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Service family accommodation
A guide for service families about applying for, maintaining, moving in and out of and living in UK service family accommodation (SFA).
The provision of good quality living accommodation for service personnel and their families is an important priority for the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
The MOD's Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) manages around 50,000 properties in the UK including planning targeted improvement programmes and planning future requirements. On behalf of the DIO, Amey, manages a comprehensive maintenance service; the allocation of properties; SFA furniture; conducting move in and move out appointments; and the provision of improvements.
The Customer Service Charter is DIO's commitment to Service personnel and their families to provide decent living standards and excellent customer service. We are committed to improving the condition and standard of the Service Family Accommodation (SFA) estate; sustaining improved levels of maintenance and repair performance; and enhancing customer service.
Entitlement for SFA and SSFA
To be entitled to apply for SFA, service personnel must:
- be aged 18 and over
- be married or in a civil partnership or who have permanent custody of children
- have at least 6 months to serve
Service personnel who have completed more than 4 years of service and are in an established Long-Term Relationship (LTR(E)) are also eligible to cohabit in surplus SFA, when available. An LTR(E) will be defined by specified criteria and recorded as such on Joint Personnel Administration (JPA).
SFA is at service personnel's duty station or within a set radius; although you may be eligible to apply for surplus SFA at other locations.
The type of property you are entitled to is usually dependent on your rank for officers and family size for other ranks. When you apply for SFA, Amey Occupancy Services Team will allocate you a property using the preferences you have expressed and based on your entitlement or eligibility, competing requirements, and service agreements.
Full details on entitlement and eligibility for UK SFA and Substitute service family accommodation (SSFA) are available in:
Full details on entitlement and eligibility for overseas SFA and SSFA are available in:
SFA costs and charges
Charges for service family accommodation (SFA) for service personnel are set by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body. The current SFA accommodation charges are available to view.
Pay queries
If you have a standard query about your pay in connection with SFA charges, please contact the Amey helpdesk on 0800 707 6000, providing full details (such as your service number) about why you believe that charges have been applied incorrectly so this can be investigated.
CAAS challenges
If you wish to challenge or appeal against your charge as a result of the Combined Accommodation Assessment System (CAAS) then the correct procedure is set out on the CAAS challenges page on the Defence Intranet.
To access the dedicated CAAS Intranet page, copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar when logged on to the Defence Intranet: https://modgovuk.sharepoint.com/sites/defnet/DIO/Pages/CAAS-Challenges.aspx
Full details on 'grade for charge' are available in:
Applying for and allocation of SFA
e-1132 form
If you are entitled, you will need to complete and submit an application for SFA. All service personnel who have access to the Defence Intranet are expected to complete their application online using the e-1132 form. To access the form, copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar when logged on to the Defence Intranet: https://e1132.domis-r.r.mil.uk/e1132/
The e-1132 form system allows you to:
- track the progress of your application
- view available properties that match your entitlement
- register your top 3 preferences
- book your 'move in' (once an offer for a property has been made and accepted,)
- where appropriate book your 'move out' appointment
- electronically signing your licence to occupy.
MOD Form 1132
For service personnel who do not have access to the Defence Intranet, a paper version of the MOD Form 1132: application to occupy service family accommodation (SFA) is available in JSP 464: tri-service accommodation regulations (TSARs) Part 2, Chapter 4. Exceptions to using the online system are normally for personnel who are on operations and do not have access to the Defence Intranet.
Amey Occupancy Services team
If you have an allocations enquiry, the Amey Occupancy Services team at the Amey helpdesk is available Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 3:00pm.
You can call them on Freephone: 0800 707 6000 Select Option 3 (for calls made within the UK, mobile users may incur charges) or using the alternative telephone number: 0151 728 1630
Or you can email the team: firstname.lastname@example.com
For more information about the SFA application process, please visit the Amey website
Substitute accommodation
Once in possession of a Non-availability certificate (NAC) you will be able to advance your e-1132 or F1154 application to the Substitute Accommodation team.
For F1154 applications, when all parts have been completed please post or fax to:
Substitute Accommodation team (SAT)
DIO Accommodation
Ground Floor
Swales Pavilion
RAF Wyton
Fax: (Civ) 01480 446584 (Mil) 95371 4259.
Your application will then be sent to the substitute accommodation contractor (Mears Group).
Substitute accommodation contractor
From the 1 April 2016 Mears Group were contracted to provide all substitute accommodation for both substitute service family accommodation (SSFA) and single service substitute accommodation (SSSA) taking over from the previous contractor (HCR Ltd).
Mears have now taken over the management of all leases from HCR and will provide in occupation management for the whole of the substitute accommodation portfolio including repairs and maintenance.
In occupancy management
Service personnel occupying a substitute accommodation property should now contact Mears for all occupation queries including out of hours emergencies on the following telephone number 0800 032 4547.
The phone line is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00pm (except bank holidays).
Alternatively you can email email@example.com
Further information about substitute accommodation (such as temporary accommodation if the required by date is not met, expenses claims and claim form, payment of bills and a frequently asked questions guide) is available on the Defence Intranet.
Service personnel can copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar when logged on to the Defence Intranet: https://modgovuk.sharepoint.com/sites/defnet/DIO/Pages/Substitute-Service-Accommodation.aspx
Additional needs and disabled requirements for SFA
If you are moving to a new SFA property, please provide details of any special requirements for SFA at the point of application using the e-1132 form or the MOD Form 1132, enclosing any reports from the appropriate professional source, such as your occupational therapist. It is important that the Amey Occupancy Services team is made aware of special requirements at the earliest opportunity.
If you require adaptions to your current SFA property, or your medical requirements have changed and you need some further adaptions to your existing SFA, you will need to contact the Helpdesk who will record your request and ask you to provide a Medical Report and/or Occupational Therapist's report in order to progress your request.
Please read our Additional needs and disabled requirements guides.
Moving in
When you accept an offer of an SFA property you should arrange a 'move in' appointment using the e-1132 system.
At the agreed date and time, Amey Accommodation Officer will meet you at the property and show you around.
They will give you the opportunity to:
- familiarise yourself with your new home, its fixtures, fittings and appliances
- read electricity/gas meters and measure levels in oil tanks
- take possession of the keys
- identify who is responsible for any repair or maintenance queries
- confirm that there is a valid Gas Safety Certificate in the SFA
- complete and sign the move in documentation
You are required to inspect the property to ensure it meets the Move In standard as outlined on the Amey website, signing to agree or otherwise that this standard has been met.
