Loyola University Chicago

I am a first year student in the Master of Science in Accountancy program and am working as a Part-time Accountant at the Center for Urban Research and Learning. CURL provides a dynamic environment where I can apply concepts learned in the classroom to real world projects.

Dana is a doctoral student in the Applied Social Psychology program. Since the Fall of 2007 she has been involved in the CURL/McCormick Foundation Early Childhood Initiative, which is partnered with eight community-based early childhood programs in the City of Chicago. The project began in 2002 as a collaborative and holistic approach to creating sustainable professional development protocols for ECE providers. Under a new grant through 2010, the projects primary goal is to facilitate each agencys ability to sustain high-quality services. Directors and staff from each of the agencies gather for monthly cohort meetings, as well as for individual semiannual meetings with CURL, in which they are beginning to answer key questions around critical issues such as: national and local ECE policy, blended-funding, economic stability, and changing communities.

Dana's academic research interests include: prejudice, intergroup relations, gender issues, and proactive coping with discrimination.

I am a first year Ph.D. student in Sociology at Loyola. My primary interests are the sociology of work, social psychology, and critical theory. Currently, I am working as a program evaluation intern at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. I am also co-teaching evaluative research to high school students in a collaborative project between CURL, the University of Michigan, and Saint Louis University.

Having graduated with Loyola’s Cultural and Educational Policy Studies, I am currently in my first year of M.Ed. in Research Methodology. With a focus on immigrant and refugee communities, my research interests involve educational experience and reshaping of educational values in the U.S. resettlement process. Currently, I am working on a three-year evaluation project with Changing Worlds’ Literacy and Cultural Connections Program. I am excited to be part of the effort to strengthen a partnership between CPS and ethnically-diverse communities through this culturally-grounded literacy curriculum.

I am currently pursuing my Masters degree in Clinical Social Work and working for the Center for Urban Research and Learning as a graduate fellow. I previously worked on the Analysis of Shelter Utilization by Victims of Domestic Violence under the guidance of Drs. Susan Grossman and Christine George. Currently I am working on the evaluation of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) Open Door Demonstration Project.

CURL is a supportive and encouraging environment where I can learn more about research and at the same time apply my knowledge.

I am a Ph.D. student in Sociology at Loyola. My primary interests are housing, public space, and collaborative research with community partners. My work at CURL focuses on factors that produce stable racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, and the experiences of tenant organizers that have worked to preserve affordable housing in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood.

I am currently pursuing my Master’s degree in Software Technology and working as a part time web developer at the Center for Urban Research and Learning. CURL provides an environment to enhance my skills and explore knowledge.

Mary is a doctoral student in Sociology at Loyola. She has an extensive background in women’s health which includes developing women’s health curricula for medical education, creating a multidisciplinary graduate concentration in women’s health, and training physicians about various women’s health issues.  Mary is also working with the American Medical Women’s Association to create a digital resource library of women’s health curricular materials for medical education.  Her research interests include women veterans’ health, medical education, and institutional change.  At CURL, she is working on an evaluation of Chicago’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness.

I am pursuing a Master in Applied Sociology at Loyola. My research interests are education, race/ethnicity, social policy and social justice. At present, I am working for CURL in a research project evaluating the "Chicago Plan to End Homelessness". I am excited to be working at CURL because it offers the first-hand experience that I need for learning how various institutions, organizations and policy makers come together to promote social justice.