Manhattan College Strengthens Community-Based Learning Program

At Manhattan College, a record number of students are involved in community-based learning. Faculty and students are partnering with local organizations to connect material learned in the classroom with service to the community. One such partnership with nearby Fordham-Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC). Education students work in the after-school program, engineering students are in the field learning about structural stability of buildings, and business students preparing free tax returns for local residents, among other projects. Students are challenged to apply their learning to the local community.

Rani Roy, Ph. D., assistant vice president for student and faculty development, describes the force behind  this focus on community-based learning (CBL) is the mission of the university, by saying “The more places we have CBL embedded in the curriculum, the more students will view this as part of the mission.” Roy reports that 40 percent of 2016 graduates had at least one CBL experience during their time at Manhattan College.

Read more on the community-based learning at Manhattan College here.

New ‘Respect in Action’ Resources

Last year, four University of St. Thomas faculty members (Dr. Jeanne Buckeye, Dr. Kenneth Goodpaster, T. Dean Maines, and Dr. Michael Naughton) published Respect in Action: Applying the Subsidiarity in Business. Since then, the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought has hosted an event in February to continue the conversation and has also published several additional related resources.

The event, book, and resources all center around the Catholic Social Teaching theme of subsidiarity and its application in business practices. In CST, subsidiarity is described as the idea that “larger institutions in society should not overwhelm or interfere with smaller or local institutions, yet larger institutions have essential responsibilities” to help smaller institutions where they cannot assist themselves (“Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” 48).

The resources include a video recording of the event, a PowerPoint presentation on subsidiarity in business culture, and an annotated bibliography on subsidiarity.

How does your college or university promote subsidiarity  in business practices and beyond? Let us know! 

Respect in Action: Applying Subsidiarity in Business

Earlier this summer, the John A. Ryan Institute of the University of St. Thomas announced the new publication of Respect in Action: Applying Subsidiarity in Business. This book is an expansion and development of the reflection on subsidiarity found in The Vocation of a Business Leader (VBL), one of the most recent documents issued by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

The document is available as a free download on the Ryan Institute website.  Print copies in English are available to purchase for $5.00 per copy plus shipping, with discounts available for orders over 100. There is also a well-developed annotated bibliography on subsidiarity at the same location.