You can give your spouse/civil partner or a service colleague written authority (known as a 'Proxy certificate') to sign the inventory on your behalf if you are unable to attend the 'move in' appointment. Please note that the 'move in' can only take place during normal working hours.
If you are moving from one SFA (not substitute SFA) to another, you have 2 weeks to hand it back, provided you do so within this time you will only be charged for one property. If you exceed this period you may be charged for both properties.
Housing guide
Service personnel and their families moving into SFA should read the guides available on the Amey website, which contains important information about the services offered and the responsibilities of customers.
You will also be provided with a copy of the SFA 14 day observation form at your Move In.
Licence to occupy insurance
When you live in SFA you should ensure that you have adequate insurance. In addition to arranging contents insurance to protect your personal possessions, the MOD strongly recommends (in accordance with JSP 464) to take out 'Licence to occupy' insurance. This specialist insurance covers your potential liability incurred as a result of damage to your SFA caused by you or your family and would provide you with cover up to the required £20,000.
The Services Insurance and Investment Advisory Panel (SIIAP) website provides details of insurers who can supply this insurance and includes websites and telephone numbers for a range of relevant insurance companies. If you are unable to find relevant information on the websites available, we suggest that you call the insurer using the telephone numbers which are also provided. If you already have Kit insurance with one of these specialist insurers, it may be worth checking if you are already covered, as some insurance policies include Licence to Occupy insurance.
Maintenance and repairs of SFA and SSFA
Amey is responsible for the maintenance of SFA in the United Kingdom.
This comprehensive service is free to occupants, who generally have little responsibility for the maintenance of their SFA - some examples of your responsibilities are listed below, see looking after your SFA.
However, customers are responsible for looking after their property and protecting it from damage, and damage caused may be subject to charges.
Maintenance helpdesk
You are required to report any defects to your SFA in the UK to the Amey Helpdesk, which is open 24 hours, 365 days a year:
Freephone: 0800 707 6000, select Option 1 (for calls made within the UK, mobile users may incur charges). Alternative telephone: 0151 728 1630
You can also talk to someone about maintenance/repairs at one of the Amey customer service centres or visit the Amey website.
SSFA repairs
Mears Group Limited took over the management of SSFA and SSSA on 1 April 2016.
For reporting faults to substitute properties, you can telephone 0800 032 4547 or email email@example.com
The phone line is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00pm (except bank holidays).
Emergency repairs outside office hours including weekends and bank holidays you can telephone Mears Emergency Contact Centre on 0800 032 4547.
Private Finance Initiative housing
The telephone numbers for reporting faults to PFI housing are:
|PFI housing
|Regions covered
|Cosford/Shawbury PFI
|0345 111 0000 (office hours) or 0845 0500 900 (out of hours)
|Market Drayton, Donnington Wood, Telford
|Wattisham PFI
|0203 603 9472
|Pinewood, Thorington Park, Ipswich, Redhill, Aldham Mill Hill, Hadleigh
|Yeovilton PFI
|0300 777 7837
|Broadsword Park, Ilchester, Yeovil
|Portsmouth PFI
|01275 378 481
|Emerson's Green (Bristol), Long Ashton (Bristol), Stoke Park (Bristol), Paxcroft Mead (Trowbridge), , Trowbridge, Seafield Park (Fareham) ,
|Portsmouth 2 PFI
|01275 378 481
|HMS Daedalus (Lee on Solent)
|Lossiemouth PFI
|0800 917 8732
|Lossiemouth, Elgin
|Central Scotland PFI
|0800 288 8771
|Paisley, Dreghorn and Longstone (Edinburgh)
For reporting faults to leased properties, Bulk Lease Hires, (not covered by the Annington Homes Ltd (AHL) sale agreement in 1996), please contact:
|Bardney (Nr Coningsby, Lincolnshire)
|0800 027 2057
|0800 988 2433
|Brecon, includes Honddu Court
|0800 988 2433
|Brize Norton, includes Carterton/Witney/North Leigh
|0800 988 2433
|Darlington, includes West Park/Devonshire Court
|0800 988 2433
|Dover, Whitfield
|0800 988 2433
|0800 988 2433
|Gloucester: includes Tewkesbury, Kingsway, Hucclecote
|0800 988 2433
|0800 988 2433
|Leeming Bar (North Yorks)
|0300 555 5561
|Salisbury: includes Amesbury, east Anton, Tidworth, Andover, Saxon Rise, Collingbourne, Archers Gate, Saxon Gate
|0800 988 2433
|York, Accomb
|0800 988 2433
|0800 988 2433
Looking after your SFA
You are responsible for keeping your home in a reasonable condition during the time you occupy SFA, and protecting it from damage. In addition, you need to take care of:
- changing domestic fuses and light bulbs
- taking precautions to prevent damage to the SFA by fire, frost, the bursting of water pipes and the blocking of drains
- clearing any sink or bath blockages
- routine testing and cleaning of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms
- resetting of electrical trip switches due to faulty bulbs
- ensuring that all repairs are reported to the relevant maintenance helpdesk as they occur
Amey has a range of customer information available on their website.
Moving out
Moving home can be a very busy and stressful time, so we want to make your move as easy and stress free for you and your family as possible.
Visit the Amey website for details on moving out of the UK SFA, arranging a pre move out appointment and find out details about the Amey Walk Away Cleaning Scheme.
Move out
Your move out will be attended by a Amey Accommodation Officer who will inspect your SFA to determine if it meets the agreed move out standard.
If the standard is not satisfactory and there are deficiencies or damages that are not considered to be fair wear and tear, or you have failed to clean the property properly, a charge will be raised by the Accommodation Officer and you will be invoiced accordingly.
In this instance an appropriate Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) action will be taken by the Amey Occupancy Services team to cease accommodation charges on that property from the date of your move out.
Removal services
Agility Logistics Limited (Agility) is the MOD approved service provider for removals and is part of the Global Removal Management Services (GRMS).
Charges for damage and deficiencies for SFA and Substitute SFA recovery from pay
When you move out of UK service family accommodation (SFA) or substitute service family accommodation (SSFA), you may be liable for charges for damages or deficiencies that are not classed as fair wear and tear or because you have failed to prepare the property to the correct standard, for example cleanliness.
DIO can take these directly from the pay of serving personnel. Any payments taken depend on the size of the charge and individual monthly income (using MOD guidelines to ensure that deductions do not exceed a set limit of pay).
If you consider that you are not responsible for the charges, or part of them, for example that the damage is the result of fair wear and tear,you are able to dispute the charge raised using the stage 1 disputed charges form'.
