Mangaluru: Addressing the media persons during the press meet held at Mangalore Press Club, Mangalurean origin, Dr. Gonsalves, who recently received a Fulbright Specialist grant from the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairsand who is on an assignment to work in Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work, said ” The Fulbright Specialist Program (FSP) promotes linkages between U.S. scholars and professionals and their counterparts at host institutions overseas. The program awards grants to qualified U.S. faculty and professionals, in select disciplines, to engage in short-term collaborative two- to six-week projects at eligible institutions in over 140 countries worldwide”.
She further said, “Project requests are submitted by non-U.S. institutions and focus on strengthening and supporting institutions’ development needs. Eligible activities include short-term lecturing, conducting seminars, teacher training, assessments and evaluations, special conferences or workshops, as well as collaborating on faculty development and curriculum or institutional planning”.
Interacting with Dr Gonsalves at the press meet I learnt that while at Roshni Nilaya, Dr. Gonsalves will seed a Critical Service Learning project using her signature Creative Peaceful Resistance (CPR) approach. Students will connect with local domestic workers and learn about their insights and visions for change. Local artists will translate these visions into a full color mural—the first of many to be installed in a reflection park, which is being built on the Roshni Campus. Dr Gonsalves hopes that this CPR project, which is seeded in Mangaluru, will be replicated in universities across India and around the world.
The Unveiling of the Mural and Opening of the Reflection Park will be on Saturday, April 18th 2015, between 11:00 – 12:00 A.M. at Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work- Valencia here. Dr Lorna’s 93 years young dad, Joe Gonsalves, who is a active social worker in the community, and also her husband Peter Pinto, a PhD holder were also present during the press meet.
Speaking to me after the press meet, Dr Lorna Gonsalves sharing her personal thoughts on the project said, ” As a candidate for the Specialist Program, I want to use my teaching and community organizing experience to realize all three goals of the program and in particular, I want “to encourage new activities that go beyond the core Fulbright activities of lecturing and research.” I will involve faculty and students in eligible activities such as intellectual engagement, interactive seminars, hands-on community outreach, professional development, and institutional growth”.
“Education has a special role to play in grooming leaders who are not only professionally skilled but who are humane and empathetic—leaders who are able to critically examine social issues, resist violence and injustice, and envision creative, peaceful strategies for building just communities. I am excited about using service-learning as a tool for cultivating the type of student learning and leadership envisioned by William Fulbright himself. Students and faculty members continue to express a deep concern about injustices, and a desire to improve conditions in their communities. They seek something more than the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge”.
“The Fulbright Specialist Program has the potential for playing an instrumental role in fulfilling this largely unmet need in educational institutions. To this end, I am eager to work with my global counterparts to launch service-learning projects that take students into marginalized communities to learn about the concerns and visions of otherwise ignored people and to work with local artists to herald these visions to the public. These acts of peaceful resistance serve as calls to action. They, at once, beautify, engage, and inspire campus and city communities. My interest in marrying knowledge and application, and my passion for working to link education with the promotion of justice, peace, and good will in the U.S. and abroad, have motivated me to work on this project”.
“Having taught in academe and worked in the community, I understand the value of including professionals who have both academic and community experience in any effort towards meaningful civic engagement and community outreach. We are, thankfully, moving beyond traditional exchanges that brought in “experts” who used a one-way transmission of information and focused attention solely within the confines of the classroom. Conversations with teachers/students in India, South Africa, Ecuador, Switzerland, and Mexico, point to a need for service-learning programs through which students and traditionally marginalized people can work together to address pressing social problems. I believe that my work with my counterparts abroad will constitute a step towards fulfilling this need” she added..
