WHITING – Calumet College of St. Joseph hosted its 58th Annual Scholarship Gala on April 21, using the occasion to kick off the public phase of its four-year capital campaign, “Belonging and Becoming.”
The four-year Catholic institution is aiming to raise $7.5 million for scholarships, academic programs and equipment, technology, campus improvements and the creation of a Heritage Room to host small events and showcase institutional and industrial exhibits from the region, said CCSJ president Dr. Amy McCormack.
“We hope to create ‘pride in place’ by promoting the assets of the area with digital displays and active and passive educational displays,” she said of the seventh-floor space in the main building that will have a capacity of 100 and be used for college events as well as being open for use by the community.
“That space hasn’t been used in 20 years, so we want to take advantage of it to create something new. It even has a terrace,” added Dr. McCormack.
Other physical improvements planned on campus include enhanced green spaces, including landscaping and a new athletic practice field. “The community has been generous in sharing its facilities with our sports teams, so now we could share this new field with the community,” noted the CCSJ president, who has already established “a solid base” for the capital campaign through contributions by lead donors, alumni, the Diocese of Gary and the college’s sponsors, the Cincinnati Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.
Naming rights for the first CCSJ dormitory, which opened last fall, also remains available.
“I’ve been doing a lot of fundraising to make sure we can reach our overall goal,” Dr. McCormack added.
Scholarships will be the main beneficiary of the new funding, with up to 90% of students receiving some level of aid. Beyond that, “The Calumet Commitment” promises students tuition paid in full for their senior year if they enroll as freshmen, enter their senior year within seven semesters and maintain a 3.3 grade point average.
In addition to developing its capital campaign, said Dr. McCormack, the past year has been spent implementing a new strategic plan, “Serving and Strengthening Our Communities,” which was approved in 2022. “We are addressing both our internal college community and the external community,” noted Dr. McCormack. “Our vision statement calls on us to be ‘a vital and valued resource for the region and beyond, where students can be known, be successful and belong.’”
With service to the wider community in mind, added the CCSJ leader, the college has added a new Master of Public Administration degree expanding the institution’s historic commitment to addressing the educational needs of individuals engaged in law enforcement, nonprofit, municipal and other public sector fields. Structured as an accelerated adult-learning initiative, it requires only one night a week of classes for 22 months.
Another innovative educational experience is the annual Honors Learning Trip, a 5- to 10-day cultural immersion trip open to junior and senior honor students during the May time period between final exams and graduation. “Spain is the destination this year, and we’ll spend time with a Spanish diplomat who is a family friend of mine and visited campus last fall to meet the students,” said Dr. McCormack, who took her first Honors Learning trip to Alaska last year.
“The students have meetings, classes and projects to prepare for the trip, and there will be service opportunities available,” said Dr. McCormack. “It was really great to be with the students last year and I can’t wait to go again.”
Students pay no extra fees for the trip beyond their regular tuition. “It is a way to reward the students for staying on track to graduation and making their education a priority,” she added.
Also strengthening CCSJ’s academic program within the past year has been $8 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education through the Hispanic-Serving Institutions STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program, and the general Strengthening Hispanic-Serving Institutions grant that allows the expansion of services to low-income students by strengthening the academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability of eligible institutions.
A Lilly Endowment grant aims at introducing youngsters to college by funding College Explorers, a series of seven free summer youth camps on the CCSJ campus, ranging in length from a week to a month. Some are open to elementary school students (Summer Reading Camp, Mindfulness & Sports), others are geared to middle school students (Mindfulness & Sports, Earth Camp, Summer with Shakespeare and Science of Sports), and some serve high school students (Tekton Media Cap, Math Jump Start and Summer with Shakespeare). Visit ccsj.edu/camp2023 for more information.
Athletics at CCSJ expanded this spring with the first season of Midwest Sprint Football League competition among six, faith-based schools. The Crimson Wave went 5-0 during the regular season before falling in the league championship game to St. Mary-of-the-Woods College 34-28 in overtime.
“It was a great inaugural year,” Dr. McCormack said. “We played on the Whiting High School field, and this new sport brings great energy to the community.”
Also bringing great energy to the CCSJ campus is a new campus ministry team headed by Father Tim McFarland, C.PP.S., director of Mission and Ministry. He has been joined by full-time campus minister Larry Culbachini and Sister Mary Jo Sobieck, a Dominican sister who, through Big Shoulders Fund, will assist with outreach efforts to local Catholic schools in the Diocese of Gary and Archdiocese of Chicago and help with the summer youth camps.
Both Culbachini and Sister Mary Jo are adjunct faculty in the Theology Department, serving students in the classroom as well as in ministry.
“They are a really strong team and we can already feel a difference on campus and the ministry team activities,” said Dr. McCormack. “We are always working to expand service opportunities among the students and they are helping with that.”