Once the stage 1 dispute has been completed and formally closed, should you disagree with the charges raised and stage 1 decision, you may submit a stage 2 dispute to the appropriate DIO Accommodation Manager responsible for the property using the stage 2 disputed charges form.
Full details on moving out of your SFA and recoveries from pay are available in:
- JSP 464: Tri-Service accommodation regulations (TSARs) Part 1
- JSP 754: Recoveries from pay (available on the Defence Intranet only)
Loss of entitlement
For enquiries about loss of entitlement to SFA resulting from retirement, redundancy, discharge or estrangement, please contact the Loss of Entitlement Team by telephoning 01904 418000 or 94510 8000.
Alternatively, you can contact the team by email: email@example.com
If you believe that you will lose entitlement to SFA in the future, or find yourself in this situation, advice is available from a variety of sources. As well as the Joint Service Housing Advice Office, other sources of information and advice are: service charities; families federations; housing advice centres; and local authorities.
Customer service centres
There are a number of Amey customer service centres throughout the UK. These offices provide you with the opportunity to discuss any issues about services provided by Amey face-to-face.
To find your nearest local customer service centre either contact the Amey Helpdesk on 0800 707 6000 or visit the Amey website.
SFA compensation scheme
The MOD and its industry partners aim to provide the highest possible standard of service to those entitled service personnel and their families who live in service family accommodation (SFA) and substitute service family accommodation (SSFA) in the UK.
On occasion when those standards are not met in 2 specific activities, MOD will now recognise this by paying compensation, through High Street vouchers only, to offset any inconvenience caused. The SFA compensation scheme specifically covers:
- missed appointments
- significant defect(s) at move
Full details about the scheme and how to claim are published in the SFA compensation claim fact sheet
Making a complaint/customer services
DIO Accommodation and Amey are focused on providing the best service we can to service personnel and their families. However, sometimes things go wrong so below is guidance about the correct process if you wish to make a complaint.
Whatever the problem, we will endeavour to sort it out as quickly as possible. We value your feedback and monitor complaints to help us focus on improving our service in those areas.
CAAS challenges
CAAS challenges are handled in 2 stages (and are separate from the SFA complaints process below).
If you wish to challenge or appeal against your charge as a result of the Combined Accommodation Assessment System (CAAS) then the correct procedure is set out on the CAAS challenges page on the Defence Intranet.
To access the dedicated CAAS Intranet page, copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar when logged on to the Defence Intranet: https://modgovuk.sharepoint.com/sites/defnet/DIO/Pages/CAAS-Challenges.aspx
Please note: The Stage 2 complaint form highlighted below cannot be used for CAAS challenges.
SFA complaints
Complaints are handled in 3 stages, with the aim of making sure that the majority can be fully investigated and promptly put right. If you are dissatisfied by the response at any stage, you will be given the opportunity to go to the next stage.
Complaint submission timings
To effectively deal with complaints, it is necessary for them to be considered as close as possible to the date of the matter arising. Therefore, complaints are to be submitted within the timings detailed below. Complaints submitted outside these timings will only be considered if there are clear extenuating circumstances, such as deployments, training etc. Accepting complaints outside of these timings will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
- Stage 1 - Submission within 28 working days of the incident
- Stage 2 - Submission within 28 working days from receipt of the Stage 1 response
- Stage 3 - Submission within 28 working days from receipt of the Stage 2 response
*If the complaint is related to a culmination of events/matters, then it should be submitted within 28 days of the last event.
Full information about SFA complaints can be found in JSP 464: tri-service accommodation regulations (TSARs) Volume 1, Part 1, Chapter 6
Stage 1
If you are dissatisfied with our service please call the Amey Helpdesk on 0800 707 6000 or visit the Amey website.
Once you have registered a complaint, a Amey customer care manager will contact you, and give you a reference number for your complaint. They will explain how the process works and keep you regularly updated on the progress of your complaint.
If you are not satisfied with the way the complaint is handled or you want to speak to someone more senior, you can speak to a senior manager at the Helpdesk or a Amey director.
Stage 2
If your complaint has been formally closed at stage 1 and you are not satisfied with the response, you can then escalate your complaint to the DIO Customer Services Team. You can do this in 3 ways:
- Interactive form: by completing the stage 2 complaint form, which for security reasons is only available on the MOD Intranet. To access the form, copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar when logged on to the Defence Intranet: https://modgovuk.sharepoint.com/sites/defnet/DIO/Documents/SFA-Stage2-Complaint-Form.pdf.
2.Email: by emailing the DIO Customer Service Team setting out your stage 2 complaint so that you include:
- the stage 1 complaint reference number
- your name and telephone number
- the SFA address relating to your complaint
- why you are not happy with the result of your stage 1 complaint
- what desired outcome or remedy you are seeking
Any emails not containing all of this information will not be accepted by the Customer Service Team. Please send your email to: email@example.com
3.Letter: by writing to the DIO Customer Service Team setting out your stage 2 complaint ensuring you include the information highlighted above.
Customer Service Team
DIO Accommodation
Ground Floor, Mail Point No. 4
Swales Pavilion
RAF Wyton
If you make a stage 2 complaint, DIO will have access to your stage 1 complaints details and records, so you do not need to re-submit the full details of your complaint.
DIO will acknowledge it within 3 working days and provide you with a reference number. An investigation will then be carried out, however there is no standard response time due to the need to further investigate complaints that vary in nature and complexity.
Stage 3
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive at stage 1 and stage 2, you can escalate your complaint to the Accommodation Complaints Review Panel by writing to:
Accommodation Complaints Review Panel
People Accommodation
Ministry of Defence
Floor 6, Zone N
Main Building
Further independent advice
You can also seek independent advice through your:
- local service welfare organisations
- Unit Welfare Officer
- RAF Community Support Officer or Unit Families Officer
- Families Federations representatives
Alternatively there are civilian organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureau, service charities or housing advice centres who can help.
Downgrading or compensation
Amey and DIO do not have authority to pay compensation or loss of earnings. We may temporarily downgrade accommodation charges where a major loss of amenity has occurred. Permanent downgrading can only be approved by a Board of Officers.
UK SFA Customer Survey
A monthly telephone survey of randomly selected customers is conducted by Opinion Research Service (ORS) on behalf of the MOD. The aim of the research is to help MOD better understand the views of service personnel and families living in UK service family accommodation (SFA) and substitute SFA (SSFA).
