Doerr Center for Social Justice Education and Research Celebrates 20 Years
On Tuesday, Sept. 27, the School of Social Work in the College for Public Health and Social Justice held its annual Social Justice Night, sponsored by the Emmett J. and Mary Martha Doerr Center for Social Justice Education and Research.
The evening was also a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the
Doerr Center. The Doerr Center was funded by a gift from the Doerrs, as well as other
generous donors. William Hutchison, S.J., former dean of the Social of Social Work,
conceived of the idea of a center for social justice and guided its initial development.
The center formally began during the term of the next dean, Susan Tebb, Ph.D.
The program began with a reception for the donors and supporters of the Doerr Center
that included highlights from its 20-year history and poster presentations on some
of the collaborative faculty-student-community agency research projects the Center
funds. Saint Louis University’s Center for Service and Community Engagement staffed
a voter registration booth before and after the keynote speaker.
Don Linhorst, Ph.D., director of the School of Social Work, provided an overview
of the Doerr Center’s history and introduced the keynote speaker for the evening,
Sister Simone Campbell. Campbell is a religious leader, attorney and poet with extensive experience in public
policy and advocacy for systemic change, who is currently the executive director of
NETWORK. She is known for leading cross-country “Nuns on the Bus” trips, which are
advocacy events focused on economic justice, comprehensive immigration reform, voter
turnout, and most recently bridging divides in politics and society.
The title of Campbell's presentation was “Reweaving the Fabric of our Society: Seeds of Hope in Challenging Times.” The event was held in Busch Student Center and attended by approximately 375 people.
"Social justice is at the foundation of the social work profession,” Linhorst said. “Having an annual Social Justice Night helps to educate us on important social justice issues and inspires us to actively engage as professionals and personally to promote social justice."
The Doerr Center strives to promote social justice-related education and research by:
- sponsoring and co-sponsoring educational events and trainings on SLU’s campus
- funding social work students in field practicum in agency programs that have a strong social justice component
- offsetting some of the cost for social work students to participate in international social justice courses
- awarding social justice fellowships to students in the Ph.D. in social work program who are completing social justice-related dissertations
- funding social justice research projects involving a collaboration of a social work faculty member, a student and a community partner.