

“One of the biggest takeaways was that it is OK to be a bit confused,” Alonso said. “Sophomore year is a difficult year mainly because it’s the year that most students feel the pressure of choosing, and sticking to, an academic track. The Sophomore Success Series reassured me that it’s OK to not be completely sure.”

Orunima Chakraborti (C’20) appreciated the range of alumni perspectives the dinner offered.

“You just never know what you might hear during the discussion that will make you rethink some of your plans or consider new ones,” Chakraborti said. “Even people who feel like they have everything all planned out — just spend a few hours at one of these dinners, eating some good food and listening to others’ stories. You never know what will pique your interest.”

Chiarolanzio sees the Sophomore Success Dinner Series as a critical facet of the College’s student programming for years to come.

“We want sophomores to know they have people to talk to about the big decisions they’re making,” he said. “Who better than alumni who went through the same process just a few years earlier?”

Article by Patrick Curran. Video by Kuna Malik Hamad.

I met Bradley Cooper (C’97) when he was entering his junior year, and I was a newly appointed academic advising dean in the College Dean’s Office. I had the pleasure of being his advisor as he pursued an English major and French minor, and I helped support both his interest in studying abroad in France and his theatrical studies.

I recently dug up this note, which he sent to me upon his graduation. It’s so great to see our students use their Georgetown College liberal arts education to pursue their dreams, wherever they lead.

Congratulations on the movie and wishing you much happiness, Bradley! Hoya Saxa!

Dear Tom,

I apologize for never returning to DC and having dinner with your family. Hopefully we can get together in the future. I am currently studying in New York City at the Actors Studio MFA program. The West Village is home for me. Since being here my focus and commitment to the art form of acting has exploded. This is clearly my calling. I must thank you for encouraging me to go after that dream. God bless you. I hope to see you soon.

Your friend,
Bradley Cooper

Senior Associate Dean will take on a new role as Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education, and Assistant Dean will move from his current role advising first-years and sophomores into a new role advising juniors and seniors.

Georgetown College will also welcome new academic counselors to its advising team as we say goodbye to Assistant Dean Joe Napolitano, who is moving overseas.

SUE LORENSON

Sue Lorenson has called the Hilltop home for the past 21 years, serving in various roles at Georgetown College. A linguist with a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona, Lorenson has served on the leadership team of the College, managed the junior and senior advising team, and herself served as an academic advisor to language, linguistics and psychology majors. She was instrumental in the development of the Faculty of Languages & Linguistics Hager Scholars Program and teaches introductory linguistics as part of the program.

“Language is everywhere. Linguistics is everywhere. It’s what makes us uniquely human,” Lorenson said. “In using language, we talk about things that are imagined. We can lie, conspire, dream out loud, hash things over, indicate that we’re part of a group. It’s how we develop relationships. Language is at the heart of it all.”

In her new role, Lorenson will be Dean Christopher S. Celenza’s lead in shaping the College’s evolving undergraduate experience, with an eye toward integrating teaching and research at the undergraduate level. She believes the liberal arts core of the College’s undergraduate curriculum serves students for their entire professional lives.

“Liberal arts education is the best pre-professional education out there,” Lorenson said. “It doesn’t prepare you for one specific profession, but imparts skills applicable for many professions — including, crucially, ones that don’t exist yet. Our students will be prepared for careers you and I can’t even conceive of yet as a result of their Georgetown College education.”

JAVIER JIMÉNEZ

Javier Jiménez has been a member of the Georgetown community since 2015, when he joined the College as an assistant dean advising first-year and sophomore students.

“For the last three years, I have loved advising first and second-year students. Much of that work involved teaching students how to be students at Georgetown and about the distinctly diverse liberal arts curriculum in the College,” Jiménez said. “Now, I get to help students delve deeper into their chosen disciplines and complete their dreams of becoming Georgetown College graduates.”

In his new role, Jiménez will be the primary academic advisor for juniors and seniors majoring in comparative literature, history, psychology, and languages. The new portfolio is a natural fit for Jiménez, a former Spanish professor who holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California at Berkeley and has a passion for languages and the humanities.

“Those are my people — my academic and intellectual tribe,” Jiménez said. “I feel more at home now than ever before!”

A DEPARTURE AND AN ARRIVAL

This summer, the College also said goodbye to Assistant Dean Joe Napolitano, who has relocated to Hungary with his wife and two daughters as his wife assumes a new post with the Air Force. The College is in the process of hiring an academic counselor to advise junior and senior government majors.

In July, Sarah Lim (C’16) will join the College as an academic counselor to first-years and sophomores. Lim, who majored in studio art at Georgetown, recently completed a M.Ed. at the University of Maryland, with a specialization in student affairs and international education policy.

