Loyola University Chicago

As part of its continuing commitment to women's higher education, Loyola University Chicago established the Ann Ida Gannon, BVM, Center for Women and Leadership. Designed to honor an outstanding past president of the original Mundelein College, a former women's college that joined with Loyola in 1991, the Gannon Center promotes women's studies programs and progress and provides archives documenting women in leadership and education. The Gannon Center sponsors a Faculty Fellows Program in Women Studies to encourage research on women and their contributions to society, and to promote active learning and scholarship. The program is administered by the Gannon Center and the appointment of Fellows is made in the Spring Semester each academic year. More Information.

The Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage (CCIH) exists to help faculty and students recognize and research Roman Catholic thought and its link to all academic disciplines in the university. It also seeks to convey that thought to audiences inside and outside Loyola University. To meet these goals, CCIH operates nine programs which assist students and faculty in connecting to, researching, and communicating Roman Catholic thought. Programs that help connect to Roman Catholic thought include faculty workshops, publication luncheons, and informal reading groups. CCIH programs that facilitate research include reading-for-research groups, research project support, and a growing library of current Catholic magazines and journals. Finally, to communicate Roman Catholic thought, CCIH sponsors a 'Catholic Minds, Catholic Matters' lecture series, public panels on Catholic issues, and an annual symposium. More Information.

The Center was founded in 1991 with four aims: (a) to integrate and strengthen Loyola University's ethics education programs for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students; (b) to enhance personal reflection and foster a higher level of dialogue about ethical issues faced by faculty, staff and administrators as they fulfill their roles within the university; (c) to stimulate and support research and other scholarly activity in applied ethics and ethics education; (d) to develop effective outreach programs in order to share the fruits of Loyola's work in ethics with the larger community and to provide leadership in public discussion of ethical issues important to contemporary society. The Center sponsors workshops and seminars on a variety of topics for faculty members, students, and the local community. More Information.

Established in 2006, the Center for the Human Rights of Children represents,coordinates, and stimulates efforts of the Loyola University community to understand and protect the human rights of children, locally and abroad. It seeks guidance and direction from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the global network of children's rights advocates, as well as from scholars from various disciplines.The Center's approaches to the rights of children reflect the university's commitment to the Jesuit social justice mission. Program activities include a biennial Symposium on the Rights of Children (starting in Spring 2008), publications for professionals and students, international "immersion" programs for students and faculty, a faculty and graduate student fellows program, and campus educational events. More Information.

The Center for Science and Math Education represents a cooperative effort between Loyola's School of Education and College of Arts and Sciences. Dedicated to improving the quality of science and math education in area schools, the Center and its faculty have developed a number of programs to achieve this goal. More Information.

The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy (CUERP) was established in 2005 to advance our understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between natural and human systems especially in large metropolitan areas. CUERP was organized in part, as a response to the issues of unsustainable use of natural resources and the resulting consequences for the poor, for human health, and for biodiversity on earth. The Loyola CUERP faculty include over 60 researchers with expertise in environmental issues, representing more than 20 disciplines. CUERP faculty and students, along with a wide range of state and local agencies, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations are working together to study the structure and function of the urban ecosystem, assess the effects of urban and suburban development in the Great Lakes watershed, and define the impact of reduced ecological conditions on urban sustainability, biodiversity, and human health. CUERP provides excellent opportunities for interested undergraduate and graduate students to gain interdisciplinary research experience, as well as internships with our partners. More Information.

The Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL or the Center) is a non-traditial university research center. CURL promotes an innovative model of teaching and learning that reaches beyond Loyola's campuses and classrooms to develop equal partnerships between the university and Chicago's communities. CURL is guided by a mission which places strong emphasis on research that addresses community needs and involves the community at all levels of research. By working closely with activists outside the university, the Center recognizes and values the knowledge and experience of individuals and organizations in non-academic settings. The Center, which opened in January, 1996, is funded in part by a grant and endowment from the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation and a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The endowment supports faculty and graduate student fellowships. The Policy Research Action Group (PRAG) is a collaborative partnership between four universities (Loyola University Chicago , University of Illinois at Chicago , DePaul University , and Chicago State University ) and more than 20 community organizations. PRAG consists of Chicago-based academics and community activists who have been building a collaborative research network to better link research and grassroots activism. Coordinated by the Center for Urban Research and Learning, PRAG matches researchers with community organizations; develops research "apprenticeships" within community-based organizations; encourages undergraduate and graduate students to consider career options in community-based research; funds grassroots policy research projects identified and developed by community organizations; and disseminates research results to policy makers and community activists. More Information.

For ten years, the Family Business Center (FBC) has served over one hundred family businesses of varying sizes, industries and complexity. Today, the needs of FBC members continue to push the frontier of family enterprise research to new levels. Our innovative programs provide the opportunity for our members to share knowledge and cultivate synergies with one another. After a decade of nurturing family enterprises, FBC endevors to become the premier research and learning center for family-owned businesses in the United States. More Information.

Parmly is a basic science research institute engaged in the comparative study of sensory systems including hearing, vision, speech perception, vestibular function, and the special senses of the lateral-lineorgan and electroreception in fish. Faculty and students undertake research using different animal models (fish, rats, chinchilla, humans), different techniques (anatomical, physiological, behavioral, ethological, and mathematical), and different sensory systems (hearing, vestibular, lateral-line, electroreception, vision, and speech perception). Located on the Lake Shore Campus, the institute houses ten laboratories, a library, electronic and wood-working shops, and data-analysis and graphics facilities. More Information.