JOHN FELICE ROME CENTER
ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME
On a rainy night in 1992, Michael F. Andrews stumbled into the Church of Sant’Ignazio in Rome to take cover from the storm. Andrews, then a newly-vowed Jesuit scholastic study- ing at the Gregorian University, quickly discovered he’d walked into a welcome Mass for students at Loyola’s Rome Center. That night, he struck up a friendship with Rome Center founder John Felice and soon became an oc- casional guest at the center and its various student gatherings. Nearly 25 years later, Andrews
Thousands of discarded life jackets have been left behind by refugees arriving on the Greek island of Lesvos.
will return to the John Felice Rome Center (JFRC), but this time he won’t just be visiting. On August 1, Andrews will officially take the reins as the Rome Cen- ter’s new director, bringing him back to the city that has been a frequent stop throughout his academic career. Andrews, who currently serves as dean
Michael F. Andrews, PhD, has been named the new director of the Rome Center.
journey to Greece. That inspired the life vest project, which aims to teach refu- gees how to repurpose old life jackets into trendy marketable products such as handbags, iPhone cases, and back- packs. The project provides a source of employment, Geroulis says, with the proceeds supporting the refugees’ families and education. Over the summer, students in
Geroulis’s international marketing class worked to determine the best target demographic for the repurposed products and how best to market them. The life vest project is currently seeking funding support, but Geroulis remains hopeful that the project will soon become a reality. This project is just one example of
how Geroulis challenges the students in all of her marketing courses to think
about how they can use their skills to help people who are struggling with poverty. “I tell my students to pay atten- tion to what’s happening throughout the world and find a cause that they’re truly passionate about,” she says. “And then use that passion, along with their skills as a marketer, to respond to the needs of the poor, fight inequality, and ultimately help solve the world’s great- est challenges.” Geroulis hopes that her own pas-
sion for helping the Syrian refugees in Greece will inspire her students to look for similar opportunities in other parts of the world—and also in their own communities. “Imaginative and innova- tive new models of economic devel- opment that create opportunities are desperately needed in our world today,” Geroulis says. L
of the College of Arts and Sciences and the McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics at the University of Portland, has been an academic leader in Catholic higher education and a strong supporter of study-abroad opportunities. Previously, at Seattle University, he served as dean of the Matteo Ricci College and director of the Faith and the Great Ideas Academic Program and the Italy Summer Study Abroad Program. Though his work has taken him to such
locations as Austria, Croatia, Ecuador, and Mo- rocco, there’s no question that Italy has been a recurring destination for Andrews. He resided in Rome during his undergraduate studies at Georgetown University and again while studying at the Gregorian University. Later, his role at Seattle University included administra- tion of an intensive, interdisciplinary study- abroad course in Rome and Florence. And in 2008, he spent a year as a senior research fellow at the Jesuit Historical Institute, during which time he was able to briefly reconnect with the Rome Center. “The JFRC offers an openness to global Je-
suit education that inspires and energizes me and has the ability to transform and enrich the lives of students,” Andrews says. “I am honored and tremendously excited about serving as the new director.” L
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