Whilst customers do not have to take part, we encourage customers to respond to this short survey as your opinions will be used to measure how DIO is performing and identify ways of making further improvements to the housing service that matter to you. Answers will be treated in the strictest confidence and only used for research purposes. If you have any queries about the survey, or would like to follow up a call, Opinion Research Service (ORS) can be contacted on:
Telephone: 01792 535322
The results of the survey are issued to key DIO accommodation stakeholders on a quarterly basis: DIO accommodation customer satisfaction tracker survey
The Combined accommodation assessment system (CAAS) for service homes
The CAAS for service family accommodation (SFA) is the method of setting charges in the UK and overseas and replaces the 4 Tier Grading (4TG) System (except Germany). CAAS is a fairer and less subjective system than the 4TG System, and ensures that charges for SFA are set in accordance with modern, nationally recognised standards (utilising the Department of Communities and Local Government Decent Homes Standard. Where charges increase there will be transitional protection that will set a maximum cap for the increase in any single year.
To access the dedicated CAAS Intranet page, copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar when logged on to the Defence Intranet: https://modgovuk.sharepoint.com/sites/defnet/DIO/Pages/Combined-Accommodation-Assessment-System.aspx
Last updated 11 December 2019 + show all updates
Updated page content.
Updated content under heading 'Charges for damage and deficiencies for SFA and Substitute SFA recovery from pay'.
Updated the UK SFA customer survey telephone number.
Updated information under 'Private Finance Initiative housing' heading.
Sections update on contact emails in 'Loss of entitlement' and 'Complaints'.
Added a sentence under the entitlement of SFA.
Updated the SSFA repairs section contact email address.
Updated web links
Updated website link to CAAS intranet page
Updated the link to the e-1132 form.
Updated the web text to reflect name change from Carillon Amey to Amey.
Updated the CarillionAmey Occupancy Services team contact email address.
Amended the body text to reflect the fact that Charges for service family accommodation are now available.
Updated text about MOD Form 1132 and updated contact email addresses.
Updated the information to reflect the revisions made to the Service family accommodation (SFA) complaints process on Tuesday 1 May 2018.
Small text changes and replacement of PDF to reflect that as from 1 April 2018 – DIO Service Delivery Accommodation becomes DIO Accommodation.
Updated PFI housing contacts list.
Updated details of company who conducts the monthly telephone survey to Opinion Research Service (ORS)
Updated information about Additional needs and disabled requirements for service family accommodation
Updated links to new website
Added SFA compensation scheme.
Updated Stage 2 complaints information.
Updated 'Making a complaint/customer services' section.
Added new paragraph regarding CAAS challenges.
Updated the 'SFA costs' section to include a section on charges, pay queries and CAAS challenges and include a link to the current SFA accommodation charges.
Updated information about substitute accommodation.
Updated contact details for SSFA repairs.
Updated section on CAAS Charge Band letters.
Updated Introduction of combined accommodation assessment system section
Corrected broken links to CarillionAmey website.
Updated Making a complaint/customer services section.
Added new paragraph at end of the CAAS section.
Added new paragraph on Introduction of Combined Accommodation Assessment System (CAAS) for service homes
Changed opening times for CarillionAmey Occupancy Services team. Added Leeming Bar (North Yorks) contact details to Maintenance and repairs of SFA and SSFA table.
Amended CarillionAmey Occupancy Services email address.
Changes throughout content.
Updated the Move in and move out sections for the next phase of the National Housing Prime contract on Monday 1 December.
Updated content following new contract with CarillonAmey which came into effect 1 November 2014.
Updated announcement.
Updated information about the 'Pre move-out Advisory Visit'.
Amended DIO Service Family Accommodation satisfaction survey text and included link to survey.
Added an announcement about the 'National Housing Prime Contract: contract award'
Added links to Service family accommodation maintenance guide, customer guides and Service family accommodation factsheets.
Updated the telephone numbers for Lossiemouth PFI and Central Scotland PFI under the Private Finance Initiative housing section.
Updated information about the Pre-payment cleaning scheme (England and Wales).
Information within the Housing Allocations Service Centre (HASC) section has been updated as teams have been reduced from 8 to 7.
Added revised customer guides as team has changed from DIO Operations Accommodation to DIO Service Delivery (SD) Accommodation.
Added information about the process and how to dispute a charge to damaged service family accomodation once a service family has moved out.
Updated details in the 'What if I don't wish to accept the offer?' section
Added paragraph DIOI/SFA customer charter paragraph.
Added new paragraph "How much does SFA cost?"
Added information about the 'move in' welcome pack and updated the Customer Assistance Point (CAP) factsheet
Updated to include information about SFA Customer Assistance Points (CAPs)
Updated information about the UK SFA Customer Survey
Added UK SFA Customer Survey content
Updated information
Updated the 'How do I apply for SFA?' section
First published.


text:
Science Friday® is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Science Friday® and SciFri® are registered service marks of Science Friday, Inc. Site design by Pentagram; engineering by Mediapolis.
|In this segment, we'll take a look at two graphic novels that approach science from a different direction. One tackles Darwin's 'Origin of Species,' while the other deals with the life and ideas of philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Wind-Up Girl author Paolo Bacigalupi's essay over at Wired is both a must read and a quick read. The essay is mostly about how Cyberpunk saved science fiction by shaking up the complacent view of the future that had dominated for decades — but then he broadens out into a more general theory of science fiction as a literature that thrives during times of uncertainty and anxiety about the future. Writes Bacigalupi:
I work in a literary genre that thrives at uncertainty points, when questions about our future are unanswered. Even though post-9/11 America is as corporate-dominated as any cyberpunk could have anticipated, it's also national-security-obsessed. We seem to be building toward a sort of public-private partnership of free-market totalitarianism that never felt like it was on the road map.
And of course, the huge question mark is global warming. There are so many variables, from sea level rise to disrupted ecosystems to catastrophic droughts, that a bunch of our comfortable narratives about what the world will look like-let alone how we'll adapt to it-are in play.
The whole thing is well worth reading. [Wired]


text:
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Anthem College-Denver 350 Blackhawk Street Aurora, CO 80011 Phone: (720) 859-7900 Disclaimer Info
General Information About Anthem College-Denver
The mission of Anthem College is to providfe quality postsecondary education focused on career success in the field of Allied Health Care and to provide a learning environment that inspires all students to realize their full potential. Anthem College is accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES).
Institutional statistical data was gathered from the U.S. Department of Education - Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 2009-2010.
Institution Type
- 2-year, Private for-profit
Special Learning Opportunities
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Religious Affiliation
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Federal Aid
- Eligible students may receive Pell Grants and other federal aid (e.g. Direct Loans).
