Q & A My third priority is to focus
Kosovo, and the Dominican Republic, is now completing a case study on Ethiopia. This research project is related to human trafficking, but its parameters are broader. The objectives of the project are to identify the opportunities and challenges for parentless youth aging out of formal or institutionalized care. Sub-Saharan Africa has a high percentage of orphan and vulnerable youth due to the AIDS crisis, and, among those, adolescents are one of the largest growing groups. “Many orphan youth age out of formal care and have limited social networks, life skills, and financial resources,” says Kaufka Walts. “To survive, they often take the first job someone offers, without knowing what their rights are, and conditions may be exploitative or meet the definition of modern- day slavery.” According to Kaufka Walts, there is quite
a bit of research on younger orphan children and their basic needs, but very little avail- able research on adolescents aging out of care systems. Kaufka Walts, in collaboration with colleague Shelby French, director of the International Organization for Adolescents, a Chicago-based organization, plans to publish a paper on this topic later this year. After that, she hopes to be able to take Loyola students to Ethiopia to conduct research alongside Ethiopian students and, eventually, to create recommendations for improved policies and programs to ensure more successful transitions to adulthood. With her new research getting underway,
Kaufka Walts is continuing to provide ongoing training and presentations on human traffick- ing. She has developed a new, interdisciplinary course on human trafficking of children in the United States, in which law and social work students learn both theoretical and practical skills. “The crime is not new, and the issue is not new. But our ways of responding to it need to evolve as traffickers’ methods do, and that’s our challenge.” Hopefully, this means that, in time, more and more children will be making the phone calls that Kaufka Walts loves to receive, describing their new, normal, and, above all, happy lives.
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THE NUMBER OF COUN- TRIES WHOSE RANK- INGS WERE UPGRADED IN 2010. 19 COUNTRIES WERE DOWNGRADED.
John Pelissero, PhD
Loyola’s new provost John Pelissero came to Loyola 25 years ago as an assistant professor of political science. After years in that department, in 2003 he moved to the provost’s office as associate provost for curriculum development. He has since served as vice-provost and, in March, became interim provost until his permanent appointment in May.
What are your top three priorities as provost? • My first priority is to see through the implementation of the strategic plan, which really emphasizes the transformative education that we promise at Loyola. I want to re-establish an emphasis on undergraduate education: teaching, research, experiential learning. I want to make Loyola a first-choice institution. A second priority is to work
on new strategic initiatives. Right after I became interim provost I put together a task force on global education and distance learning. And so I’m hoping, by the end of the year, to have a set of concrete proposals from our task force related to online education and campus sites—and programs to offer at each.
Do you mean people wouldn’t need to be on campus to take classes? • That’s one option. We offer very little in online education right now. And yet the market is changing. Other universities are making significant investments in online courses, and degree programs, of which we have few in number. So I want to examine opportunities for students to pursue a Loyola education regardless of where they happen to live, and some options may include programs online. As for global education,
that means furthering opportunities to use the Rome campus, the Beijing Center, and our new center in Vietnam, and then looking at one or two additional centers for global education, probably one in Latin America and one in Africa.
on faculty development, including interdisciplinary research. I want to put more emphasis on the hiring of teacher-scholars who are interested in teaching our undergraduates in particular, as well as contributing to research in their fields. I want to provide workshops and ongoing education for our faculty addressing how the methodology of teaching and the approach to learning are changing. I want us to adapt to the learning styles of the students who are coming into the University. And part of faculty development is also diversifying our faculty.
If you weren’t working in higher education, what would you be doing? • If I wasn’t working in higher ed? I’d probably be a city manager. I enjoy many aspects of managing urban affairs. When I considered my opportunities in grad school, I saw two possible paths. I was either going to pursue urban management or go into university teaching. I chose teaching. But the books and articles I write are about urban management. So I feel like I offer something to that field without actually working in it. This is an interesting place
to research that. I’ve gotten a lot of my examples for teaching and research from studying Chicago and its suburbs.
Closing statement: • I’m just honored and humbled to have this opportunity to lead academic affairs at Loyola. I think it’s a wonderful time. So many things are headed in the right direction under great University leadership, and I look forward to being part of that.
SUMMER 2010
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