The Center for Migration, Displacement and Community Studies engages you with critical issues of social justice related to human flows at the local, national, and international levels.
Center-affiliated faculty work alongside you and community partners to promote scholarship, teaching, and community engagement in the field of Migration Studies across a wide range of disciplines.
Become service-orientated through community engagement opportunities. Work with the Center's long-term partnerships that provide support to local refugee and migrant service organizations and the communities that they serve in the Pittsburgh region.
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About the Center
Migration is a Universal Concern
Migration is a global phenomenon of significant magnitude, and we are currently living in a time of unprecedented human displacement.
Migration Studies encompasses the forced or voluntary movement of persons from one place to another. In the present age, transnational migration sparks controversy, giving rise to numerous xenophobic movements in the United States and in many European countries, along with political instability and violence around the world.
In response to the serious social, economic, and political consequences of migration and displacement, the Center supports research geared toward understanding these consequences. The Center is also concerned with how to support service organizations and migrant communities in the Greater Pittsburgh area.
CMDCS Mission
The mission of the Center is to foster scholarly inquiry and collaboration among Duquesne faculty, students, and community partners in order to:
- Advance scholarly understandings of migration, displacement, and the integration of migrants into their communities and the impact of current political developments or crises on those communities.
- Support scholarly research and publication in the areas of migration, displacement, and immigrant integration.
- Influence public attitudes toward migrant populations in the spirit of Catholic teaching.
- Encourage partnership and collaboration between faculty, students, and community partners who work with migrant populations.
- Uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants.
CMDCS Research & Faculty
Collaborate on research with fellow students, faculty, and community partners. Apply to our yearly research awards and contribute to work in Migration Studies. The Center and its faculty members support your research through awards, presentations, events, and mentorship.
Join the Migration Club . The Club initiates humanitarian outreach to our local community, and raises awareness on campus on various issues related to migration, displacement, and community building.
Research Awards
Apply to the Center's annual awards for faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students.
Research Support
- Hosting of Brown Bag lunches among faculty and students to discuss research projects in the area of migration, displacement and community studies
- Sponsorship of annual awards for faculty, undergraduate and graduate students
- Sponsorship of conference attendance for the presentation of research related to Migration Studies
- Hosting of an annual research symposium with an invited external guest speaker - Duquesne students and faculty serve as panelists
- Providing Research Assistantships to interested students for course credits
- Providing access to Community-engaged course opportunities
Get Involved
Migration Club
Lead initiatives on campus and in the local community.
Work with Mentors
Meet with Center mentors at Brown Bag events to develop research.
Community Classroom
Engage with the community and gain credits.
Community Partners
Engage, volunteer, or work with the local community.
Our Events
Migration Club Meeting
Facilitate student engagmeent with critical issues of social justice related to human...
Serving Refugee Youth in Times of Crisis: Challenges and Silver Linings
Severino A. Russo Award Lecture | Dr. Jennie Schulze | Associate Professor...
Migration Club Meeting
Facilitate student engagmeent with critical issues of social justice related to human...
Migration Club Meeting
Facilitate student engagmeent with critical issues of social justice related to human...
Migration Club Meeting
Facilitate student engagmeent with critical issues of social justice related to human...
Migration Club Meeting
Facilitate student engagmeent with critical issues of social justice related to human...
Affiliated Faculty
The Center and its affiliated faculty members support your research through awards, presentations, events, and mentorship.
Dr. James Bailey
Associate Professor, Theology Department Chair
Dr. Suzanne Barnard
Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Gerald Boodoo
Associate Professor of Theology, Director of the Center for African Studies
Dr. Robin Chapdelaine
Associate Professor of History and Undergraduate Director
Dr. Erik Garrett
Associate Professor of Communication & Rhetorical Studies
Dr. Jennie Schulze
Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Migration, Displacement and Community Studies
Dr. Michael Irwin
Associate Professor of Sociology
Dr. John Dwyer
Associate Professor of History
Dr. Elizabeth Fein
Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Jessie Goicoechea
Director, Rita M. McGinley Psychology Clinic, Director of Clinical Training, and Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Lewin Laubscher
Associate Professor of Psychology and Department Chair
Dr. Emad Mirmotahari
Associate Professor of English
Dr. Lucía Osa-Melero
Associate Professor of Modern Languages
Dr. Matthew Schneirov
Associate Professor of Sociology and Department Chair
Dr. Andrew Simpson
Associate Professor of History, Internship Coordinator
Dr. Anita Zuberi
Associate Professor of Sociology
Community Partners
The Center coordinates engagement and research opportunities between students, faculty, and community partners.