“I am delighted that Sue Lorenson, for whom I have great admiration, will be taking on this new leadership role. The other changes, including a move for Javier Jimenez and a chance to welcome Sarah Lim, a College alumna, back into the Dean’s office, are truly meaningful,” Dean Celenza said. “Advising the whole person during the course of an undergraduate education represents something at the very core of our mission. Accordingly, our team is growing and changing to make sure we are the best we can be.”

October 3, 2017 — Charlotte Hine (B’19) grew up with friends and relatives with disabilities, so she’s always been invested in making sure people understand what disability really means.

“One in five people in the United States has some kind of disability,” she said. “It crosses social, racial, and economic divisions, and it can impact you at any point in your life.”

Now, Hine can engage with the concept of disability in a classroom. Thanks in large part to a wave of student activism, Georgetown has become the country’s first Jesuit university to establish an .

Disability studies is a field in which disability is critically analyzed from a wide variety of academic disciplines. Scholars in the field ask questions ranging from the fundamental — how do we define disability? — to the incredibly specific — what are the ethical concerns surrounding medical intervention to prevent certain disabilities?

The College was already home to an impressive roster of faculty members who approached the subject from a range of perspectives, via the . , for example, studies disabled art and performance, while examines the role of disability in religious texts.

The course cluster showed that a core of quality scholarship was present. All it needed was a demonstration of student interest.

“We had the courses, we had the professors, and we had the curriculum. Why did we still not recognize the hard work of our peers formally through a minor?” said Dani Zamalin (C’18), who got involved with disability activism through the and quickly became a leader in the student movement. “The [GUSA] Accessibility team used social media, tabling around campus, door-to-door visits, and countless other techniques to gather the voices and numbers to show Georgetown that this was necessary and desired by its students, faculty, and administrative members.”

The course cluster designation made it easy to search for classes tied in with disability studies, but the establishment of an official Program in Disability Studies goes much further in legitimizing the coursework.

Students can now apply for the six-course minor, which will appear on academic transcripts. The minor consists of one introductory class all participants must take, three of the eight disability-focused core courses, and two of the 10 electives that touch on disability in some form.

“The creation of the minor gives Georgetown students the potential to see how the world has been designed to exclude people with disabilities, from a person who may use a wheelchair to a person with atypical cognitive functioning,” said Stephanie Griffith (C’19), who worked on the minor petition as a member of the GUSA Accessibility team.

“We are a Jesuit institution, priding ourselves on a dedication to social justice and service to others,” added Zamalin. “It has been a turbulent year on campus and otherwise. We must look at our nation and our leadership and ask ourselves, ‘Do we want to make the same mistakes? Or do we want to be the pioneers who pave the road to a brighter, less violently hateful, future?’”

Zamalin, Griffith, and many other students involved in the movement to establish the minor won’t be able to take it themselves, simply because there isn’t room in their schedules to add another six courses before graduation. But some, like Hine, are taking the classes anyway.

, Hine hopes to apply some of the lessons from her Introduction to Disability Studies class to an upcoming project: a book about disability and innovation in entrepreneurship. She sees the class as a unique opportunity for the intersection of different disciplines to drive creative thought.

“You can look at disability studies from any point of view, and it overlaps with almost anything you can study at Georgetown — business, design, healthcare, humanities, political perspectives,” Hine said. “I really appreciate that dialogue.”

The Program in Disability Studies invites students interested in the minor to an open house in New North 4 this Wednesday at 5 p.m. To learn more about the minor application process, visit the program’s page.

September 8, 2017 — Georgetown College Dean Christopher Celenza announced the appointment of three new Vice Deans to his staff and welcomed new College tenure-line faculty members at a meeting on Thursday evening in the Gonda Theatre at the Davis Performing Arts Center.

Vice Deans , and bring academic experience from a broad range of disciplines and valuable administrative skills to the College Dean’s Office. Celenza expects his new team of vice deans to serve as invaluable advisors on faculty affairs.

David Edelstein is an associate professor in the College’s and in the . He is a specialist in international security, U.S. foreign policy, and the study of military occupation. Edelstein published in 2008. He earned his B.A. from Colgate University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and has completed pre- and post-doctoral fellowships at Stanford and Harvard University.

In his new role, Edelstein will liaise between the Dean’s Office and the College’s academic departments in the humanities and social sciences.

Deborah Phillips is a professor in the . An expert in early childhood development, she has researched extensively the effects of early childhood education programs and served on task forces and advisory boards on the subject. Her prominent roles include Executive Director of the at the National Research Council, President of the , and Director of Child Care Information Services at the . She earned her B.A. from Stanford University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University.

Phillips’ portfolio will include all the College’s academic departments involved in the natural sciences, as well as departments in the .

