DePaul President Robert Manuel addressed faculty and staff members at the annual convocation on Thursday, Aug. 29. He called for dialogue and humanity in the university’s response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.

Convocation, which honors the official start of the new academic year, kicked off the academic year at the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church on the Lincoln Park campus with faculty and staff members gathering to celebrate.

President Manuel spoke on the tensions over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. He said that the DePaul community must recognize the different experiences of the affinity groups in the university. 

“We must move forward our understanding of how our university can create solutions to these unique realities, giving us an immediate and real opportunity to increase our commitment to equity in our very diverse community,” Manuel said in his speech. 

He also announced the creation of the Dialogue Collaborative which aims to “uphold academic freedom and free expression, while also treating one another with respect and decency,” according to Manuel. 

Lexa Murphy, the dean of the College of Communication, is one of the faculty members leading the Dialogue Collaborative effort. She said it focuses on facilitating conversations. 

“The idea is to really look at the ways in which dialogue is already being taught, practiced (and) researched in different areas across the university,” Murphy said. “We want to pull those things together to make a bigger impact.” 

In addition to Manuel’s speech, staff and faculty from across the university attended the convocation to welcome in the new academic year. 

Murphy said she still gets excited for the start of the school year. 

“I’m looking forward to more opportunities to talk, learn and grow with each other; to build our DePaul community; to still see freshmen coming in and see each student going through their own experiences year by year,” Murphy said. 

Faculty and staff members were honored for their work at the convocation. They were given recognition for several awards including the Via Sapientiae Award, Excellence in Teaching Award, the Spirit of Inquiry Award and the Spirit of DePaul award among other honors. 

Yesenia Sanchez-Giancola, the director of first-year academic success, has been working at DePaul for 25 years. She was one of six people who were honored with the Spirit of DePaul Award. She said she was surprised by the recognition.

“I want students to be successful and I want them to graduate,” Sanchez-Giancola said. “To see them cross the stage is one of the best realizations of all my hard work.”

The awards are given to those who uphold DePaul’s mission of instruction and learning. 

Victoria Agunod, a peace, justice and conflict studies professor, was recognized with an Excellence in Teaching Award at the convocation. She said having a supportive faculty can help students and other professors. 

“There’s such a front … between professor and student, and I just don’t think that’s helpful anymore,” she said. “I think that students really (learn) when we form real relationships and connections with each other.”

Manuel made his remarks at the end of the ceremony. He said that DePaul is “doing fine financially,” which comes after an external audit found DePaul’s financial status to be ‘solid’ in January. 

Manuel also discussed the progress of Designing DePaul which was introduced in 2023. It aims to provide guidance to colleges, schools and departments in the creation of their strategic plans. It focuses on five key principles, including community, mission, values, financial principles and innovation.

He noted that the final draft of the Designing DePaul initiatives will be published in January 2025.

“Our progress will continue as we transform into a national leader in quality higher education,” Manuel said.

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