Georgetown University

Georgetown University is launching a major initiative to deepen its commitment to tolerance and diversity and enhance global awareness of the challenges and opportunities of an era of increasing interconnectedness thanks to a $1.5 million gift from alumnus, donor and Board of Directors member William J. Doyle (C’72).

The gift creates the Doyle Building Tolerance Initiative to promote tolerance and intellectual engagement with diversity in the curriculum and outside the classroom. The initiative will be a campus-wide collaboration between Georgetown College, the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, and the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS).

“To educate future global leaders, universities have a critical role to play in building knowledge and understanding among social, cultural, and religious communities in and out of the classroom,” said Georgetown President John J. DeGioia. “I am deeply grateful for Bill Doyle’s vision and generosity in supporting this important work. It is one more way that we can continue to enhance Georgetown’s ongoing efforts to foster respect, diversity and inclusiveness.”

"Whether it be racial, religious, sexual or political intolerance, Georgetown is uniquely placed to undertake this initiative and teach the next generation of global leaders the skills necessary to help create a more civil world," said Doyle, who currently serves as president and chief executive officer of PotashCorp, located in Northbrook, Illinois, and Saskatoon, Canada. Potash is the largest fertilizer enterprise in the world. Doyle also serves on the boards of The Fertilizer Institute and International Plant Nutrition Institute. He graduated in 1972 from Georgetown’s undergraduate college of arts and sciences.

A core component of the Doyle Initiative, coordinated by CNDLS, will be the Doyle Faculty Fellowships. Each year a select group of fellows from all four undergraduate schools will have an opportunity to redesign and teach courses that integrate themes of tolerance and the engagement of difference in innovative ways. In the pilot year beginning this Fall, Doyle Fellows from across Georgetown will collaborate with CNDLS to develop strategies that connect issues of tolerance and diversity to the intellectual vitality of the curriculum and the life of the university. The program will expand over a period of 5 years with the goal of reaching the majority of students through at least one curriculum infusion course during their Georgetown career.

According to Georgetown College Dean Chester Gillis, “The Doyle Initiative will engage Georgetown students and serve as a model for other universities grappling with diversity on campus and with greater interconnectedness around the world.”

The Building Tolerance Initiative will also adapt and expand two successful programs run through the Berkley Center. The Junior Year Abroad Network links students studying abroad, and their encounter with new cultures around the world, back to the Georgetown community. The program will be expanded to create closer connections between participants and the curriculum and intellectual life on campus.

The Center’s Undergraduate Fellows program brings faculty and students together for joint DC-based research projects that explore the broader political and policy implications of cultural and religious diversity. Through the Doyle Initiative, the Undergraduate Fellows program will address the themes developed through curricular infusion models.

A central goal of the Building Tolerance Initiative will be to work with other offices and student groups on campus to cultivate a greater sense of community and intellectual engagement with difference. To that end, the Initiative will sponsor:
     -A Campus-Wide Lecture and Workshop Series with a national or global leader from business, government, or the professions to discuss how they have engaged difference in their careers and their organizations, followed by workshops led by Doyle Fellows.
     -An online Virtual Commons that connects students, faculty, courses, and activities on campus grappling with issues of tolerance and engaging difference.
     -An extension of the existing Undergraduate Learning and Interreligious Understanding study that tracks student attitudes towards religious diversity in response to experiences at Georgetown in and outside the classroom.

The Doyle Building Tolerance Initiative both builds on and expands the impact of the Georgetown Learning Initiatives, a collection of main campus strategic initiatives designed to transform teaching, learning, and curricular practices at Georgetown. 
 

About Georgetown University

Georgetown University is the oldest and largest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in Washington, DC, Doha, Qatar and around the world. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.