When service will be at the core of academic learning, promotions and programs, universities will rediscover the value of communities....
​Dr. Marco Tavanti

Public Service as Vocation

Service is central to Dr. Tavanti's vocation as academic, scholar and professional. Ultimately, service is more than a list of committees in the department, college or university - it is about making a difference through servant leadership, collegial works and shared governance to contributing to the true excellence and engagement of academia. Service is about 'practicing' our teaching and research, in Dr. Tavanti's case, public, social and international service.  Service to the community is more than board services. It is about making our expertise a 'pro-bono' contribution to create, develop and institutionalize organizations, programs and projects. This should be done in a way that best benefit society, especially the poor and disenfranchised people and sectors of society. There is a growing movement in academia to make 'service' a central element in teaching (service learning) and research (participatory action research). Unfortunately current promotion and tenure standards do not sufficiently take into account service in its impact in the community, relevance to the discipline and integration with teaching and research. Academic institutions that value service in their mission should be at the forefront of recognizing, promoting, rewarding service. Dr. Tavanti's perspective of service is ultimately community-oriented or connected to his international service and professional career. The following are samples of Dr. Tavanti's services to the university and community. 

Service as Immersions
Immersions as Service

Throughout my academic career I designed and coordinated more than 25 immersion academic global programs in numerous contexts. These include immersions in Chiapas, Mexico to understand indigenous rights and struggles for sustainable development  or the immersion in Rome, Italy to understand forced migrations policies and refugee service management. These are not just study abroad. They are also not academic tourism or poverty tourism. Through the attentive and strategic design of working with local partner organizations, benefitting from the expert coordination of a local scholar-practitioner, and linking the visits around possible collaborative project and a long term presence, we have been able to place the university at the service of the community - the local and global community. At the same time, these immersions are not just service learning or practical activities that local people would be able to do. They are for leveraging our collaborative impact to make a difference through our diversity capacity and sustained engagement.  

M.tra Marina Patricia Jimenez Ramirez, the DePaul and Loyola Chicago Chiapas Program Coordinator, during a visit to the Zapatista Autonomous Community in Oventic.

Chiapas Service Impact
on indigenous women rights

Marina Patricia Jimenez Ramirez, formerly the Executive Director of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center (CDHFBC), served as Coordinator of the Chiapas Program for Dr. Tavanti at Loyola University Chicago and DePaul University. Her knowledge of indigenous communities, indigenous rights and women rights she been instrumental to for the sustained benefit and strategic impact of our immersion programs. For example in March 2007 we run a conference on indigenous rights and sustainable development at Universita de la Tierra Chiapas (UNITIERRA) where about 300 indigenous women and men received a certificate of participation from our represented universities. It was a truly empowerment moment. The following year in March 2008 we held a similar conference in collaboration with an Dr Lauriano Rodriguez Ortiz at the Law Faculty of UNACH. During the panel presentation that included community representatives invited by Marina a participant stood up and said: "In all the years that I have been to events of this university, it is the first time that I see an indigenous women speaking from the podium of this Aula Magna." His observations made me proud of our service-impact and  reinforced my conviction that our service to the university can become also impactful service of communities. Read more about the Sustainable Chiapas Program >>

The Water with Dignity Center founded by actor Martin Sheen in the middle of the Payatas garbage dump. It also became a daycare center, a schoolhouse and playground for children, a true oasis surrounded by rotting garbage. Bulldozers covered it with garbage just a few weeks after Dr. Tavanti took this photo.

Manila Service Impact
​on urban poverty reduction

Fr. Greg Banaga, President of Adamson University in Manila, Philippines as well as Fr. Nonong Fajardo, Director of the Vincentian Center for Social Responsibility have been close collaborators with Dr. Tavanti to make the Manila Program impactful for reducing urban poverty. During the collaborative planning visit in 2007, we visited the Fr. Norberto Carcellar,  and his work for micro-finance among the scavengers in the garbage dump of Payatas, Queson City (Metro Manila). While many visitors, including actor Martin Sheen, are moved by the desperate conditions of the tens of thousands of people who live there as squatters, they often overlook the many popular organizations and self-help groups around recycling and micro-savings. "You think these people are poor? Wait until you see the people living along the railroad," Fr. Nonong told Dr. Tavanti. Indeed, the informal settlers of the railroad were living in even more desperate situations with uncertainties due to the mandatory relocation program of the government. We decided to focus our intervention to measure the effectiveness of a commitment that Adamson University and faculty, students and alumni of other 12 universities made to improve the livelihood of two relocated communities. Read more about the You can read more about the DePaul-Adamson Manila Program >>

