Graduate Assistantship
Meet our Graduate Assistants
Meg Marshall
Meg Marshall is a second year GA at the Ministry department and a recently moved into the Chicago area from Connecticut. During her time in Connecticut, Meg worked with the Office of Community Outreach at the University of Connecticut, helping college students engage in service. Prior to that, Meg lived in El Salvador as a Catholic Relief Services Volunteer and worked with migrants planning to come to the United States. Meg's prior experience comes from the service and non-profit sectors with particular attention to children, the poor, and the LGBT population.
Meg is currently working as Loyola's Faith Communities intern organizing the Ministry Department's Christian Life Communities and both Search Retreats. Meg works out of the lower level of CFSU and can be reached by email.
Chinyere Nwachukwu
Chinyere Nwachukwu is a first year GA at the Ministry department who calls Lagos, Nigeria home. Chinyere completed her B.A. in International Development Studies and Psychology from Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Mich. She also earned a Certificate in Project Management from University of Toronto. Chinyere then worked with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee on its Constituency Relations Teams in both Nigeria and Canada for three years. During that time, she served as a liaison between previous, on-going, and potential programs and partnerships in Nigeria and the Christian Reformed Church constituents in North America.
She joins Loyola’s Ministry department with deep passions in community-based development, social action, and good governance, especially on the African continent. She is currently pursuing her M.A in Social Justice, she serves as the Graduate Chaplain for First Year Students. In this role, she looks forward to working with Loyola’s young men and women who are passionate about ministry, service, and justice, and to provide guidance and mentorship to them as they discover their calling here at Loyola University Chicago. Chinyere can be found in the Ministry office located in the Rambler Room in CFSU. She can also be reached by email.
Jake Olzen
Jake Olzen is a second year GA at the Ministry Department. He grew up outside of Chicago and attended Saint Mary's University of Minnesota in Winona, Minn, where he studied sociology, English literature, and theology. While there, he became involved with the Winona Catholic Worker and currently lives in a newly formed Catholic Worker community in Chicago. He also works with the organizations No More Deaths and Witness Against Torture.
Jake is pursuing degrees in Soical Justice and Divinity. As a second year GA, he is working with service and justice programming and helping to organize Loyola's Alternative Break Immersions. He can be found in the Lower Level of CFSU. Jake can also be reached by email.
Lisa Reitz Harris
Lisa Reitz is the GA in Water Tower Campus Ministry. Lisa helps to coordinate the Labre Homeless Ministry (with the Labre Companions) and the Baumhart Hall Companions. Lisa is also co-leading two immersion experiences this year and assists with various Water Tower Campus Life initiatives, such as Welcome Week, Spirit Week, and Women's History Month in March.
Lisa is in her second year of the Higher Education Administration Master's degree program at Loyola. She comes to Loyola from Washington, D.C., where she worked in event planning and communications at a non-profit, the League of American Bicyclists. Lisa can be reached by email.
Julie Schneider
Julie Schneider is a first year GA at the Ministry department. She is the fifth of six siblings and proud to call St. Louis, MO her hometown. Julie completed her B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She spent 18 months living and working in the rolling hills of West Virginia at Nazareth Farm, a local home-repair organization. Julie spent a breif time in Queens to nanny her then 4 month old nephew until her heart brought her back to the mountains and creeks of WV to work for a short time at the Hospitality House, a non-profit bed and breakfast serving family and friends visiting loved ones at the Regional Women's Prison. In the fall of 2010, Julie worked full-time as Program Coordinator at the Br. David Darst Center in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, where she planned and led Urban Immersion retreats for high school and college students.
She currently serves as the Interfaith Graduate Assistant with Ministry and is pursuing her M.A. in Pastoral Studies. Julie is excited for interactions between all the Religious groups on campus and contributing to the efforts involved in Interfaith dialogue and collaboration. You can find her at Thursday Night Thing every thursday night in the Rambler room, or in the lower level of CFSU in the Ministry offices. Julie can also be reached by jschneider6@luc.edu.