St. John's, Caritas of Rome to Offer Two-Year Graduate Specialization Program

Queens, NY – After months of planning and consultation, St. John’s University and delegates from Caritas of Rome met in New York today to formally begin a landmark partnership to offer a graduate specialization two-year degree program in global development and social justice.

Caritas is the umbrella agency of the Roman Catholic Church that provides social services to people around the world, especially those who are economically marginalized.

Rev. Jean-Pierre Ruiz, S.T.D., Director of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at St. John’s University and Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies has taken the initiative under his wing in partnering with concept originators Riccardo Colasanti, General Secretary for Caritas and Annalisa Sacca, Associate Professor of Italian at St. John’s.

“It gave me goose bumps to sit around the table today with our faculty representatives from St. John’s and our visitors from Caritas to experience the energy in the room as we all work together and partner on this ground breaking initiative,” said Ruiz.

Caritas and other partner agencies will fund 15 full scholarships each year for students who enroll in the Global Development and Social Justice track of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies. The funding offered will include tuition, a St. John’s University notebook computer, travel expenses to and from Rome as well as room and board.

“This idea was born two years ago as Riccardo and I had a cup of espresso in Rome. We worked on the concept for a year and thought about how we could bring about change in the world and the philosophical teachings of Catholic development. We instantly thought about St. John’s and the college received our ideas with open arms,” added Sacca. “It was a marriage made in heaven for both organizations.”

The 33 Credit Global Development and Social Justice track will be a two-year degree program beginning and ending with summer session instruction in Rome and featuring distance learning courses for each of the fall and spring semesters.

“This initiative will enable the University to extend its vision and mission globally and take full advantage of St. John’s distance learning resources as part of the academic computing initiative,” Ruiz concluded. “And, because this is an interdisciplinary program, our faculty will be drawn from across departments, schools and colleges within the University.”
 
Initial meetings with the Steering Committee for the program are taking place today and a planned press event to include an Honorary Committee whose President will be Cardinal Camillo Ruini and including other dignitaries, will convene to celebrate the launching of the program in Rome this November.

“This is one of the most exciting programs I have experienced in my 21 years at St. John’s,” noted Jeffrey W. Fagen, Dean of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who attended the faculty discussion.

View the photo gallery.

For more information contact, Dominic Scianna, Director of Media Relations, St. John’s University at 718-990-6185 or by email at sciannad@stjohns.edu.