Degrees/Certificates offered
- Less than 1 year certificate
- 1-2 years certificate
- Associate's degree
Campus Setting
- City: Large
Disability Services Student
- 3% or Less
Admission Total Applicants Full Time Retention Rate 74%
Student Demographics Total Enrolled 601 Native American 3.0 Asian 21.0 African American 134.0 Hispanic 143.0 Enrolled FullTime Undergraduates 326 Enrolled FullTime Graduates


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We believe our website should be accessible by all visitors, so we have followed the recommended guidelines from the Web Accessibility Initiative to level AA+.
To ensure our site is usable for as many people as possible, we have taken the following steps:
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Disability Guides
The BBC maintains some excellent guides for people with various disabilities including how to change browser and operating system settings to make things easier. Follow this link:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/guides/
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This website includes the following access keys:
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Pascal Dorien was living in Bel Air—the Baghdad of Haiti, some people called it, but that would be Cité Pendue, an even more destitute and brutal neighborhood, where hundreds of middle-school children entering a national art contest drew M-16s and beheaded corpses, and wrote such things as "It's not polite to shoot at funeral processions" and "I'm happy to have turned in my weapons. What about you?" Bel Air was actually a mid-level slum. It had a few Protestant and Catholic churches, vodou temples, restaurants, bakeries, and dry cleaners, even Internet cafés. For a while, there were no gang wars; there was just one gang, whose headquarters were in a large empty warehouse, painted with murals of serpents, lions, and goats, and Haile Selassie and Bob Marley. The two dozen or so young male inhabitants of the warehouse called it Baz Benin, for reasons that only the person who came up with the tag knew for sure. That person, Piye, was killed when a special-forces team shot several bullets into the back of his head as he was lying in bed one night. The shooting was in retaliation for a series of fatal kidnappings, some of which the Baz Benin men had committed and some of which they had not. (The men of Baz Benin gave themselves the monikers of Nubian royalty, which also happened to suggest, in Creole, menacing acts—piye, for example, means "to pillage.")
Pascal's parents were shop owners and restaurateurs in Bel Air. They had a slightly larger yard than most of their crammed-in neighbors, so they had closed it off with sheets of rusty corrugated metal, and there, at four long wooden tables beneath a string of light bulbs which dangled from a second-story clostra-block window, they served up to thirty customers per night, if the turnover was fast. They sold rice and beans, of course, and fried plantains and cornmeal, but their specialty, for a long time, was fried pigeon meat.
Pascal's parents had moved to Bel Air at a time when the neighborhood was inhabited mostly by peasants, living there temporarily so that their children could finish primary school. But as the trees in the provinces vanished into charcoal and the mountains gave way, washing the country's topsoil into the sea, they, like the others, stayed and raised their two sons and at least a thousand pigeons, which, over the years, they sold both alive and dead.
Pascal's father had been a pigeon breeder since he was a boy in Léogâne. He'd stopped briefly in the early eighties, when some soldiers came and collected his birds because it was rumored that he was breeding carriers to send messages to armed invaders in the Dominican Republic. But when the dictatorship finally collapsed—without any help from his pigeons—he started again. Then most of his customers were nervous young men who wanted to perform a ritual before their first sexual encounter: they'd slit the pigeon's throat and let it bleed into a mixture of Carnation condensed milk and a carbonated malt beverage called Malta. Sometimes their fathers would come with them, and, after the sons had held their noses and forced down the drink, the fathers would laugh and say, as the pigeon's headless body was still gyrating on the ground, "I pity that girl."
It was a ritual that Pascal's parents didn't approve of. But for each bird that was killed this way they were paid enough to buy two more. They quietly mourned the days when people had bought pigeons as pets for their children. Then they began missing the days of the fathers and sons, because suddenly their customers were beefy young men who had gathered themselves into what were at first called "popular organizations," then gangs. The gang members, who were also called chimès—chimeras, or ghosts—were, for the most part, former street children who couldn't remember ever having lived in a house, boys whose parents had died or been murdered during the dictatorship, leaving them alone in a lawless and overpopulated city. Later, these young men were joined by deportees from the United States and Canada and by some older men from the neighborhood, aspiring-rap-musician types. The older local men were "connected"—that is, ambitious businessmen and politicians used them to swell the ranks of political demonstrations, giving them guns to shoot when a crisis was needed and having them withdraw when calm was required. Sometimes, before these demonstrations, so many men came for the milk-Malta-pigeon-blood mix that Pascal's parents were tempted to close the business for good. How had they become the people in whose yard pigeons were tortured and massacred? Finally, they released their last two pigeons. For a while, the birds kept coming back to nest, then someone in the neighborhood must have got to them, and Pascal's parents never saw that last pair again.
Still, with the money they'd made from the pigeons, Pascal's parents were able to expand their menu. They bought the house next door and added a few more tables. Pascal's father bought a pickup truck, which he drove back and forth between Léogâne and Port-au-Prince daily, packed with people and livestock. He was always at the restaurant, however, for the busiest time, from 7 P.M. till midnight, when the gang members, many of whom had by this time abandoned politics for the drug trade, took over the entire establishment. Watching these boys drift from being sellers to users of what they liked to call "the white man's powder," watching them grow unrecognizable to anyone but one another, Pascal's parents were disheartened and disgusted, but they kept the restaurant open, because, as they often acknowledged, the blight that had destroyed the neighborhood that had once been a kind of haven for the poor was allowing them to prosper, to send their children to school with the heirs of the country's tiny middle class. Although they could not afford the luxurious extras—holidays at the resorts of Jacmel and Labadie, or summers abroad with émigré relatives—their children were making contacts that might one day help them get good jobs and marriages. In order for their children to leave one day without ever having to look back, the Doriens had to stay.
Jules, Pascal's older brother, had already fulfilled this promise. For a long time, he had dated a girl whose parents were in Montreal. The girl had vowed that as soon as her visa came through she would marry Jules, so that she'd be able to send for him once she got to Canada. In the meantime, the government had turned over again, and the United Nations had come to train yet another police force. Jules had joined up, even though he was scrawny—barely five feet tall—and had a disproportionately large head, a distinctive family trait that had gained him the nickname Tèt Veritab, Breadfruit Head. But Jules had found that he couldn't be a policeman and live in the room he shared with Pascal above his parents' restaurant in Bel Air. Every time a neighborhood gang member was arrested, Jules was blamed for it. So he had moved in with his girlfriend's aunt and uncle for a few months, then married and left the country. Pascal had stayed, of course, and once Jules was gone no one bothered him or his parents.
