|
Return to About AJCU > Resources and Publications > Mission and Identity Activity at Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States > Table of Contents
Xavier University
Contact: Dr. Debra Mooney, Assistant to the President/CMO, Founding Director, Conway Institute for Jesuit Education
Phone: (513) 745-3777 E-mail: mooney@xavier.edu
Mission Statement
The University's mission statement reads in part:
“Xavier’s mission is to educate. Our essential activity is the interaction of students and faculty in an educational experience characterized by critical thinking and articulate expression with specific attention given to ethical issues and values.
Xavier is a Catholic institution in the Jesuit tradition, an urban university firmly rooted in the principles and convictions of the Judeo-Christian tradition and in the best ideals of the American heritage”.
“With attention to the student as an individual, Jesuit education seeks to develop: 1) intellectual skills for both a full life in the human community and service in the Kingdom of God; 2) critical attention to the underlying philosophical and theological implications of issues; 3) a world view that is oriented to responsible action and recognizes the intrinsic value of the natural and human values; 4) an understanding and communication of moral and religious values through personal concern and lived witness, as well as by precept and instruction; and 5) a sense of the whole person - body, mind, and spirit.
In keeping with this Jesuit tradition, Xavier believes that religious insights are complementary to the intellectual life, and that a continuing synthesis of the Christian perspective with all other forms of human knowledge is conducive to wisdom and understanding. Xavier shares in the world-wide Jesuit commitment to a creative and intelligent engagement with questions of peace and justice."
Structure
• The Board of Trustees has a Jesuit Identity Committee
• Assistant to the President for Mission and Identity/CMO (Debra Mooney, Ph.D.): The President named an Assistant to the President position in 2009. The Assistant serves on the Cabinet, the University Planning and Resources Council, is staff to the Board’s Jesuit Identity Committee and is the Director of the Conway Institute for Jesuit Education.
• The Center for Mission and Identity (Joe Shadle). The Center provides programs and resources to assist faculty and staff in understanding and animating the University’s Jesuit mission and identity.
• The Dorothy Day Center for Faith and Justice (David Johnson): Newly formed in 2010 through the merging of Campus Ministry and Peace & Justice Programs, the Center coordinates faith and service activities for students. The Center reports to the Associate Provost for Student Life and Leadership.
Orientation Programs
Trustee Orientation
A day-long orientation for new Trustees is held annually. Beginning September 2010, at each of the Jesuit Identity Committee meetings, one of six mission-related topics will be the focus of engagement. See the two-year content here.
Orientation for the Newly Hired
Manresa orientation begins with the President’s Luncheon and followed by either an overnight retreat or a 3-part lunch program. Topics include the life of Ignatius Loyola and the founding of the Society, the history of XU and how faculty and staff incorporate the mission in their work.
Orientation for New Students
Manresa for new students eases the transition to campus life at Xavier. Among many offerings, the 4-day program for freshmen includes an introduction to Jesuit core values, a mass, and an interfaith prayer service.
Ongoing Educational Programs for Faculty and Staff - Much of this work is focused within the Center for Mission and Identity
Mission and Identity Discernment Groups (DG)
Groups, through communal discernment, education, immersion and spirituality, consider ways to deepen the Jesuit identity across the campus. DG1 focused on recommendations for the future structure of mission and identity work at XU. DG II and III are addressing ways to meet the President’s Vision 2010-15 and serving as an advisory board to the Conway Institute, respectively.
AFMIX (Xavier's "Cornerstone" Education Program)
AFMIX (Assuring the Future of Mission and Identity at Xavier) is a two-year mission and identity educational program for faculty, staff, and administrators. The goal is to help colleagues carry out their own particular work in a more focused way, that focus being Xavier's distinctive Ignatian/Jesuit mission.
The program includes readings, presentations and discussion on Ignatian spirituality, and the Jesuit history, spirit, pedagogy, and education that grew out of that spirituality. Participants meet weekly for an hour and a half during the academic year. The first group of 23 "graduated" from the program in spring 2001. The number of graduates is currently in excess of 120; the 6th AFMIX cohort began in September of 2009.
Understanding Our Heritage: Living the Mission: An Online Seminar
To be unveiled fall 2010, this is web-based 6-component mission education program is for leaders at Xavier and beyond. The seminar can be engaged in individual and/or group format.
The Loyola Program for Staff
A semi-weekly, semi-annual, semester-long program provides an opportunity to meet and discuss mission-driven and professional/personal development topics during the lunch hour.
Conversations Hour
A bi-annual campus lunch discussion on the theme of the current issue of the national journal Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education.
Retreats/Spirituality Programs
Day and overnight retreats are offered regularly for faculty and staff through the Center.
The Spiritual Exercises and Spiritual Direction
The Center offers various opportunities to experience "God in all things," through a systematic form of prayer and reflection based on the Spiritual Exercises.
