Susan Haarman, PhD

Associate Director, Service-Learning Program Manager

Dr. Susan Haarman is the associate director at Loyola University Chicago’s Center for Engaged Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship where she facilitates faculty development and the university's service-learning program. She previously served as the faith and justice campus minister, also at Loyola University Chicago, where she ran service immersions. She holds a PhD in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies, a Masters in Divinity, a Masters in Community Counseling, a certificate in directing the 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises, and has written extensively about Ignatian pedagogy. Her research and writing also focuses on the intersection between social justice education, community-based learning, civic identity, and imagination. Susan was recently a national fellow for the University of California’s Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement and did in-depth research on the way mission does and does not impact speech and expression policies at Catholic universities. 

Education

BA in Journalism and Theology, Marquette University 

MDiv at Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley 

MEd in Community Counseling at Loyola University Chicago 

PhD in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies at Loyola University Chicago 

Specialty Area

Service-Learning, Faculty Development, Ignatian Pedagogy, Philosophy of Community Engagement

Professional/Community Affiliations

Editorial Board, Metropolitan Universities Journal

Public & Scholarship Chairperson, NASPA Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Knowledge Community

Member, International Association of Research in Service-Learning and Community Engagement

Member, Association of Jesuit Colleges Universities Community Engaged Learning Professionals Network

Editorial Team, International Journal of Role-Play Studies

Courses Taught

EXPL 290 / SOWK 499: Community-Based Research in Social Work: Recovery & Resilience in Post-Katrina New Orleans

ELPS 529: Educating Students Abroad: A Seminar in Study Abroad

ELPS 420: Philosophy of Education

ELPS 500: Race and Schooling

EXPL 290: Seminar in Community-Based Leadership and Change: Refugee Resettlement Issues

EXPL 291: Seminar in Community-Based Research

ELPS 302: Philosophy of Education

ELPS 265: Internship in Classroom Education

Publications/Research Listings

Haarman, Susan, and Leslie Watland. 2025. Good Faith Speech: Exploring Meaning Making and Tensions in Free Speech Practices on Catholic Universities. Fellows Research Report. National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement of the University of California.

Green, Patrick M., Megan Barry, Michelle Peters, and Susan Haarman. “Community-Guided Service: Leveraging Community Partnerships to Support Student-Led Community Service.” New Directions for Student Services (2025). https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.70010.

Haarman, Susan, Donald Ziegler, Sasha Adkins, Maggie Ozan-Rafferty, and Tamar Frolichstein-Appel. “Going Global Rather than Local During and After the Pandemic: Shifting from Placement-Based to Project-Based Service-Learning.” In Community Engagement and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Affordances and Challenges of Service Learning in Crisis, edited by Tawnya Azar, 289–316. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2025.

Haarman, Susan. “Roll for Discernment: Dungeon Master as St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Director.” In Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons: Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds, edited by Scott Donahue-Martens and Brandon Simonson. Rowan & Littlefield, 2025.

Haarman, Susan. “Dewey Dilemma.” In Roll for Learning: 51 Micro Tabletop Role-Playing Games to Use in the Classroom, edited by Camila Zamboni, Matthew Farber, and William Merchant. Play Story Press, 2024. https://doi.org/10.17613/crhvk-jwe98.

Haarman, Susan. "Kid on Bikes." In Learning, Education, & Games - Volume 4: 50 games to Use For Inclusion, Equity, and Justice, edited by Karen Schrier, Rachel Kowert, Diana Leonard, and Tarja Porkka-Kontturi. Pittsburgh, Pa: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2024. 

Haarman, Susan. "Imagination Grasping Reality: An Ignatian Foundation for Critical Hope in Jesuit Education," Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal: Vol. 12: No. 2, Article 4 (2023).

Haarman, Susan, Emma Feeney, Sandra Helquist, Patrick M. Green, and Susan McCarthy. “Covalent Bonds and Communities of Practice: The Impact of STEM Faculty Communities of Practice.” In Faculty Learning Communities: Communities of Practice that Support, Inspire, Engage and Transform Higher Education Classrooms, edited by Kristin N. Rainville, Cynthia G. Desrochers, and David G. Title, 2023.

Burns, Michael, Susan Haarman, and  Joe Vukov. “Embrace AI through Ignatian pedagogy,” Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, September 24, 2023

Haarman, Susan & Green, Patrick M. “Does Place Actually Matter? Searching For Place-based Pedagogy Amongst Impact and Intentionality.” Metropolitan Universities 34, no. 2 (2023): 1-12. DOI: 10.18060/27203 

Haarman, Susan. Dungeons & Dragons & Dewey: Toward a Ludic Pedagogy of Democratic Civic Life Through the Philosophy of John Dewey and Tabletop Role-Playing Games. Dissertation. Loyola University Chicago, 2023.

Haarman, Susan. “Ad Astra Per Libros: Further Reading in Science Fiction & Faith.”  Nexus: Conversations on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition 2 (2023). 

Haarman, Susan. "Dungeons & Dragons & Dewey: The Potential for Dramatic Rehearsal and Civic Outcomes in Tabletop Role-Playing Games." Philosophical Studies In Education 53 (2022): 56.