When he wasn't helping out at the restaurant or going to computer-programming classes at a vocational school, Pascal worked as a news writer for Radio Zòrèy, one of the country's most popular stations. Having grown up in Bel Air and witnessed the changes there firsthand, Pascal imagined himself becoming the kind of radio journalist who could talk about the geto from the inside. An idea came to him one night as he was walking from the small concrete-block kitchen his parents had built next to the street—to tempt passersby with appetizing smells—to the table where Tiye ("to kill"), a one-armed, bald-headed gang leader, was nursing a beer and a massive cigar. Tiye was wearing his plastic-and-steel artificial arm under a long-sleeved white shirt and was expertly raising and lowering his beer with the shiny metal hooks of the prosthesis. Surrounded by three eager "lieutenants," Tiye was laughing so hard about the way he'd once slapped a man, back when he'd had both his arms—sandwiching the man's head between his arms and pounding his ears—that he had to dab tears from his eyes. Pascal, eavesdropping, wished that he had a video camera, or at least a tape recorder. He wanted the rest of the country to know what made these men cry. They cannot remain chimès to us forever, he thought. His show at Radio Zòrèy, if he was ever given one, would be called "Ghosts." It would be controversial at first, but soon people would tune in by the thousands. A kind of sick voyeurism would keep them listening, daily, weekly, monthly, however often he was on. People would rearrange their schedules around it. They wouldn't be able to stop discussing it. "What are the people in the slums up to now?" they'd say. Then they'd be encouraged to figure out ways to alleviate the problems. Also featured on the program would be psychologists, sociologists, and urban planners.
Pascal's friend Max liked his pitch for the show. Max was a middle-class boy who lived in another type of neighborhood, one perched between affluence and despair. Max was not rich, like most of the children his mother taught at the Lycée Dumas, in the hills above Port-au-Prince, but he was also not historically poor, like Pascal; you could tell this from the small gold stud earring that he always wore in his right ear. Max had started at the station as an afternoon d.j. when Kreyòl rap—hip-hop from the slums—was just beginning to make it to the airwaves. Sometimes, Pascal would slip Max a CD from one of Baz Benin's aspiring rappers, and Max would play it on his hour-long music program.
"I'm feeling everything you're saying, but the management won't buy it," Max said. He was keeping Pascal company while Pascal translated that day's newswires into conversational Creole for the announcer to read. "Who'd sponsor a show like that?"
"The government should sponsor it," Pascal said. "I'd be offering a public service."
But, just as his friend had predicted, the station's director turned him down. A few weeks later, while Pascal was typing that afternoon's news script, he overheard the news manager, a stuttering man who had been an inept police spokesperson, discussing a program called "Homme à Homme," or "Man to Man." The program would consist of a series of in-studio conversations between gang members and business leaders. "They'll hash out their differences," he heard the news manager say, "with the help of a trained arbitrator."
The first program paired the owner of an ice factory that had been broken into at least once a week over the past six months with a gang leader from Cité Pendue who was believed to have organized the "raids."
"What do you expect?" the gang leader told the owner. "You're chilling in all this ice while we're in Hell."
The arbitrator, a Haitian-American F.B.I.-trained hostage negotiator, then suggested the obvious—that the businessman find some way to sell his ice at a lower price to the people who lived near his factory, and that the gang leader respect the property of others.
Pascal was not at the station during the taping, but he heard part of the show on the radio at home. He could not hear the whole thing because he was helping at the restaurant that night and the taunting of both guests on "Homme à Homme" by Tiye and his crew was too loud. Many of the gang members had known about Pascal's plan—he had coyly approached some of them as possible guests for his show—and, as he served them their beers, they teased him, saying, "Man, they stole your idea." A few of them tried to grab him as he put the bottles on the table—as if to squeeze out the anger that they knew was building inside him. The more they laughed, the angrier he got. They could see it in the layer of sweat that was gathering on his face. Tiye was still laughing when he said, "Pascal, bro, I didn't like the way that masisi said that the guys in Cité Pendue had to leave the ice alone. I should find him and kick his ass."
"That's right," one of the lieutenants chimed in.
"Pascal," someone else said. "You should kick the ass of the guy who stole your show."
Just then Pascal's cell phone rang. It was Max.
"Man," Max said, "that guy stole your idea, and when I tried to call him on it do you know that he fired me?"
"You shouldn't have said anything," Pascal answered. "Now that you've lost your job, I'll probably lose mine, too."
Tiye and his guys were chanting, "We've got to kick his ass."
"The truth is," Pascal told Max, while passing an empty tray to his exhausted father, who was piling the last of the night's food onto a plate for himself, a cigarette dangling from his lips, "I've already put it out of my mind. 'Homme à Homme' is not the show I wanted to do. I wanted to do something closer to the skin, something more personal."
After he got off the phone, Pascal waited for Tiye and his crew to leave. His mother and the neighborhood girls she'd hired were working on the dirty dishes. He asked if he could help, but they refused. His mother's stern face, darker than the bottom of the burned pot she was scrubbing, never really changed. It was as if the heat of the kitchen had melted and sealed it. Even if she never worked again for the rest of her life, whatever beauty she'd had when she first met his father would not come back.
That night, he persuaded his mother to go to sleep a little earlier than usual, before going to bed himself. In his room, where two cots faced each other from opposite walls that he and his brother had painted bright red, he felt Jules's absence in his gut. If he were younger, he might have started crying, the way kids cry for their mothers.
Leaving had been easier for Jules than anyone had expected. Because gang members had threatened him when he was a policeman, he'd filed for political asylum in Canada as soon as his wife's papers came through. Now Jules was living in Montreal while Pascal was sleeping by himself in this ridiculously red room, his clothes hanging from nails that he and his brother had hammered into the walls. Jules called only once a week, on Sunday afternoons, though he could easily have called more often. Pascal and his parents all had cell phones now, and kept them charged and filled with usable minutes, waiting for him. Sometimes, as his mother fanned away the vapors from the food she was cooking, she'd let out a big sigh before saying, "I wonder what Jules is doing now." The truth was that Pascal was always wondering what Jules was doing. He was even thinking of asking Jules to find some way to send for him. If he were gone, he thought, his parents might finally give up the restaurant and move back to Léogâne, where they could breed pigeons again, freeing the birds in the morning and watching them return safely at dusk.