Elena Silva is a professor in the , where she currently serves as Chair.  She is the principal investigator at Georgetown’s Silva Casey lab, which studies various aspects of the central nervous systems of the frog Xenopus laevis and the acorn worm Saccoglossus kowalevski in an effort to better understand gene regulation in early nervous system development. In addition to her research accomplishments in the field of embryonic nervous system biology, she has taken an active role in building the Department of Biology’s graduate program. Silva earned her B.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Silva’s role at the Dean’s Office, which will begin on October 1, will build on her accomplishments in the Department of Biology: She will be charged with strengthening the relationships between the university’s graduate programs — many of which are housed in College academic departments — and the College’s administration.

“I am delighted that these three fine scholars and pillars of the Georgetown community, all of whom have had meaningful administrative experience, are part of the Dean’s Office staff in Georgetown College,” Celenza said. “Their expertise, innovative thinking and energy will allow us to be responsive to the challenges that come our way and, importantly, proactive in creating new opportunities across our 26 departments and 11 interdisciplinary programs. We will be working together as a team, and all of our work will be buttressed by our shared commitment to encouraging excellence, fostering success, and nourishing diversity at every level of activity in which Georgetown College engages.”

Following the introduction of the Vice Deans, the Chairs of the College’s departments were introduced and they introduced their new tenure-line faculty members. Celenza hopes to make the welcoming of new faculty to the College an annual tradition.

Video by Kuna Malik Hamad.

April 12, 2016—Georgetown held the annual Spring Faculty Convocation on April 5, where 55 faculty and staff members were  for 20 years of service to the university. Among the recipients was Georgetown College Senior Associate Dean Thomas Chiarolanzio, who currently oversees advising for first-year and sophomore College students. 

Chiarolanzio, along with several other members of the College community, received the Gold Vicennial Medal, which honors full-time members of Georgetown’s faculty and academic staff.

Originally from New Jersey, Chiarolanzio earned a master’s degree in higher and adult education from Teachers College of Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Gettysburg College. Before coming to Georgetown, he held positions in the admissions office at Drew University and in the undergraduate dean’s office at Columbia College and the School of Engineering at Columbia University.

Within the College, Chiarolanzio coordinates academic programming for the incoming first-year College class, including the highly successful Ignatius Seminar Program. He has also served on the University Honor Council and has chaired the working group for the Scholarly Research and Academic Integrity tutorial. He served as the advisor to the College Academic Council for 10 years and the advisor to the George F. Baker Scholars Program for more than five years. He also sits on numerous university working groups and has presented at various conferences. 

Throughout his time at the College, Chiarolanzio has advised more than 1,000 students—something that is central to his dedication to the university.

“Our students are smart, caring, motivated, engaged, and wanting to make the world a better place. I am so lucky to have the privilege of welcoming new students each year to Georgetown,” he said. “I get to witness their intellectual and personal growth. I get to have an impact on their development. I am never more proud than when I get to shake the hands of my students when they walk across the commencement stage.” 

Chiarolanzio’s enthusiasm comes through to the students who work with him. 

“Dean Chiarolanzio—or Dean C as students know him—takes a genuine personal interest in each and every one of the lives of the students and community members that have crossed his path,” said government major and Baker Scholar Connor Bellows (C ’16). “As someone who has known him in different capacities since my freshman year, I find myself lucky to call him both my mentor and my friend. Georgetown truly would not be the same without our Dean C—he has forever changed our community for the better.”

Chiarolanzio credits his colleagues and mentors in the dean’s office for helping him to keep learning through the years. “From Dean Gillis to the College advising deans to the staff, everyone makes coming to work everyday a joy,” he said.

“Twenty years may seem like long time to spend in one place. But it’s easy when you are doing something you love.” 

Related Information

The Office of the Dean congratulates the following additional Georgetown College 2016 Gold Vicennial Medalists (many of whom appear in the above video): 

• Carol Benedict, Department of History
• Angel de Dios, Department of Chemistry
• Ian Gale, Department of Economics
• Alison Games, Department of History
• Diana Glick, Department of Chemistry
• Stephen King, Department of Government
• Rodney Ludema, Department of Economics (joint appointment with SFS)
• Olga Meerson, Department of Slavic Languages
• Mark Murphy, Department of Philosophy
• Douglas Reed, Department of Government
• Ronda Rolfes, Department of Biology
• Alissa Webel, Department of French
• Martha Weiss, Department of Biology
• Alejandro Yarra, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
• Jingyuan Zhang, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

At Convocation, Georgetown also recognized 10 distinguished university donors for their commitment to the university’s academic enterprise. A full list is available .

Video by Georgetown University’s Office of Communications.