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) backdrop at USF Downtown University of San Francisco during the Certificate Trainings for Young Professionals Sustainable Development Goals seminar series (“YPSDG”), a collaborative initiative of the United Nations Association San Francisco (UNA-USA-SF) and the Master of Nonprofit Administration at University of San Francisco (MNA-SOM-USF).

Sustainability in Academia
​for the Agenda 2030

How can higher education institutions promote more sustainability education through their institutional commitments, curricula integration, greener operations, research and engagement? Dr. Tavanti has been involved in numerous initiatives connecting academia to sustainability practices including the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME), the Higher Education for Sustainability Initiative (HESI), the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI). At his home academic institutions he has promoted a Sustainable Development Leadership Certificate for Sustainability Reporting Capacity and the measurement of university performance in the with The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). He has been instrumental for the promotion of an integrative approach for sustainability education for people, planet, prosperity, policies, peace, and partnerships in principles and practices. Read more about Sustainability at DePaul University and sustainability at University of San Francisco 

University Internationalization
Comprehensive & Strategic

San Francisco, as the birthplace of the United Nations, inspires us to become global citizens for a better world. It also inspires our academic institutions to embrace a strategic and comprehensive process for internationalization. Dr. Tavanti serves as a Chair of the Internationalization Committee for the Nonprofit Academic Center Council (NACC). He Presided International Scholars Honor Society Phi-Beta-Delta and serves in the Editorial Board of the International Research and Review (IRR).  At the University of San Francisco Dr. Tavanti serves in the Faculty Advisory Board for Internationalization and actively promote a comprehensive strategy for internationalization of the university. At DePaul University Dr. Tavanti served as Co-Chair the  Community for International Programs (UCIP) to implement a comprehensive plan for internationalizing the campus, curricula and colleges. He also served in his department, the School of Public Service to implement the internationalization of the curricula across course and graduate program. Beside the formulation of an International Public Service degree and creating innovative study abroad programs, Dr. Tavanti believes a university that wants to pursue an international agenda needs to open its doors to international students, collaborate with community-based culturally diverse communities and enter into strategic partnerships with international organizations. Education in the Global North can benefit from direct exposure and engagement in collaborative projects in the Global South of the world. Institutions of higher education are the vehicle for making these connections real opportunities for mutual growth and international public service. Just going abroad in not enough as academic tourism or poverty tourism are not enough for educating globally responsible citizens and leaders.

University Ethics
Across the Curricula 

Under the coordination of Dr. Patricia H. Werhane, Dr. Tavanti served as member of the Ethics Across the Curricula (EAC) committee for the promotion of ethical awareness, ethical teaching institutional ethical practices at DePaul University Chicago.  The strategic process began first with an ethics audit of the ethics specific and ethics related course taught in the university. Second we published a booklet (Ethics 101) to clarify basic ethical languages inspired by the University values and third, we conducted a series of training programs to faculty and staff on key ethical issues. As Faculty Fellow of the The Institute for Business and Professional Ethics (IBPE), Dr. Tavanti contributed to the ethics conversation at DePaul by offering a useful framework for understanding Vincentian values and ethics reflecting Catholic Social Teaching Principles. Read more here >>

Service at the core of leadership...
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Dr. Tavanti visiting the Orphanage Ospicio de San Jose in Manila, Philippines, of the Daughters of Charity, during the Urban Poverty Reduction International Collaborative Program between DePaul University and Adamson University. With Dr. Howard Rosing, Executive Director of the Stein Center for Community Based Service Learning at DePaul University. 

​Dr. Tavanti holding the University of San Francisco' Ceremonial Mace during the 2017 Commencement