- The After School Club aims to help immigrant and refugee high school students overcome educational and social barriers that hinder successful integration.
- The After School Club generates hands-on learning experiences for students about the challenges facing refugee communities. Duquesne students also gain research experience by designing and collecting assessment information.
- The program takes place on Duquesne University's campus and is a collaboration with partner agencies to engage students in activities focused on academic success, college and career readiness, celebration of culture and identity, and civic engagement.
- The program encourages social and cultural integration through near-peer mentoring by local university students and field trips.
- The After School Club was founded by ARYSE -- Pittsburgh's premier resource for immigrant and refugee youth.
Contact Dr.%20Jennie%20Schulze to get involved. Join the After School Club
- JFCS Refugee & Immigrant Services has worked with thousands of individuals and families over the years, helping them create new lives in our community after escaping unimaginable circumstances.
- From resettling newly-arriving refugees to connecting people with critical resources for acclimating to live in our country, JFCS is present through every step of their journey.
- Reading to Play, Playing to Read is a community-engaged project that combines the learning goals of two Spanish courses: MLSP 302W-CE Composition and Conversation and MLSP 280 Spanish for Health Professionals.
- Students from both courses collaborate to develop a 4-week program on health awareness and illness prevention culture for 5-8 year-old Hispanic children, who recently immigrated to the US.
- The Rita M. McGinley Psychology Clinic is the primary training facility for doctoral students in clinical psychology.
- The Clinic's mission is to provide supervised training experience for doctoral students, while offering affordable, professional clinical services to the Duquesne community and the general public.
- The Clinic provides individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy as well as psychological assessment.
- Open Field helps immigrant youth through the love of soccer.
- The mission is to improve the lives and futures of youth through sport.
- Open Field's sport-based programming creates a safe space for youth to play and learn, with an educational topic connected to every practice and game.
- Youth participants take on leadership roles as coaches, referees, and mentors to their peers.
To get involved, contact Chloe Kinnahan or Justin Foranzo. Discover Open Field
CMDCS Research Awards
URSS
Submit to the 2023 Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium
Past Winners
2022
Outstanding Research Award
No Human is Illegal: The study of Anti-Homeless and Hostile Architecture
Jason Minicozzi
Political Science, Sociology, Philosophy | McAnulty College and Graduate School of
Liberal Arts | Sophomore
Faculty Advisor: Kathleen Roberts, Ph.D.
Honorable Mention
Reevaluating the causes of Destruction of the Lower Hill
Avishek Acharya
History / Political Science | McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts
| Senior
Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Tayler, Ph.D
The Misrepresentation of Native Americans in Textbooks in the United States
Haley Oroho
History / Political Science | McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts
| Sophomore
Faculty Advisor: Andrew Simpson, Ph.D.
Submit to the Graduate Research Symposium by February 15th
Past Winners
2022
Award for Graduate Research
Historical Memory and Identity in the United Farm Workers
Sarah Babcock
McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts | History
Faculty Advisor: John Dwyer, Ph.D.
Honorable Mention
Trauma-Informed Teaching
Heather Roesinger
School of Education | School Psychology
Faculty Advisor: Tammy L Hughes, PhD, ABPP
Faculty Research Award
The award is open to submissions until April 25, 2023.
Past Winners
2022
Dr. Erik Garrett
Associate Professor of Communication & Rhetorical Studies
Strangeness of the Strange: Strangeness and Proximity in Shutz, Husserl, and Levinas
Faculty Award Lecture : 14th November 2022
The Center at Work
Events sponsored and co-sponsored by the Center
Dr. Garrett Inaugural Faculty Award Lecture
November 2022
Dr. Garrett Inaugural Faculty Award Lecture
November 2022
Dr. Garrett Inaugural Faculty Award Lecture
November 2022
Dr. Muñoz for Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month Speaker Series sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages
October 2022