Pascal went to bed with all these thoughts swirling in his head, stirred up, he knew, by his disappointment over his show. Now it would be much harder for him to pitch the idea to another radio station. The programmers could always say, "But 'Homme à Homme' is already airing. We don't want to give these gangsters too much of a platform." He fell asleep thinking that he'd have to redefine his idea, sharpen it up a bit. Maybe he'd add music to it. Max could help with that. They could play throbbing, urgent-sounding, reggae-influenced hip-hop, and, in between songs, he would let his neighbors speak.
He was still asleep the next morning when a dozen policemen with balaclava-covered faces, members of the special forces, knocked down the front gate of his parents' house, climbed up to his room, blindfolded him, and dragged him out of bed. He was not allowed to change out of his pajamas, even as his mother wailed uncontrollably and his father shouted that a great injustice was taking place.
By the time he arrived at the nearest commissariat, a small crowd of print, TV, and radio journalists—including his boss—were waiting for him. The night before, the police spokesperson, a shrill-voiced woman, explained, there had been a shooting at Radio Zòrèy. Four men with M-16s and machine guns had been seen jumping out of the back of a tan pickup truck. They had shot at the gates and windows of the three-story building, killing the night guard. The police had arrested Tiye, the notorious head of Baz Benin, and he had named Pascal as the mastermind of the operation, the person who had sent him and his men to do the job. Pascal was not allowed to speak at the press conference. He was simply forced to stand there, like a menacing prop, surrounded by the still hooded special-forces team, with his chafed wrists handcuffed behind his back.
The box of a room where he was taken to be questioned was hot, with the stench of fresh vomit in the air. In addition to the rusty metal chair on which he was placed, with his hands still cuffed, it had a fluorescent light whose flickering beams penetrated the black cloth that covered his eyes.
During his questioning, he was repeatedly punched on the back of the neck.
"Do you know Tiye?" one of his interrogators asked, sucking on a cigarette and blowing the smoke in his face.
"Yes," Pascal replied, coughing. His lungs seemed to be closing down. The constriction forced pieces of last night's dinner onto the front of his pajama top and, when he was allowed to bend his neck, down to his lap.
The questions continued. "How do you know Tiye?"
"He lives in my neighborhood and often eats at my parents' restaurant," he stammered.
"You're a big man, huh? Your parents have a restaurant in the slums. I'm hungry now. Feed me. Feed me."
The officers were laughing even as he hiccupped and sobbed. To his ear, there was no difference between their laughter, their taunting, and that of Tiye and his crew. They could all have switched places, and no one would notice.
"How much did you pay the crew from Baz Benin to shoot at the station?" someone else asked.
"Nothing . . . I . . ."
"So they did it for free?"
They threw freezing water in his face. Panicked, he tried to rise from the chair, but several hands shoved him back down. Between the smoke, the vomit, and the water, he felt as though he were drowning.
After the questioning, he was left alone in a dank cell. That afternoon, his mother and father came to see him. They were allowed to kneel next to him on the floor, where he was lying in a fetal position, and remove his blindfold.
"Pascal, chéri." His mother wept quietly, while his father supported her with one hand beneath her armpit and the other firmly pressed against her back.
"Pascal, could you have done such a thing?" his father asked. He sounded stern, as though scolding his son.
Pascal shook his head. His throat ached, and he could taste the vomit still lingering in his mouth. His father, he knew, needed a denial from him in order to proceed with his fight.
"They're not beating me too badly," he said, to fill the silence. "Not yet, anyway. You see I have no blood on me."
The mother raised his filthy pajama top to look for cuts, wounds.
"The lawyer we got for you," his father said, "her cousin is a judge. She says she's going to try to move things along very fast."
Years earlier, under the dictatorship, Pascal's father had had a facial tic—a quick batting of his eyes and an involuntary twitching of his mouth. Now it had returned. Pascal had not seen it in such a long time that he had almost forgotten about it.
"They'll probably take you to the court, to Parquet, this afternoon," his father continued, despite the spasms in his face. "Then you might possibly go to the Pénitencier, to jail, for a few days, until we get you out."
From Montreal, Jules had told his parents what to say and do. Jules had called the lawyer, who'd successfully represented many of his old police buddies in corruption cases, and was paying her himself. He had also phoned many of his police friends and his former bosses, including the secretary of state, on whose security detail he had briefly worked. Then he had called Tiye's people, telling them that Tiye must have misunderstood. Pascal would never have asked them to shoot up the radio station. If they had meant to do him a favor, they'd failed.
Everyone Jules was able to reach, including Tiye's second-in-command, told him to stay calm. The case against Pascal was a lamayòt, a vapor. Nothing was going to stick. Give it a few more hours. Let it cool off.
Pascal was on a fast track, it seemed. After his parents left, a black-robed magistrate came in and informed him of the charges against him. Later that afternoon, more charges were filed. Now he was said to be not only the mastermind of the radio-station shooting but someone the police had been seeking for a long time. In him they'd found a scapegoat for a whole tally of unsolved crimes.
Because of the additional charges, the lawyer asked for more money. They should consider paying off a judge, she said. Twenty thousand dollars. American.
"This is a kind of kidnapping," Jules hollered on the phone from Montreal. Jules had not eaten all day. In despair, he was trying to deprive himself as well. He was expecting his brother to rot in an overcrowded cell at the Pénitencier or simply to disappear before he got there. Pascal's parents were preparing to sell their business to buy Pascal's release. That evening, having slept through the dinner hour in his cell, with his face pressed against a cool groove on the floor, Pascal saw a line of black shiny boots marching toward him. He was blindfolded again and thrown into the back seat of a police jeep.
"Who does he know?" the officer who put him there asked. "What are they going to tell people?"
"That they made a mistake," another voice answered.
He was dumped in front of his parents' restaurant at ten that night.
Tiye, it turned out, had made some kind of deal with the police for his and Pascal's release. Rumor had it that after he became the head of Baz Benin, Tiye had collected highly incriminating drug-related dirt on everyone, from the lowest street cop to Supreme Court judges. Whether it was true or not, it was said that he possessed a slew of records, from videos and audiotapes to copies of contracts and bank statements, which were being held by relatives of his in Miami. The day he was killed—or convicted of a crime—they were supposed to send the records to a certain reporter at the Miami Herald, who would publish everything.
Later that night, Jules cheered on the phone. "Manman and Papa will have to leave now," he said.
But Pascal wasn't sure where they would go. "Back to the countryside?" he wondered aloud to his brother. "To the hills? To you?"
These were all possibilities, Jules told him. "Urgent possibilities," he added. "Home is not always a place you have trouble leaving."