Integration of Mission and Identity into the Curriculum - Much of this work is focused within the Conway Institute for Jesuit Education
The Ignatian Mentoring Program
Full-time faculty (primarily second year tenure-track) are invited to participate in this program sponsored initially by a grant from the Lilly Fellows Program in the Humanities and the Arts. Tenured AFMIX graduates are paired with senior faculty in order to facilitate a deeper understanding of the Ignatian vision and Jesuit education. Faculty incorporate a mission-driven teaching component into their courses. The work is annually compiled in a book, Teaching to the Mission, and on the Jesuit Resource.
Taking Time to Think
Supported by a 2009 grant from the Lilly Fellows Program in the Humanities and Arts, mid-career faculty are invited to reflect upon how their teaching, scholarship, and service have evolved within an Ignatian context.
Conway Faculty Fellow
A fellowship offering a summer stipend and release from all teaching responsibilities the subsequent semester is offered annually to a faculty member to advance a proposed project that “makes a significant mission-related impact on the educational endeavor at Xavier and beyond.”
Student-related Identity and Mission Programs – much of this work is focused within the Dorothy Day Center for Faith and Justice
• Koinonia (CLC) weekly reflection groups
• Six weekend retreats - themes & audiences vary
• Faith and justice community engagement program (semester long)
• Catholic identity ministry groups
• Protestant bible study and retreat
• Daily and weekly Catholic liturgy
• Multi-faith ministry
• Urban and rural plunges explore the intersection of pressing social issues and Catholic social teaching
• Spiritual direction & pastoral care
• Alternative spring and summer break service and immersion trips
Ignatian Heritage Programs
Articulated in 2009 by Discernment Group I, a campus-wide education program communicating the “Gifts of Our Ignatian Heritage” has subsequently been met with success. The “Gifts” are articulated in recruiting materials, orientations, and on-going programs for trustees, faculty, staff and students, and can be seen in visual representation across campus, for instance on posters, murals, wall hangings, and lamp banners.
Gifts of Our Ignatian Heritage
MISSION invites us to understand the history and importance of our Jesuit heritage and Ignatian spirituality. Mission focuses on the centrality of academic excellence, grounded in a Catholic faith tradition.
REFLECTION invites us to pause and consider the world around us and our place within it.
DISCERNMENT invites us to be open to God's spirit as we consider our feelings and rational thought in order to make decisions and take action that will contribute good to our lives and the world around us.
SOLIDARITY and KINSHIP reminds us to walk alongside and learn from our companions, both local and afar, as we journey through life.
SERVICE ROOTED IN JUSTICE AND LOVE invites us to invest our lives into the well-being of our neighbors, particularly those who suffer injustice.
Resources
Print publications are listed below; descriptions can be found here:
• Do You Speak Ignatian?: A Glossary of Terms Used in Ignatian and Jesuit Circles
• Do You Walk Ignatian?: A Compilation of Jesuit Values Expressed in the Work Day
• The Daily Examen
• The Biography of St Ignatius Loyola
• Ignatian and Jesuit Spirituality
• Teaching to the Mission
• A Jesuit-Themed Day Planner With Weekly Reflections
• Go Forth and Set the World on Fire: Student Life in the Jesuit Tradition
• Jesuit Education and Ignatian Pedagogy: A Desktop Primer
• Creating Privileged Moments
• Lighting the Way: Incorporating Jesuit Values into Your Graduate Studies
• The Spirit of a University: Prayers for an Academic Year
Online resources are available through the Center’s Jesuit Resource at www.jesuitresource.org, which includes:
• an encyclopedia of terms and information
• Understanding Our Heritage, Living the Mission (online seminar)
• quote index
• mission-related video clips
• conference listings
• featured programs from universities and high schools across the country
• Various print resources translated in Spanish
An associated e-newsletter is distributed monthly during the academic year to >16,000 students and educators.
Hiring
In collaboration with Xavier’s Office of Human Resources, hiring information is available including a “hiring brochure” and sample interview questions.
Assessing Effectiveness
Programs supported by grants (e.g., Ignatian Mentoring Program, Taking Time to Think) and gifts (e.g., AFMIX, Conway Fellow) lend support to the effectiveness and reach of the activities.
As well, formal outcome assessment is conducted through the Office of Institutional Research. For instance, the Alumni Outcomes Survey and supplemental 13 Jesuit Consortium questions* were administered to alumni awarded bachelor’s degrees 1, 5 and 10 years prior in both 2005 and 2009. Results showed an increase in graduates responding “very much” or “quite a bit” on all 13 items, with increases ranging from 6% to 18% from 2005 to 2009. These increases were more pronounced for alumni of 1 year. As an example, 78% of the 1-year alumni in 2009 indicated that they were “Actively working to further social justice” “very much” or “quite a bit”, as compared to 57% of the 1-year alumni in 2004.
Posted 7/26/2010
|