Haarman, Susan and Green, Patrick. “Considering Power in Community-Based Research: Shifting toward New Pedagogical Approaches with a ‘Public Work for Public Things’ Framework,” Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement." Vol 14, no 2 (2021)

Haarman, Susan and Selak, Annie. “An Examination of Alternative Break Trips and Whiteness in Jesuit Higher Education,” Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal,10(2): (2021) 138-149. 

Haarman, Susan. “Democratic Community as a Public of Others: Combating Failed Citizenship in Refugees,” Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education, (November 2021).

Haarman, Susan. "The Data Should Not Speak For Itself: Epistemic Injustice and Data as Rhetoric." Philosophical Studies In Education 52 (2021): 26-36.

Haarman, Susan. “Public Work for Public Problems.” Philosophical Studies In Education 51 (2020): 117-129. 

Select Presentations 

“'Good Faith Speech': Exploring Meaning-Making and Tensions in Free Speech Practices on Catholic Universities” JASPA 5 Year Institute, New Orleans, 2025

“Catholic Social Teaching & Community Engagement,” Invited Plenary Speaker,, Association of Jesuit College and Universities Community Engaged Learning Practitioners National Conference, Santa Clara, 2025.

“Dungeons & Dragons & Democracy: TTRPGS and Civic Formation,” PAXUnplugged, Philadelphia, 2024

“ ‘We Aren't Teaching Skills, We're Teaching Relationship’ : Community-based Learning and Vocational Discernment,” International Association of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement. San Diego, 2024.

“You Can’t Replicate The Personal: How ePortfolios Avoid AI Abuse and Encourage Critical Reflection In Experiential Education,” Susan Haarman, Alli Sanchez-Perry, Michelle Peters, National Society for Experiential Education 2024, New Orleans, 2024.

“Choice, Challenge & Complex Consent: Fostering Growth In Both The Classroom & In RPGs,” Gen Con Trade Day, Indianapolis, IN, 2024.

“Insight Check on the Self: Tabletop Role-playing Games as A Site of Epistemic Justice ,” Pop Culture Association National Conference, Chicago, 2024.

“When Citizenship Fails Citizens: Community-Based Education for a New Democracy,” International Association of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement. New Orleans, 2023.

“Roll To Save Democracy: TTRPGs and Civic Formation,” Gen Con Trade Day, Indianapolis, IN, 2023.

“Roll for Progressive Pedagogy: Game Master as Deweyan Teacher,” Pop Culture Association National Conference, San Antonio, 2023.

“Dungeons and Dragons and Pragmatism: Exploring the Perils of Public Life Through Collaborative Games,” Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy Annual Meeting, Denver, 2023

“Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: Practicing Critical Hope in the Classroom,” Focus on Teaching and Learning Conference, Loyola University Chicago, January, 2023.

“The AI Revolution and Higher  Education,” Focus on Teaching and Learning Conference, Loyola University Chicago, January, 2023.

"Citizen Uninterrupted: Education in Prisons through a Rawlsian Lens." The Philosophy of Education Society, annual conference.  2021.  

"Just Words: The Language of Other in Community-Based Learning and Service," Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Service-Learning Professionals, annual conference. Online, October, 2020.

"Public Works for Public Problems." Ohio Valley Philosophy of Education Society, annual conference. Nashville, Indiana, September 2019.

Presenter: Asset-Based Community Development and Dialoguing Across Difference: Annual Conference, International Association of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement. New Orleans, July 2018.

Haarman, Susan; Orbik, Kelly, & Peak, Jeff. Toward a More Integrated Post-Immersion Practice: Methods, Strategies, and Challenges for Alternative Break Immersion Follow Up. Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Commitment to Justice Conference. Seattle University, August 2017.

Presenter: Earning Enlightenment on Someone Else’s Back: Examining Pilgrimage through the Lens of Whiteness. Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Commitment to Justice Conference. Seattle University, August 2017.

Presenter: Exploring the Gaps in Co-Educational Experiences in Community-Engaged Learning: A Theory Building Approach for Community-Engaged Pedagogies. Annual Conference, International Association of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement. National University of Ireland Galway, September 2017.

Presenter & Author. Problematizing Pilgrimage: Examining the (Over) Use of“Pilgrimage” in Service and Justice Work on College Campuses. Biennial Conference of the Association for Practical Theology. April 2016.

Presenter: “Rooting Our Work: Ignatian Spirituality and Pedagogy in Service.”

Ignatian Service Directors Conference. San Antonio, March 2016.

Presenter: Engaging Power & Privilege through Partnership and Ignatian Pedagogy. Focus on Teaching and Learning Conference, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Il, August 2015.

Presenter: First Principle and Foundation of Immersions: Engaging the Shadow Side of Service Trips using the Spiritual Exercises. Ignatian Family Teach In For Justice, Washington, D.C. Nov 2014, Nov 2015

Presenter: Privilege, Power and Personhood in Your JV Year. Jesuit Volunteer Corp RE-Orientation Event. Milwaukee, Wi, Jan 2015

Haarman, Susan;  Downer, Jason, & Schwer, Lauren. The First Principle: How the Spiritual Exercises Serve as the Foundation of an Ignatian Approach to Student Affairs. JASPA 5 Year Summer Institute

Presenter: Intersectionality, Ignatius, and Students: Ignatian Spirituality and Jesuit Pedagogy as tools for working with students with Intersecting Identities. Conference on Diversity and Equity, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Chicago, Il, June 2014