Pascal, now showered and clean, was lying in bed as his parents hovered, handing him water, juice, creams for his skin. It was nearly midnight. His mother had not cooked that evening, but her customers had still come for cigarettes and drinks and to offer their sympathies over Pascal's arrest and their congratulations on his release.
When Pascal got off the phone, one of the girls from the kitchen came up to say that Monsieur Tiye was downstairs and wanted to see him.
"We'll go first," his father said, the tic returning in a milder version.
His parents filed out dutifully, their bodies tense with a new level of worry. What could Tiye want now? Did he want to be paid?
In the yard, Tiye and his lieutenants were already settled at a table, with drinks provided for them by the girls.
"No need to pay tonight," the father said.
Tiye had a few extra guys with him for protection. They listened with rapt attention as he described what he'd been through. "I was afraid they were going to shoot me," he was saying. "You know how they take some of the guys out to the woods in Titanyen and put them down. I was afraid that was going to happen to me."
He said this casually, almost matter-of-factly, with a kind of amused air that indicated that, if this had happened, it would not have been a big deal. This was perhaps how Tiye and his guys faced the inevitable, Pascal thought. Crossing the yard on shaky legs, he realized that he shared this with them. This was perhaps what Tiye had tried to teach him by turning him in and then rescuing him. One day, they would all be shot. Like the night guard at Radio Zòrèy, like Tiye's predecessor, Piye. Like almost every young man who lived in the slums. One day, it might occur to someone, someone angry and powerful, someone obsessive and maniacal—a police chief or a gang leader, a leader of the opposition or a leader of the nation—that they, and all those who lived like them or near them, would be better off dead.
Pascal stopped at Tiye's table and held out a hand to him.
"No hard feelings?" Tiye said, pounding his fist on his chest, near his heart, in greeting.
Pascal noticed, and not for the first time, that Tiye's gums were bright red, as though he had a perpetual infection or had been eating raw meat.
"Did they jack you up?" Tiye asked Pascal.
"Wasn't so bad," he said.
Tiye wasn't wearing his prosthetic arm, and the sleeve of his bright-yellow shirt sagged. With his good hand, he motioned for the guy who was sitting next to him to get up so that Pascal could sit down.
Pascal looked again at the space where Tiye's missing arm would have been. He thought he saw something white, as though a polished piece of bone were protruding. He tilted his head to see it better, while trying not to seem obvious. He almost checked his own body to see if anything was gone.
In his dreams, Pascal had imagined beginning his radio program with a segment on lost limbs. Not just Tiye's but other people's as well. He would open with a discussion of how many people in Bel Air had lost limbs. Then he would go from limbs to souls, to the number of people who had lost family—siblings, parents, children—and friends. These were the real ghosts, he would say, the phantom limbs, phantom minds, phantom loves that haunt us, because they were used, then abandoned, because they were desolate, because they were violent, because they were merciless, because they were out of choices, because they did not want to be driven away, because they were poor.
It was his mother who brought the last beers to the table, and for the first time in his life he could see between her furrowed eyebrows a disdain for those she served. She avoided their eyes as she lifted the bottles from her metal tray and placed them between the coconut-shell ashtrays on the hibiscus-patterned plastic tablecloth. Pascal waited for her to return to the kitchen before raising his drink toward Tiye and clinking the top of his bottle with his. Tiye's bottle struck his with force. Pascal saw a brief spark, and the top of his bottle broke apart, leaving a jagged gap in the glass. A shard landed on the table with a splash of beer; another fell to the hardened clay floor at his feet.
Tiye flashed his bright-red gums and pointed his intact beer bottle in Pascal's direction. "You wanted to know what it's like for us," he said. "I just thought I'd give you a taste."
Tiye filled his mouth with beer and swished it around loudly, as if he were gargling with mouthwash.
"Don't worry," he added to Pascal, but also, it seemed, to himself. "As long as I'm here, nothing will happen to us tonight." ♦


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About this paper
Colleges and universities have always collected lots of data, but it's usually spread across different schools, departments and campuses in diverse formats and systems, hindering analysis and reporting. Some have already centralized data management, implemented BI reporting, and enabled self-service access to reports for business users. But this is just the beginning. This paper discusses best practices shared by experts from three institutions, all of whom have taken their use of data to the next level. For example, learn how they use data visualization solutions to allow people to explore more data quickly, look at more options, uncover hidden opportunities, identify key relationships and make data-informed decisions faster than ever before. Experts interviewed include Thulasi Kumar, PhD, Assistant Vice Provost for Institutional Research, University of Connecticut; Tuesdi Helbig, PhD, Director of Institutional Research, Western Kentucky University; and Karl Konsdorf, Acting Director of Research, Analytics and Reporting, Sinclair Community College.
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M.A. Theology, University of San Francisco, 1994
Ph.D., Systematic and Philosophical Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA 2002
I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. When I met the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, quite by accident in my senior year of high school, I knew that God was up to something that would change everything. I am blessed to belong to a congregation of Dominican women whose passion for education nurtured and disciplined my gifts for ministry. After 15 years of teaching chemistry, biology, and religion, my sisters asked me to pursue a doctorate in theology. Their confidence awakened me to a certain "theological passion" that seemingly under-girds all of my teaching and preaching.
that overtakes me in the "teachable moment", meets me in study and the intensive labor of "doing theology"; it is, in a sense, experiencing something you know you were born to do. My heart belongs to the church in the fullness of its wonderful, frustrating, demanding and heartbreaking sacramental sojourn into the Reign of God. Fundamentally, it is the privilege of walking with Jesus and wanting to be, in some small way, a part of the difference that he continues to effect in this world that orders my theological and religious vocation.
to be serving at Aquinas Institute of Theology. Teaching and engaging in the ministry of formation for the Vocare Center has only deepened my appreciation of the livingness of the Spirit: quickening the "sense of the faithful" and stirring new expressions of gospel fidelity among us.


text: Arabic vocabulary human body parts arabic vocabulary September 23, 2018 ARABIC VOCABULARY: Please be cool and leave a comment if you notice mistakes or repetitions, or if you want to add more words and phrases. I'll try to correct it as soon as I can To download this full vocabulary list on PDF, click here. x Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Related


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Tomorrow, Saturday September 21st, at 4pm, we'll be having our September Pitch Night event, at the Toronto Mini Maker Faire! Our shortlist is:
DIY Bio – meat speciation via PCR project
3D Printing with your body – a 3D scanning system using Kinect for your body
Maker Kids – interactive project gallery
Pendulum Print Bot – an airbrush robot!
Plus potentially a dark horse candidate!
Buy tickets for the faire and come see us give away $1000 to the most awesome idea!