The Center for Urban Engagement at Wheaton College

04/03/2025

07/10/2024

"This has made my theology much less abstract and theoretical—more tethered to grassroots concerns of actual communities." - Dr. Gregory Lee, Associate Professor of Theology and Urban Studies and Interim Co-Director of the Center for Urban Engagement, reflects on his experience in the Wheaton College Faculty Faith and Learning Seminar.

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Wheaton College IL — This year marks 55 years of the faculty faith and learning seminar, celebrating a history of academic excellence at the institution.

05/08/2023

Congratulations to the Wheaton in Chicago alumni celebrated at the Wheaton College Spring 2023 Honors Convocations with the following awards and recognitions:

Aequitas Fellows in Urban Leadership: Nora Awad, Samantha Davidson, Donghyuk Lee, Collin Maldonado, Amelia Miller, Sienna Oates, Sophia Peña, Aaron Peterson, Julio Reyes, Samuel Whatley, Shea Wynn

Lambda Alpha, Illinois Beta Chapter (national honor society, anthropology): Annalise Chelsen

Theta Alpha Kappa (national honor society, biblical studies and theology): Braydon Biehn

Linda and Seth Norton Scholarship (business/economics): Dee Anna Bricker

Center for Urban Engagement Legal Summer Fellowship: Dee Anna Bricker, Heather Ganfield (and congrats to non-WIC alumni recipients: Akofa Agbossey-Dimado and Lawrence Arndt)

The Donald Ebeling Scholarship (chemistry): Sophia Peña

Pi Kappa Delta (honor society, forensics/communication): Oren Fultz, Collin Maldonado, Bradey Yarbrough

The Loraine Tallakson Searfoss Prize (music/voice): Skylar Bartman

Sigma Tau Delta (international honor society, English): Emily Birks, Alani Oyola

McKenna Family Urban Scholarship (health professions): Braydon Biehn

Phi Sigma Tau (national honor society, philosophy): Collin Maldonado

Homer G. and Blanche C. Benton Scholarship (engineering): Nora Awad

William Lewis Shuster Jr. Engineering Scholarship (engineering): Nora Awad

Pi Sigma Alpha (national honor society, political science): Heather Ganfield

Psi Chi (international honor society, psychology): Dee Anna Bricker, Hannah Helinsky

Scholastic Honor Society Class of 2023: Nora Awad (liberal arts engineering), Amelia Miller (applied mathematics, economics), Sienna Oats (community art, urban studies), Sophia Peña (chemistry)

Congratulations to all of our students on their academic endeavors and particularly to our graduating seniors!

03/26/2022

The Center for Urban Engagement is hosting a lecture by Dr. Aaron Griffith on March 31 at 7:00 PM in Meyer Science Center 145!

Aaron Griffith will detail the complex character of the history of the evangelical influence on incarceration, with attention to race, urban life, and practical questions of contemporary Christian ministry and activism.

Aaron Griffith is an Assistant Professor of Modern American History at Whitworth University. He received his Th.D. and M.Div. from Duke Divinity School, and his B.A. in Philosophy from Wheaton College. His first book, God's Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America was published by Harvard University Press and is the winner of the 2022 Christianity Today Book Award for History & Biography.

03/23/2022

Live, work and study at Wheaton in Chicago! Come to an info session on Tuesday, March 29th from 4-5pm in MSC 103.

Ever think about doing a semester in the city? Learn how that is possible.

Informational Meeting for anyone interested in Wheaton in Chicago.

02/10/2022

The Center for Urban Engagement is hosting a lecture by the CEO of New Moms, Dr. Laura Zumdahl on Feb 15 at 7:00 PM in Meyer Science Center 145. This lecture is free and open to the public. Masks are required.

This talk will examine what justice work looks like in real life and how it can move beyond ministry into other organizational structures. Whether you are interested in full-time social change work or are contemplating how to integrate a commitment to justice into another career, come learn about what social justice and anti-poverty work looks like on the ground through the lens of a human services agency in Chicago.

Dr. Laura Zumdahl is the CEO of New Moms. She currently serves as the chair of the board of trustees at Trinity Christian College.

