Loyola University Chicago

Division of Student Development

Faculty Highlight

Name: Dr. John P. Dugan

Position: Associate Professor, Higher Education

Department: School of Education

Years w/ Loyola: 6 years

Alma Mater: John Carroll University (Undergraduate), University of Maryland (Graduate & Doctoral)

 

Dr. John P Dugan

Building human capacity in socially responsible leadership development

I completed by BA in Communications and Spanish at John Carroll University, another fine Jesuit institution, as well as my M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Counseling and Personnel Services from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Both undergraduate and graduate students have participated in my academic research team working on publications together as well as presenting at national and international conferences. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to engage in collaborative research as students’ knowledge and experience adds enormously to my own learning. The work of our research also connects directly to the mission of the DSD.

I’m not sure there is another campus in the country with students as dedicated, bright, and talented as those at Loyola University Chicago.

Each summer I teach a graduate course at the Loyola University Chicago John Felice Rome Center. The course is titled the Psychology of Power and Authority in Cross-Cultural Leadership and uses Rome as a historical and contemporary laboratory. Imagine having a class in the Coliseum, Roman Forum, and Sistine Chapel!  Watching students immerse themselves in Italian culture while exploring their own sense of identity is incredibly powerful, and I feel blessed to be learning with them!

The concept of social justice is absolutely central to my scholarship and educational practice. For me, social justice involves the deep interrogation of systems of power and oppression and the ways in which they contribute to social inequity.

Engaging in and building the capacity of students to engage in the complex work of social justice is at the heart of my educational practice. This is coupled with the knowledge that it is only through deep personal awareness and the development of the whole person that this can occur. I attempt to integrate these themes in my research as well as how I structure my courses. Perhaps most importantly, though, it is also reflected in how I engage with students outside the classroom.

I just adore the new student union. It is fantastic to see how the students and staff of the DSD bring the space alive and the way in which it provides a hub for students on campus. I routinely schedule research team meetings there so that students can see the space as inviting to all kinds of use and feel a sense of belonging to campus.

Much of my work concentrates on human capacity building particularly in the arena of socially responsible leadership development. I’m fascinated by the ways in which college environments either leverage or constrain students learning in this area.

It is difficult to identify just a single favorite Loyola story. I would say that perhaps it is the way in which students exit their Loyola experience with such a sense of affiliation to the institution and particularly the values of social justice. Watching students at graduation demonstrate such a sense of pride really is a testament to the work of the university in living its mission.

My only advice is that the University offers so many opportunities for involvement that in turn can transform your collegiate experience. I hope students take advantage of all that Loyola University Chicago in general and the DSD in particular have to offer.

Division of Student Development Highlights
Jabari K
McMillon
Accounting
Information Technology
A/V Production
July 2013
  Keyona 
Castleman
Psychology
Ethics & Moral Philosophy
African Studies and the African Diaspora
June 2013