Murray-Green Library
10th Floor, Auditorium Building, Chicago Campus
What is research? How can research help me? What does research look like in my major? How would I get started with research? Who should I contact to get involved in research? I’ve completed one project; what’s next? I’ve just transferred in, but I don’t know where to get started at Roosevelt! What are my peers’ experiences conducting research? Who else can I speak with about my process?
Information for students
Research & Inquiry Orientation day (RIO) welcomes all students across Roosevelt University colleges and departments who have conducted or are interested in research, inquiry, internship and similarly types of projects. Activities are geared for students at all levels–if you’re just learning about research, have just transferred to Roosevelt and/or students who are continuing to learn and build research experience.
Learn about research processes and opportunities in workshops led by departments and programs;
Connect with students interested in research through peer-to-peer sessions;
This one-day fall event on the Chicago campus aims to foster student interest in research and contribute to the creation of an inclusive research culture at Roosevelt. We will convene colleges, departments and offices to facilitate 30-60 minute sessions that offer students greater insight into research & inquiry practices across the disciplines. We hope the sessions will help familiarize students with research topics, resources, early skill-building, and information about opportunities to get involved whether department/discipline-specific or university-wide. In addition, we will facilitate peer- to peer networking sessions to build conversations among students about research activities.
Currently accepting session proposals from faculty & staff. If you or your department would like to participate in this event by hosting a session, moderating a discussion and/or referring students you think may be interested, please fill out our RIO ‘25 session submission form at this link (scroll down the page).
Mind and body are such fundamental concepts that we often take them for granted, but recent events have served as a reminder of how central they are to the American Dream. For example, the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade served as a stark example about the body itself as a site of political contestation. Roosevelt University is uniquely suited to explore this theme. As an educational institution, one of the University’s central missions is promoting and celebrating the life of the mind.
The Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt is centrally focused on education that brings together mind and body in music, theater, and dance. In addition, as a participant in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and potentially Division II of the National Association of Collegiate Athletics (NCAA), the University is home to more than two dozen sports teams that encourage students to hone their physical development.
Please join us at 2pm CST in the Fainman Lounge in RU’s historic Auditorium Building for an encore performance of the original devised play, “Without Water,” conceived and written by the first-year BFA Acting Class of 2026 and directed by Prof. Elise Kauzlaric in the CCPA’s Theatre Conservatory. The performance will be bracketed by commentary on the role of water in the urban environment by students in Prof. Mike Bryson’s SUST 360 Writing Urban Nature honors seminar, followed by an interactive discussion among the two groups of students and the audience.
Alumni, students, and faculty of the Sustainability Studies Program @RooseveltU are featured in the Oct. 18 Tuesday online panel discussion at 7pm CST on the topic, “Is the American Dream Sustainable?” with a special focus on Chicago as a city. The panel will be broadcast live on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube — links to those social media sites are below.
Is the American Dream Sustainable?
The science of urban ecology demonstrates that cities are not mere technological constructions, distinct from and diametrically opposed to nature, but complex ecosystems. As laboratories for sustainable innovation, such as green rooftops, cities offer a unique vantage point for re-imagining the sustainability of the American Dream. Using Chicago as a prime exemplar, our panel consisting of students and alumni will explore how urban sustainability advancements and environmental justice activism are redefining how we think about and work toward the American Dream.
Featured Panelists
Yesenia Balcazar (BA ’18) — Senior Resilient Community Planning Manager at the Southeast Environmental Task Force; MA in urban planning and policy (UIC ’21)
Dan Lyvers (BA ’21) — Chief Operating Engineer at the Stickney wastewater treatment plant (the world’s largest such facility), Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicagoland
This is a great opportunity for RU students in all disciplines to present their research, get public speaking experience, receive feedback from faculty experts on their work, network with fellow students at Chgo-area universities, and build professional credentials for their work résumés or grad school applications.
In addition, the Office of Student Research @RooseveltU is running a student workshop this Fri 2/22 at 1pm on the Chgo Campus geared toward preparing students for the RU Student Research Symposium on Fri 4/12 and/or the CAURS on Sat 4/13. See below for details!
Research Presentation Workshop @RU, 2/22, 1pm Learning Commons
Students, colleagues, and friends — please attend and participate in this major conference at Roosevelt next month, which should be a galvanizing week on our campus. The theme couldn’t be more timely, considering the tensions, rancor, and controversies of the current election season. In particular, I’m looking forward to speaking on a faculty panel addressing the presidential election (Wed 9/14, 4:15pm) and participating in Service Day on 9/15. The following text is from Roosevelt’s official announcement of the conference. Be sure to register soon!
What does the American Dream mean today? That’s the topic of a major conference Roosevelt University will be hosting Sept. 12-15 in Chicago.
At more than a dozen lectures and discussions, leading American scholars, activists and entrepreneurs will analyze the American Dream and how it affects millennials, education, health care, real estate, immigration, politics and more.
“The American Dream is about every individual who aspires to achieve more in life,” said Ali Malekzadeh, president of Roosevelt University and a native of Iran. “Understanding our national ethos of democracy and equality has never more urgent. At the American Dream Reconsidered Conference, we will present many viewpoints on what it means to be an American in these challenging times.”