Questions? Contact [email protected] or 630-752-5770!

11/02/2021

This Thursday, Nov. 4, at 7:00 pm in Blanchard 339, Dr. A.K. Sandoval-Strausz will be giving a lecture entitled, “The Stranger That Dwelleth with You: How Latino Immigrants Saved the American City.”

Thirty years ago, most people were ready to give up on American cities. But in the decades since, immigrants--first and foremost from Latin America--have turned them around, making them more dynamic, stable, and safe by purchasing homes, opening businesses, and reviving street life. Sandoval-Strausz will explain how by foregrounding the voices of Latina and Latino migrants and a street-level look at the Chicago cityscape.

Dr. A.K. Sandoval-Strausz is Director of Latino Studies and Associate Professor of History at Penn State University. His most recent book is Barrio America: How Latino Immigrants Saved the American City (Basic Books), which won the Caroline Bancroft History Prize and was a finalist for the Victor Villaseñor Book Award.

Come join us! This event is free and open to the public. Masks are required.

06/03/2021

Congratulations to our three Emerald South Scholars: Demetrius Crawford, Jeremiah Holmes, and Marquis McCoy! We celebrated sharing the past two years in classes, community life, trips, and more with these scholars and look forward to their next endeavors.

03/27/2021

The Center for Urban Engagement is hosting a discussion by sociologist, criminologist, and author Dr. Reuben J. Miller, a professor at the University of Chicago in the School of Social Service Administration, in partnership with Dr. Aaron Griffith ’08, author and history professor at Sattler College and Dr. Mary Yeboah, Director of Graduate Student Life, Wheaton College Graduate School.

Reuben Jonathan Miller is a sociologist, criminologist and a social worker who teaches at the University of Chicago in the School of Social Service Administration where he studies and writes about race, democracy, and the social life of the city. He has been a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton New Jersey, a fellow at the New America Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and a visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Austin and Dartmouth College.

This event is free and open to the public and will take place via Zoom Webinar (ID: 964 160 06993).

For more information, contact CUE at [email protected].

03/10/2021

Work with the Wheaton in Chicago program while earning your graduate degree!

The Wheaton in Chicago program is seeking applicants for a Graduate Program Assistant (GPA). The GPA collaborates with the Wheaton in Chicago staff and provides leadership for initiatives and services of the program focused on student care, personal and spiritual development, recruiting, and supporting our programmatic emphases on justice and equity in an urban experiential semester. This is a residential position housed within the Wheaton in Chicago facilities and is open to any student in or entering a graduate program at Wheaton College. For more information on the position and instructions for application, please refer to the Human Resources website (link in bio) or email [email protected].

03/08/2021

Another great event! Kerri Arsenault, author, book critic and editor, will be discussing her book “Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains,” on Tuesday, March 9 at 7 pm via Zoom (link in bio). Garnette Cadogan, essayist and professor at UVA, will join the conversation about Arsenault’s book, where she raises important questions about her home town and the balance between sacrifice and survival. Free and open to the public!

02/26/2021

We are excited to present a lecture by award-winning author and Harvard professor Dr. Tiya Miles on Mon, Mar. 1, 2021 at 4:00 PM. In "The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits," Tiya Miles retells the city’s story, weaving in previously accounted stories of Native and African American bo***ge. Her work offers an example of telling more honest, if complicated and painful, histories—an example from which we can all learn. She will be speaking via Zoom webinar: https://wheaton.zoom.us/j/93797395559.

Tiya Miles is Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She is a public historian, academic historian, and creative writer whose work explores the intersections of African American, Native American and women’s histories. Her temporal and geographical zones of greatest interest include the nineteenth-century U.S. South, Midwest, and West. Miles offers courses on African American women, Native American women, abolitionist women, and “Black Indian” histories and identities. She has become increasingly engaged in environmental humanities questions and ways of articulating and enlivening African American environmental consciousness. This event is free and open to the public and will take place online via Zoom. For more information, contact Kari Vandervelde at 630.752.5730 or [email protected].