ACCU 10th Annual Peace and Justice Meeting: January 15-17, 2010 ~ Register Today!
Transcending Borders: Catholic Social Thought in Teaching, Research and Action

Return to the conference welcome for the invitation, announcement and brochure.

Conference Schedule

Saturday, January 16, 2010

7:15-8:15 am:	Shuttles from Hotel
7:30-8:30 am:	Continental Breakfast and Morning Prayer
8:30-10:00 am:	I: Catholic Social Thought on Wealth and Poverty Speaker: Charles M. A. Clark, PhD, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Tobin College of Business; Senior Fellow, Vincentian Center for Church and Society; and Professor of Economics at St. John’s University. / Respondent: Stephen Conroy, PhD, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of San Diego
10:15-11:45 am:	II: Catholic Higher Education in the 3rd Millennium: Race and Ethnicity in the U.S. Speaker: David T. Abalos, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and Sociology at Seton Hall University / Respondent: Alberto Pulido, PhD, Chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of San Diego
11:45am–12:30 pm:	Lunch Buffet
12:45-3:15 pm:	III: Border Excursion *Pants and tennis shoes required. **Passport not required.
3:30-5:30 pm:	IV: Immigration on the U.S.-Mexico Border Keynote: Orlando Espin, ThD, Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Center for the Study of Latino/a Catholicism at the University of San Diego

II: Catholic Higher Education in the 3rd Millennium: Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.

Abstract: Soon after arriving at Seton Hall University in 1966, I became aware that I had become part of a rich tradition of Catholic Higher Education. Seton Hall had become a university as a result of helping to educate what came to be known as the Greatest Generation. After years of discrimination because of their ethnic Catholic background Italians, Irish and Eastern Europeans like the Poles, as returning veterans were able, due to the GI Bill and Catholic colleges around the country, to achieve the American Dream. I was blessed to be part of this tradition by helping to educate the children of the greatest generation. The majority of my students in 1966 were white, ethnic Catholics, first generation in college. But by 1968 the nation was shaken by racial conflict. The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy together with the racial upheaval led President Johnson to establish the Kerner Commission. The report made it clear that the U.S. was quickly becoming two nations, one white and privileged and the other disadvantaged primarily made up of minority communities. Catholic universities including Seton Hall quickly responded to this crisis by renewing their tradition of educating the poor and marginalized. Following the rich heritage of Catholic social teaching and the Gospels, Catholic colleges reached out to include those who were previously excluded. This meant providing an educational opportunity to African Americans and Latinos. Outreach programs were created such as Upward Bound and the Educational Opportunity Program. Efforts were made to hire faculty, staff and administrators from these previously excluded communities, and to change the curriculum.

This is the tradition of generosity that we are once again called upon to enact. In order for us to break boundaries in our current situation, especially because of the plight of the undocumented community that is largely Catholic, we need once again to return to the roots of our Catholic tradition, namely, Catholic social teaching as set down in the Gospels and Encyclicals of the Church.

Speaker: David T. Abalos received his B.A. from the University of Toronto, an M.A. from Marquette University and his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He has lectured and written extensively on multicultural and gender scholarship and on Latinas/Latinos in the United States from the perspective of a politics of transformation. His articles have appeared in Cross Currents, The Journal of Men’s Studies, The Journal of Religion, Disability and Health, The Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, Endeavors, The Journal of Dharma, The Nursing Forum, Democracy, The Latino Studies Journal, The Journal of Multicultural Education of New Jersey, The Community College Humanities Review and Liberal Education.

He published a monograph at Yale University, Chicanos in the United States: Redeeming the Past, Transforming the Future, he wrote a monograph, Teaching and Practicing Multicultural and Gender Fair Education from the Perspective of Transformational Politics, for the North Texas Community and Junior Colleges Consortium and he initiated a new monograph series for the Program in Ethnic Studies, University of San Diego, Confronting Issues of Race and Ethnicity in a Changing America From the Perspective of a Politics of Transformation.

He has also published the following books: Latinos in the United States The Sacred and the Political, University of Notre Dame Press, 1986, The Latino Family and the Politics of Transformation, Praeger Press (selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Book, 1994), Strategies of Transformation Toward a Multicultural Society: Fulfilling the Story of Democracy, Praeger Press, 1996; La Comunidad Latina in the United States: Personal and Political Strategies for Transforming Culture, Praeger Press, 1998 and The Latino Male: A Radical Redefinition, Lynne Rienner Press, 2002. In 2007 the University of Notre Dame Press published a revised, enlarged Second Edition of Latinos in the United States The Sacred and the Political. He is the editor of a new book authored by Prof. Manfred Halpern to be published in the Fall of 2009 by the University of Scranton Press, Transforming the Personal, Political, Historical and Sacred Faces of Our Being in Theory and Practice.

 In 1988 and again in 2002 he was given an award for Excellence in Scholarship Dedicated to Latina women and Latino men in the United States by the New Jersey Hispanic Association of Higher Education. During the Academic Year 1988‑1989, Professor Abalos served as a Faculty Fellow for the State of New Jersey to develop multicultural scholarship. In recognition of his work in the classroom, Professor Abalos was chosen by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education as New Jersey Professor of the Year for 1987‑88 and was also the recipient of a National Gold Medalist award for being one of the top ten outstanding university professors in the nation.

He has served as a Visiting Professor at Princeton University and at Yale University where he taught courses on Latino Politics. During the academic year 1993-1994, Prof. Abalos was a Visiting Professor in the Politics Department at Princeton University and also served as the Chicano/Latino Visiting Scholar at Illinois State University and as a Lilly Foundation Visiting Scholar at St. Norbert College, Green Bay, Wisconsin. He has served as an academic advisor working with k-12 faculty in New Jersey and throughout the country in order to assist in transforming the curriculum from a multicultural and gender fair perspective.

At commencement ceremonies in 2000, Prof. Abalos was awarded Seton Hall University’s highest honor, the Bishop Bernard J. McQuaid medal for distinguished service in recognition of his excellence in teaching and scholarship. During the Spring semesters, 2001 and 2002, Prof. Abalos served as a Visiting Professor in the Politics Department, Princeton University and during the academic year 2002-2003 he served as a Visiting Fellow in the Politics Department. In the Spring semesters of 2006, 2007 and 2008 Prof. Abalos once again served as a Visiting Professor in the Politics Department and returned as a Visiting Professor for the academic year 2008-2009 to the Politics Department at Princeton University.   

Respondent: Alberto Lopez Pulido, PhD, is chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and Chair of the President's Advisory Board on Inclusion and Diversity at the University of San Diego. He teaches both the introductory and advanced courses for the ethnic studies major in addition to specialized courses in Latina/o and Chicana/o Studies. His scholarly interests include the intersection of race, religion and social justice in addition to the history of ethnic studies in higher education and the intersection between race, music, and biography.

Pulido has published a range of numerous essays in books and journals such as the Journal of Catholic Social Thought; Crosscurrents; Religion and Literature; Journal of Religion and Education; Studies in Twentieth Century Literature; CENTRO:

Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies; American Quarterly; Latino Studies Journal. He is the author of the book: Sacred World of the Penitentes and his most recent book is entitled: Moving Beyond Borders: Julian Samora and the Establishment of Latino Studies.

He is currently completing a research project on deportation, violence, and migration along the U.S.-Mexico border with his colleague Dr. Oliva Ruiz. Pulido was mentored by the first Mexican American sociologist in the nation, Julian Samora, PhD, who had a distinguished career at the University of Notre Dame.