Campus Coordinator
Dr. Thomas Kelly
Introduction:
Hi, my name is Dr. Tom Kelly; I am the Campus Coordinator of Encuentro Dominicano. My job is to ensure the best possible learning environment for students who will live, study, and work with me in the Dominican Republic for a semester. I hope to do this through a balanced and respectful engagement with Dominican culture and with Dominican professors who will guest lecture in classes and provide the basis for our understanding of Dominican life.
I also know that without truly engaging students in the excitement of the learning process, no amount of direct experience can be effective. Students are my first priority. All participants of Encuentro Dominicano will receive the full attention of faculty and staff while in the program. We promise this, in part, because we know how important it is to connect your experience of Dominican life, culture and reality with what you are learning in courses. I strongly believe that effective learning will occur only when knowledge and praxis are combined.
Background:
For years I have taken students on immersion trips to urban areas of poverty within the United States, as well as international service trips and academic courses to Costa Rica and El Salvador. I have taught Latin American theology and studied the Latin American Church for nearly eight years. My true love of foreign study, though, stems from my own overseas study experience as a sophomore in college. There, my world collided with the reality that was accessible only through direct experience of the suffering of other people. That transformative experience engendered in me a deep appreciation of and commitment to the value of overseas study programs. I hope to provide a similar atmosphere of learning and transformation for students in the Dominican Republic .
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns about Encuentro Dominicano at thomaskelly@creighton.edu
Click here to download Dr. Thomas Kelly's Curriculum Vitae [word doc]
Family:
I have been married to Lisa Kelly for 13 years and we have been blessed with three children: Andrew (9), Michael (7) and Catherine (3). Lisa and I are members of Ignatian Associates, a Catholic lay organization committed to Ignatian spirituality and specifically its values of fidelity to the Gospel, apostolic availability and simplicity of life.