Community Involvement
DePaul was founded in 1898 by the Congregation of the Mission (or Vincentian) religious community, which follows the teachings of 17th century French priest St. Vincent de Paul. His teachings emphasized service to the community, an area in which the university has a long history of commitment.

  • DePaul's service learning program was named as one of the nation's top programs of its kind by U.S. News & World Report in its 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008 "America's Best Colleges" ranking guides. DePaul also was recognized as one of the country's best universities for fostering social responsibility and public service in the 2005 national guidebook "Colleges with a Conscience: 81 Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement."

  • DePaul's dedication to community engagement has been recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which is the nation's premier higher education research and advocacy organization.  Carnegie included  DePaul in its first class of designees for its new Community Engagement classification making the university one of only 62 universities in the nation -and the only one in Illinois-to earn the highest honor.

  • In May of 2001, DePaul announced the establishment of the Irwin W. Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning. The center, established with a $5 million gift from philanthropist Harrison I. Steans, enhances DePaul's commitment to serving the community. Community service courses are offered university-wide. In the 2007-08 academic year, the Steans Center developed and supported more than 200 courses linking faculty, students, and community-based organizations through an experiential learning methodology that integrates community service into courses. The center placed over 3,400 DePaul undergraduate and graduate students in over 150 community organizations that year.

  • DePaul University was the recipient of the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, with distinction, for 2006, 2007 and 2008. DePaul was one of only three institutions in Illinois to receive this award, which is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement.

  • Coordinated by DePaul's University Ministry, The DePaul Community Service Association is a group of 18 student leaders who each organize teams of between 10 and 30 students to work with Chicago community groups on a variety of public service projects throughout the city. Students commit to at least three hours of public service every week, such as tutoring Chicago public school children, rehabbing city homes and helping homeless people.

  • More than 350 Chicagoans have benefited from the Mayor's Leadership Scholarship program, a joint effort between DePaul and the City of Chicago to award scholarships to students who serve the community. The program began in 1992 and has offered $2.5 million in grants to students who demonstrate leadership through civic, church or school activities. The program was scheduled to end in 2000, but DePaul has continued it to show the university's strong commitment to educating Chicago students who are the first generation in their families to attend college and the disenfranchised.

  • The Egan Urban Center at DePaul offers faculty, students and staff opportunities to collaborate with Chicago community organizations to address critical urban problems, alleviate poverty and promote social justice through teaching, service and scholarship. The center has assisted community groups in Chicago's neighborhoods with a wide variety of projects, from rehabilitating housing to teaching computer skills.

  • DePaul has established a Vincentian Service Fellowship Program that offers the opportunity to pursue graduate studies in public service, education, law, computer science and other fields for qualified students dedicated to the Vincentian ideal of service.

  • Approximately 3,000 students, faculty and staff participate in DePaul's two annual service days, working to assist Chicago schools, parks and clinics.

  • In May of 2001, DePaul received a $25,000 grant from Ameritech to establish a Center for Small Business Modernization in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. The goal is to help local businesses improve operations and modernize information technology to increase competitiveness.

  • More than 100 DePaul students participate annually in an "Alternative Spring Break," in which they travel to urban and rural areas and assist local community service organizations, as opposed to taking a traditional, recreational spring break trip.

  • Groups of DePaul students and faculty annually travel to impoverished communities in El Salvador to assist with community service projects, such as day care, elder care, and rebuilding homes destroyed in an earthquake. The groups also conduct research projects in conjunction with local universities in the Central American region.

  • DePaul founded the Center for Community Research in February of 2001 to oversee a variety of university-based research projects on social and health issues affecting the public.

  • The International Human Rights Law Institute of the College of Law, recognized worldwide for its collection of data on war crimes in Bosnia, helped to spearhead the establishment an international criminal court. The institute currently is working to help Iraq build a new legal system rooted in law by training lawyers, faculty and students at law schools in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra under a grant from the United States Agency for International Development. It also is training 450 judges in Afghanistan to help the country rebuild its justice system.

  • DePaul is developing a range of programs to retrain local residents for information technology jobs in the state, part of an effort to bridge the "digital divide" that exists between cities and towns with abundant resources and areas with scant or limited technology resources.

  • DePaul’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center opened in 2003 to offer student, alumni and community entrepreneurs assistance with starting and growing businesses.


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