CLC-Conference-Proceeding-2018

community development by integrating these
comprehensive and holistic services into the
daily operations so that students and families can
access what they need in one geographic
location. Furthermore, the Rutgers/LEAP
Enterprise’s growth along Cooper Street has
increased the vitality of the corridor through the
construction of new buildings and acquisition of
historic buildings. The physical transformation,
and property value increases, is implicative of
the community development process that richly
defines the role universities can attain in
educational and economic development. Dr.
Santiago has used the Rutgers/LEAP Enterprise
as a lab and zone of practice to engage Rutgers
students and faculty apply theories of community
development and best practices in the field, and
to compile lessons learned to share with other
stakeholders and community partners. The
collaborations have extended beyond Camden’s
borders to embrace knowledge and partnership in
other countries, particularly Cuba, Paraguay, and
Puerto Rico (even though Puerto Rico is part of
the United States). Dr. Santiago has nurtured
these partnerships to build bridges and networks
between Rutgers and other institutions of higher
learning to foster student and faculty exchanges
for advancing community development projects
anchored by universities. Since the early 2000s,
Dr. Santiago has formalized collaborations in
Puerto Rico, Paraguay, and Cuba between
Rutgers University, the University of Havana,
San Geronimo College, UNA University, the
Center for Puerto Rico and the University of
Medical Sciences of Havana. The purpose of the
collaborations is to engage scholars,
practitioners, and artists in joint research projects
and shared dialogue around creative measures
for transforming and beautifying community
through social and place based initiatives.
Dr. Santiago, with support from the
university presidents, renewed a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) with the University of
Havana in October 2016, during the first annual
conference on the Rutgers-Cuba collaboration, to
expand research opportunities through joint
courses and projects, academic exchanges
through student and faculty residences and study
trips, and conference presentations in the U.S.
and Cuba. The focus of the collaboration centers
on five major themes that Rutgers and the
universities in Havana share: (1) Community
Development, (2) STEM Fields, including
Environmental and Computational Science, (3)
Population Health, (4) Arts and Humanities, and
(5) Law and the Economy. The papers compiled
in this monograph of proceedings stem from the
second annual conference of the Rutgers-Cuba
Collaboration in November 2017, the theme of
which was “Future Directions for a New Cuba:
Building Sustainable Partnerships.”
The conference solidified specific
collaborative ventures, including comparative
studies of community development in Cuba and
Camden, the public participatory process of
designing the Master Plan of Havana, STEM
research in using biomedical products to advance
community health, and community nursing
models for sustaining healthy neighborhoods.
Dr. Santiago has forged other significant
partnerships with renowned artists Jose
Rodriguez Fuster, Santiago Hermes, and Lester
Campa to host students, faculty, and workshops
around the transformative power of art to
beautify community with symbols of shared
meaning and identity. The Rutgers-Cuba
collaboration has proven to be a positive
endeavor uniting civil society as a means to
break down any political barriers.