The conference, sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, McDonald’s Corporation and other organizations, also celebrates Malekzadeh’s first year in office. It is being held in lieu of formal and expensive presidential installation ceremonies commonly held on university campuses. Instead, President Malekzadeh has led an effort to discuss the future of the American Dream and initiate a new scholarship program for six outstanding Roosevelt students. Among the highlights of the first annual American Dream Reconsidered Conference are:
• A conversation with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel on “The American Dream — Globalization, Technology and Progress.” (Sept. 13, 12:30-1:45 p.m.)
• A lecture by Pedro Noguera, distinguished professor of Education at UCLA, on “The Five Principles of Courageous Leadership to Guide Achievement of Every Student.” (Sept. 12 , 6:00-7:30 p.m., Roosevelt’s Goodman Center)
• A panel discussion on “The Current State of the American Dream” featuring John W. Rogers Jr., founder and CEO of Ariel Investments; Melissa Bean, Midwest chair of JP Morgan Chase and former member of the U.S. Congress; Rabbi Abie Ingber, executive director of the Center for Interfaith Community Engagement at Xavier University and Ali Malekzadeh, Roosevelt president. (Sept. 14, 9:30 to 10:45 a.m.)
Jelani Cobb, professor at Univ of CN
• “A Conversation on Justice, Race and the American Dream” with Martha C. Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund distinguished service professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago and Jelani Cobb, professor of journalism at Columbia University and staff writer at the New Yorker magazine. (3:30 to 5 p.m., Sept. 13)
• “A Conversation on Community Leadership and Social Justice,” moderated by Samuel Betances, and including Tom Burrell, founder of Burrell Communications; Gloria Castillo, president and CEO of Chicago United; Father Michael Pfleger, St. Sabina’s Church; Dana Suskind, University of Chicago Medicine and founder of the Thirty Million Words Initiative and Omar Yamini, activist and author. (Sept. 12, 1:30 to 3 p.m.)
Other panel discussions during the week focus on: immigration (Sept. 14, 2 to 3:15); the Affordable Care Act (Sept. 13, 9:30 to 11 a.m.); the 2016 presidential election (Sept. 14, 4:15 to 5:45 p.m.); real estate (Sept. 13, 9:30 to 11 a.m.); and corporate America (Sept. 14, 4:15 to 5:45 p.m.). There is also a film on millennials created by undergraduate students.
On the last day of the conference, Thursday, Sept. 15, Roosevelt will award BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois American Dream Scholarships to outstanding Roosevelt students. The University community will also participate in the American Dream Service Day, when students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the University will volunteer at 30 nonprofit organizations throughout the Chicago area.
Eleanor Roosevelt with RU students in 1945
Roosevelt University, home of the American Dream Reconsidered Conference, was founded in 1945 to protest discriminatory racial and religious college admission quotas, and remains dedicated to providing access to higher education for all qualified students.
“Education is the key to achieving the American Dream,” President Malekzadeh said. “That’s why Roosevelt is hosting this conference.”
The American Dream Reconsidered Conference is free and open to the public, however reservations are requested. For more details and to register, visit: www.Roosevelt.edu/americandream. The conference will be centered at Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, with additional events at RU’s campus in Schaumburg, IL.
Next week I’ll be attending and presenting at the Integrated Network for Social Sustainability Conference, a national multi-site conference that is hosted locally by the Institute of Cultural Affairs in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. I’ll be presenting on Thursday 6/9 at 2:45pm in the Education & Culture session along with my colleague, friend, and co-author Mr. Michael Howard, executive director and co-founder of Eden Place Nature Center on Chicago’s South Side.
To see an interactive agenda, register, and attend the conference, check out this link. Hope to see you there! An overview is also available here (pdf).
Today I’m en route to Gunnison CO, home of Western State Colorado University, to participate in the 25th annual Headwaters Conference sponsored by the university’s Center for Environment and Sustainability. This year’s conference focuses on the notion of “The Relative Wild,” and features a keynote address by acclaimed poet Gary Snyder as well as a full day of presentations and discussions on various aspect of wildness. I’m speaking tomorrow as part of a panel discussing the “urban wild” — in particular, the experience of urban nature and its relation to kids and environmental education.
Crested Butte, CO
On Sunday, I join a group of writers convened by Gavin Van Horn (Center for Humans and Nature in Chicago) and John Hausdoerffer (WSCU Headwaters Project) for a long-anticipated writer’s retreat in nearby Crested Butte. We’ll be sharing ideas, outlines, and initial jottings to kick off a new book project to be co-edited by Gavin and John that’s tentatively titled The Relative Wild — a collection of stories and essays that, as the editors describe it,
will explore how human and ecological communities co-create the wild. The ‘myth of the pristine’ — that nature is most valuable when liberated from human presence — is quickly being supplanted by ‘the myth of the humanized,’ the assertion that nothing is untouched by human influence, and therefore one may embrace ecosystem change, even extreme changes, as ‘natural.’ We suggest that both of these myths deserve equal scrutiny, and that one way to do so is by celebrating the common ground of the relative wild: the degrees and integration of wildness and human influence in any place.
Having participated in a previous CHN writer’s retreat at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for the forthcoming book City Creatures (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2015), I know firsthand how extraordinary an opportunity it is to take time out from the busy schedules and harried demands of ordinary life to mingle with talented and creative writers all focused on a common project. The fact that this is happening in a beautiful mountain setting at the autumnal equinox is even better!
