Alderman Michele Smith 07/24/2019
, Fran Casey
Whereas, Fran Casey has gracefully served for 20 years as DePaul University's Director of Community Relations; through which she tirelessly bridged the relationship between the Lincoln Park Neighborhood and DePaul itself through the importance of education and knowledge.
Whereas, Fran Casey began her life-long career in education at a Chicago Public School, Chicago Vocational High School, teaching English to upcoming generations of leaders in our. communities and our city as a whole for nearly 9 years before transitioning to DePaul University to help them accomplish their Centennial celebration.
Whereas, the Centennial celebration kick-started an extraordinary annual volunteer effort to connect the students at DePaul University to community-centered organizations throughout the city, allowing students to interact with the different areas of our city, its complex issues, and our diverse communities.
Whereas, she then saw-an opportunity to create and lead the Lincoln Park Community Research Initiative, whose goal is to collect, document, and preserve the shared history of DePaul University and the Lincoln Park community.
Whereas, this Initiative also develops, researches, and publishes, exhibits and educational programs about the Lincoln Park community that examine the diverse cultural and political issues of the community and the city at large.
Whereas, some of the programs grown out of this initiative include: Rediscovering Old Town, Menus for Success: Lincoln Park's Timeless Restaurants, Four Decades of Music in Lincoln Park, Theater in Lincoln Park, and many more.
Whereas, through her work as the Director of Community Relations for DePaul she served on DePaul's Neighborhood Advisory Committee, bringing together representatives from the .Neighborhood Associations and the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce to facilitate exchanges with DePaul's leadership to address common concerns to establish improved growth of the Lincoln Park neighborhood.
Whereas, in 2016, Fran Casey received the Spirit of DePaul'Award, an award which highlights educators who embody the Vincentian values that are central to DePaul's mission, and which seeks to personally honor and recognize diverse members of the DePaul Community for their outstanding leadership and service to DePaul and the Lincoln Park community.
Whereas, in 2019, Fran Casey then received the Via Sapientiae (sahp-ee-en-chah) Award, which is the highest award that the university can bestow upon a member of its community. It
recognizes faculty who have made a distinctive impact and have made extraordinary contributions to the University throughout their professional lives.
Whereas, Fran Casey has been an incredibly valued member of the Lincoln Park community for so many years. We would like to take this time to tell her thank you, we love you, and we are forever grateful for the work you have done for us, for the Lincoln Park Community, and DePaul University; we hope this new chapter in your life is filled with adventures, happiness, and joy.
Whereas, her colleague, Peter Coffey, puts it best, for many people in Chicago, Fran Casey was DePaul University. She embodied DePaul's message and values, and coordinated her own ideas and innovations into physical embodiments of how she viewed the exchanges educational institutions and their community should have: a constant and ever growing network of shared histories, ideas, and community.
BE IT RESOLVED, That Alderman Michele Smith, and we, The City Council of the City of Chicago, proclaim this Resolution in honor of Fran Casey, who after 20 years of service to the Lincoln Park community and DePaul University is retiring and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution are presented to Ms. Fran Casey as a sign of our honor, gratitude, and respect.