“With increasing divisions, conflicts and violations of human and civil rights, visionary educators in the U.S. and abroad are eager to build civic engagement and creative peaceful resistance work into their courses. I realize from studying great educators like Gandhi, Mandela, and King, that creative peaceful resistance is an essential leadership building skill and a core concept that needs to be taught and applied both on campus and within larger communities. I am interested in working with my international colleagues to explore ways in which service-learning can be used to foster empathy, respect, and goodwill. Global summits adorned with visual images that reflect the process and outcomes of service-learning projects can serve as seed beds for sprouting transformative ideas and building partnerships across international boundaries. Imagine the power of engaging faculty, students, and community members in inter-continental exchanges about lessons learned from service-learning projects that promote justice, peace, and good will! ”
Concluding Dr Gonsalves said, “I feel very fortunate to work with the faculty, staff, and students at Roshni. Roshni’s progressive mission and values are very much in line with the goals of the project and I have received a very enthusiastic response from all involved. This premier institution is a fitting site to seed this project. My projects follow these trajectory: Recruitment of participants; Interactive Seminars for all involved; Investigation in the form of listening and learning session; Sketching process for artists; Creation of the mural; Building of the reflection park; Closing event—unveiling of the mural and opening of the reflection park; Debriefing and Assessment ; Follow up Process
About Lorna Gonsalves, Ph.D. – A brief Profile :
Dr. Lorna Gonsalves is an award winning educator and community organizer. She uses innovative strategies, including creative peaceful resistance, to resuscitate justice and revive hope within communities that are otherwise forgotten and left behind. She recently received a Fulbright Specialist grant and is on an assignment in RoshniNilaya School of Social Work in Mangalore. At Roshni, Dr. Gonsalves will seed a Critical Service Learning project using her signature Creative Peaceful Resistance (CPR) approach. Students will connect with domestic workers and learn about their insights and visions for change. Local artists will translate these visions into a full color mural—the first of many to be installed in a reflection park, which is being built on the Roshni Campus. It is the hope of all that this CPR project will be replicated in universities across India and around the world.
Previously, she has worked for UNESCO and has collaborated with counterparts in South Africa and Switzerland to work with young leaders from around the world. Prior to joining the Institute, she was the architect of the Campaign to Promote Racial Justice; a project of the Washington D.C. based National League of Cities. Under her yearlong Directorship, mayors and other elected officials from more than 200 cities from 48 states joined the campaign, plotting out their anti- racist agendas in a workbook of Dr. Gonsalves’ devising. Undoing Racism, a documentary video which she co-produced, won the Aegis and Telly awards.
Before heading up the Campaign to Promote Racial Justice, Dr. Gonsalves served as Associate Provost for Diversity at Bowling Green State University. Her tenure there saw her spearhead Breaking the Silence, a program that brought together members of the campus and city communities to address the largely unspoken realities of racism. She produced a documentary video outlining the yearlong initiative, and then-Ohio Governor George Voinovich publicly recognized the program for its outstanding contribution to enhancing race relations in the state.
A strong proponent of community policing, Dr. Gonsalves has worked extensively with Police Chiefs and law enforcement officials in the State of Ohio. Recognizing the futility of purely punitive and retributive approaches, she explores those that are restorative and transformative. For her activist efforts in the Northwest Ohio area, she has received such awards as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major Award and the Servant Leadership Award. She was raised in four of India’s major cities, and came to the United States in 1972. Her academic background includes a diploma in Opera Performance, an undergraduate degree in Psychology, a master’s degree in Counseling, and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology.
Establishing a “Reflection Park” at Roshni Nilaya under the expert Leadership of Dr. Lorna Gonsalves would be a marvelous idea indeed. The intellectual crop of Mangalore should be thrilled with this proposal and should therefore embrace this thought overwhelmingly with an all-out support. Interaction between faculty members of different Educational Groups in Mangalore does take time. Faculty members are little hesitant to come forward and express their views on so many issues that need be addressed spontaneously with an open heart because each Institution has their own internal policies and philosophies while sharing their ideas openly for public debates. Dr. Lorna Gonsalves however has selected the right Institution in Mangalore to expose the “Reflection Park”, and we are sure that both Dr. Jacinta D’Souza and Dr. Sophie will extend their best possible support. We were in Mangalore last year for the Annual Day of Roshni Nilaya where they brought a lady from the Mangalore University to be the key-note Speaker. The presentation that Dr. Sophie made thru an impressive power point presentation on the wide spectrum of Roshni Nilaya’s intellectual activities followed by the key note speech from Dr. Begum was highly admirable. Mangalore has the best substance to reciprocate all that Dr. Lorna Gonsalves has in store and you have our whole hearted support for this worthy cause towards Mangalore that will benefit from all around. God bless Mangalore, because thru the Educational foundation and support Mangalore will continue to flourish ‘ten-fold’.