2008 Woodie Awards
Three staff members of CILSA resign
Alex Branch
Issue date: 5/15/07 Section: News
The Catholic Institute for Lasallian Social Action (CILSA) is suffering some serious losses this year, perhaps none greater than the departure of the only director of its eight year existence, Janet Luce. In addition to losing Luce, or "Lucie" as many know her, Molleen Dupree, Norma Lopez, and Debbie Ng have also stepped down from their positions. All together, it is the exit of one director, two assistant directors, and a coordinator, in the course of just over a semester, that leaves CILSA looking not only for new personnel, but also for new homes for some of its programs.
In the eight years of CILSA's existence under the leadership of Luce, Saint Mary's has "progressed from a campus with sporadic individual efforts in civic engagement to having an annual record of 1,000 students who perform more than 47,000 hours of service," according to a recent email release from Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Frances Sweeney. CILSA operates programs like Jump Start, Bonner Leader, and Carnival-4-Kids, and has collaborated with faculty to create service oriented classes like the January Term class that helped rebuild New Orleans.
Of Luce's departure, Student Action Leadership Team (SALT) member and co-chair for Carnival-4-Kids Tiffany Melo '09, said, "I'm sad to see her leave. She has had a great impact on my life and working with CILSA. She exposed me to different types of leadership skills and qualities, and was able to help mold me into the better leader I am today."
With the loss of Molleen Dupree, some of the CILSA programs, like Spring into Action: Day of Service and Lasallian Community have had to be taken over by other departments; and some programs such as Cummins Summer for the Common Good, have yet to find new homes.
Despite the challenge facing CILSA, Luce said, "I feel like CILSA's in a great place now. It's a developed program that will just take off and fly. CILSA does not need me." Luce described her decision to leave the college as "more of a life choice; just needing to slow down." A woman who is not old, but no longer young, Luce cites her commute from San Francisco as a major factor in her retirement from Saint Mary's. "For every month that I'm at Saint Mary's working, I drive the equivalent of a week in time. It's a really stressful, exhausting drive, and over eight years, it wears you down."
In the eight years of CILSA's existence under the leadership of Luce, Saint Mary's has "progressed from a campus with sporadic individual efforts in civic engagement to having an annual record of 1,000 students who perform more than 47,000 hours of service," according to a recent email release from Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Frances Sweeney. CILSA operates programs like Jump Start, Bonner Leader, and Carnival-4-Kids, and has collaborated with faculty to create service oriented classes like the January Term class that helped rebuild New Orleans.
Of Luce's departure, Student Action Leadership Team (SALT) member and co-chair for Carnival-4-Kids Tiffany Melo '09, said, "I'm sad to see her leave. She has had a great impact on my life and working with CILSA. She exposed me to different types of leadership skills and qualities, and was able to help mold me into the better leader I am today."
With the loss of Molleen Dupree, some of the CILSA programs, like Spring into Action: Day of Service and Lasallian Community have had to be taken over by other departments; and some programs such as Cummins Summer for the Common Good, have yet to find new homes.
Despite the challenge facing CILSA, Luce said, "I feel like CILSA's in a great place now. It's a developed program that will just take off and fly. CILSA does not need me." Luce described her decision to leave the college as "more of a life choice; just needing to slow down." A woman who is not old, but no longer young, Luce cites her commute from San Francisco as a major factor in her retirement from Saint Mary's. "For every month that I'm at Saint Mary's working, I drive the equivalent of a week in time. It's a really stressful, exhausting drive, and over eight years, it wears you down."