About Us

Our Logo

The Dorothy Stang Center’s Logo is adapted from the Amazon’s Ceiba Tree. With its expansive branch canopy, long trunk, and large buttress roots (which are a source of protection from the elements for indigenous peoples), it is symbolic of the connection between the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. It is also evocative of the Tree of Life; a symbol which exists in almost every known culture on the planet. This powerful and ubiquitous representation of the interconnectedness of life connects the work of the Dorothy Stang Center to the sorority of organizations and individuals with missions to save Mother Earth, while fostering communities of equality and justice.

Mission

The Dorothy Stang Center for Social Justice and Community Engagement is dedicated to increasing awareness, dialogue, and activism around the issues of social and environmental justice. Through collaboration and partnership, the Center provides leadership and opportunities for NDNU and the larger community to develop an enhanced understanding of critical social issues, a deepened sense of civic commitment, and positive social change.

Vision

By 2013, the Dorothy Stang Center for Social Justice and Community Engagement will be nationally recognized for its leadership in fostering community engagement programs, and events that inspire social and environmental justice. Housed in a facility that is organized to encourage open communication, dialogue, and activism – including community art exhibits and performances, seminars, public speaking events, and community action gatherings – the Center will become a dynamic hub that encourages efforts and fosters enthusiasm and creativity for education for the common good. The Center will bring together prominent community leaders from the worlds of the arts, community service, government, education, religion, and business to work with our students, staff, administration, faculty, trustees, and alums, and community members from other institutions and associations of higher learning, to explore new knowledge, insights, and opportunities that help make the world a better place for all.

Who Was Sister Dorothy Stang?

Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, Dorothy Stang, moved to Brazil 40 years ago to help poor farmers build independent futures for their families. She was shot to death by hired gunmen on Saturday, February 12, 2005, in Anapu, Para, a section of Brazil's Amazon rainforest. A Citizen of Brazil and the United States, Sister Dorothy worked with the Pastoral Land Commission, an organization of the Catholic Church that struggles for the rights of rural workers and peasants, and defends land reforms in Brazil. Her death came less than a week after meeting with the country's human rights officials about threats to local farmers from illegal loggers and ranchers. Sister Dorothy was a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, an international religious order of about 1,800 women serving on five continents. Each Sister of Notre Dame commits her one and only life to work with others to create justice and peace for all…