September 2015
Paula V. DeVoto
Title/s: Coordinator - John Felice Rome Center’s Chicago Office
Email: pdevoto@luc.edu
About
Department/School/Division: Office of International Programs
Campus: Lake Shore Campus Campus
Years at Loyola: 36
What is your favorite thing about working at Loyola?
My favorite moments at Loyola occur when meeting with students after they’ve returned from the JFRC and recalling how they were before they’d left; they were excited but apprehensive before leaving but, after their time studying in Rome, they are so changed: self-assured, confident, passionate about their experience in Rome, eager to go back. Rare is the student who does not cite it as the “best experience of my life.”
What is your most memorable achievement as a Loyola employee?
My most memorable achievement as a Loyola employee may have been in 1985-1986 when I was among the staff urging for a representative voice on campus; the result was the formation of Staff Council, on which I then served off and on. In that era, the medical center and University were still together, so we had staff from the Loyola University Medical Center, Water Tower Campus, and Lake Shore Campus promoting staff concerns (e.g., wages, benefits, workplace safety, etc.) to administration.
What does Loyola's mission mean to you?
I believe strongly in Loyola’s mission of educating students to inculcate a sense of social justice in their lives, both personal and professional, and in developing this same sentiment among its employees. To demonstrate true concern for others, to acknowledge that every human being has dignity and worth and treating each individual with respect, is the most sure way of giving “greater glory to God” (ad maiorem Dei gloriam).
What motivates you to succeed each and every day?
My motivation comes from the knowledge that each day I can do something to help someone … a student wanting to study in Rome, a colleague needing to know how a database works, a new administrator curious as to the history behind a procedure. Because I have worked at Loyola for many years, I can provide a perspective that encompasses how things have changed and why things are done a certain way.
Tell us something most people at Loyola would be surprised to know about you.
What fact about me would surprise most people at Loyola? Probably the fact that I was born in Jesuit mission territory within the USA back when the Florida Keys were part of the extended mission area for Jesuits based in Havana, Cuba.
