Virtual Caritas Veritas Symposium 2020 Wrap-Up

Fall 2020 Dominican Magazine



Like most large gatherings in the era of COVID-19, Dominican hosted the annual Caritas Veritas Symposium in a virtual format—but that didn’t stop hundreds of faculty, staff, students, alumnae/i, and board members from participating via Zoom.



The 10th anniversary of this distinctly Dominican event was held on September 22, with more than two dozen programs featuring presenters reflecting on how they get at truth and how they affect change.



Before the presentations, Sheila Radford-Hill, Dominican’s chief diversity officer, was presented with the Sister Mary Clemente Davlin Diversity Leadership Award. Since Radford-Hill’s appointment in 2015, Dominican has reached a new level of critical consciousness about race and equity and has implemented numerous programs supporting inclusive excellence.



The Big Shoulders Fund was presented with the Bradford-O’Neill Medallion for Social Justice. The largest privately funded K-12 scholarship program in Illinois, the Big Shoulders Fund provides support to 75 inner-city Catholic schools educating almost 20,000 students, 80 percent of whom represent minorities and 66 percent of whom live in low-income neighborhoods.



In the midst of a global pandemic, a nationwide reckoning for racial justice, and a controversial presidential election, the symposium provided an opportunity for Dominican to come together to celebrate the enduring strength of its mission and purpose.