Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
In this space, Creighton and our partners will form a new generation of global citizens, future leaders who will dedicate their lives to improving our world by serving its most vulnerable.
By Micah Mertes
Creighton University has opened a new high-tech classroom and communal space on the Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC) campus in the Dominican Republic’s Santiago de los Caballeros.
Funded entirely by private donors, the two-story, 3,000-square-foot global classroom is available to Creighton students and Creighton-sponsored engagements and activities. Locally, the center will be called “el Salón Global” (the Global Classroom).
This month, Creighton President the Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD, joined project donors and select members of Creighton and ILAC’s governing Boards for a special ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“For more than 50 years, Creighton’s Institute for Latin American Concern has provided a life-changing experience for hundreds of students, faculty and staff,” said Father Hendrickson. “The global classroom will help ensure that this tradition continues by providing a state-of-the-art instructional and communal space that supports the immersive learning and personal transformation that define the ILAC experience.”
The lower level is a technology-rich and adaptable space for individual or group learning, working and connectivity, while the upper level is for relaxation, reflection, building community and conversation — or, in the Dominican lexicon, “las charlas” (chats). The roof includes a 48-panel, 31.2-kilowatt solar array, bringing additional energy conservation to ILAC’s sustainable campus.
The two original classrooms (salónes) adjacent to the new facility are being renovated by ILAC. The Encuentro Dominicano library, offices and sleeping quarters were renovated and refreshed in 2022.
The global classroom, Father Hendrickson said, will accelerate new opportunities for student engagement in research, economic development, and environmental sustainability across the Dominican Republic’s communities, where Creighton has long-standing health partnerships.
Since 1973, Creighton has provided service, medical and cultural immersion programming for students in the Dominican Republic, hosted by the University’s longtime partner Centro de Educacion para la Salud Integral (CESI), or Misión ILAC.
Every year, Creighton students in the School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, College of Nursing, School of Pharmacy and Health Professions travel to the Dominican Republic to serve people in underdeveloped communities who lack access to healthcare.
Meanwhile, through the Encuentro Dominicano program, Creighton undergraduates participate in a semester-long study of the history, sociology, politics, economics, religion and sustainable development of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean. Encuentro Dominicano culminates in a service-learning experience based on the ILAC campus.
The ILAC campus is also the host site for the Arrupe Global Scholars and Partnerships Program, which, since 2022, has paired dozens of Creighton medical students with local healthcare teams in the Dominican Republic and other countries to meet the health needs of the international poor.
“I cannot overstate the importance of the first-hand knowledge and understanding our students gain working for and with others on the ILAC campus,” Father Hendrickson said.
“This is a program that perfectly exemplifies our commitment to global engagement, and the global classroom will be a profoundly impactful addition. In this space, Creighton and our partners will form a new generation of global citizens, future leaders who will dedicate their lives to improving our world by serving its most vulnerable.”
