Our History
The Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative emerged from the following sources:
SCU’s interdisciplinary 2015 conference, Our Future on a Shared Planet, which engaged leaders in Silicon Valley and beyond in conversation with the teachings of Pope Francis in his landmark encyclical Laudato Si’ on the global challenges of social justice and environmental sustainability.
The interdisciplinary Faculty Collaborative for Environmental Justice and the Common Good, formed by SCU’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education.
A conference on university-community partnerships for environmental justice and the common good, convened by the collaborative at SCU in May 2019.
Collaborations and discussions with colleagues at other Jesuit institutions in the U.S. and abroad, especially with the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Integral Ecology Affinity Group; Fr. Michael Garanzini, S.J., the Secretary General of Higher Education for the Society of Jesus; Fr. Pedro Walpole, S.J. of the global publication EcoJesuit and the Environmental and Economic Justice Working Group of the International Association of Jesuit Universities; and Nancy Tuchman, Dean of the Institute of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago.
A multi-year funding commitment by SCU Presidents Fr. Michael Engh, S J., and Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J. to launch the Initiative.