DOC
I-06-03
PROPOSAL TO THE ACADEMIC SENATE
TITLE: Sense of the Senate Document—Marianist Education Working Group
SUBMITTED BY: Executive Committee of the Academic Senate
DATE:
ACTION: Sense of the Senate Discussion
Presentation to the Academic
Senate
Marianist Education Working Group
The
Marianist Education Working Group presents the draft recommendations below for
discussion throughout the university community.
These recommendations reflect three components of the Working Group’s
final report:
The
Working Group will release later this term draft recommendations regarding the
implications of these proposals for features of current university programs,
for pedagogies, for faculty worklife, and for processes through which the Working
Group’s recommendations, if affirmed, might be developed in the coming academic
year.
I. Mission statement for the undergraduate
academic program
Students
educated in the Catholic and Marianist traditions at the
II. Orienting educational aims of
the University of Dayton
The ideals
of higher education inherent in Catholic and Marianist traditions, and
expressed in the
Education
in the Catholic and Marianist traditions at the
Sacramentality: Catholic universities arise out of
a distinctive commitment to the sacramental nature of the world, to the
presence of God in creation and the ordinary things of life. This means that all study of the world, every
inquiry into truth in any subject, through any method, must be dignified in a
Catholic university as knowledge of God.
The sacramental spirit of inquiry does not entail that members of a
Catholic university community must assent to the sacramental principle. It means, rather, that every form and mode of
genuine inquiry should be celebrated and affirmed as inherently valuable. It implies that the wonder and joy of
beholding the world ─ the animating spirit of liberal
education ─ should be cultivated in all
learning in the university and that scholarship should be pursued rigorously
and openly.
A
sacramental approach to knowledge also means that the whole person ─ mind, spirit, and body ─
should be engaged in learning and should be the subject of study, as every
dimension of human life bears value. Moreover,
the university must care for the development of the whole person.
The
sacramental spirit of knowledge-seeking affirmed in a Catholic university also
means that deep value is to be found in the plurality of the world’s people and
cultures. A Catholic university commits
itself to respect and embrace the dignity of all persons, and to welcome the
exploration of a multiplicity of perspectives, beliefs, and traditions
regarding what is true, beautiful, and good.
A Catholic university thrives on dialogue and collaboration among
persons with diverse backgrounds, values, cultures, and abilities. The sacramental principle anchors the distinctive
Marianist affirmation of the values of inclusivity and equality for genuine community.
Community: A Catholic and Marianist
university is specially committed to the ideals and responsibilities of
community in the design and delivery of its common academic program. These ideals and responsibilities are powerfully
conveyed through the concept of “family spirit.” The common academic program should reveal a
community of learning dedicated to challenging itself to realize the highest
academic and ethical standards and to supporting its members fully in this
challenge.
The
academic program should reflect clearly the primary ways in which the communal
values and relationships that shape student learning also infuse students’
residential life on campus. Because
contemporary American society does not normally inculcate or nurture the
habits, attitudes, skills, and practices that are necessary for building inclusive
community of the sort that Marianists envision, the university’s academic
program should approach the fundamental aim of communal learning explicitly and
deliberately. This means that students,
faculty, and staff alike must grow in their capacities to welcome collaboration
among equals in the face of differences, to sustain dialogue even when
disagreements seem insurmountable, and to turn beyond the university community
in the recognition that all learning should ultimately seek to serve and, in
serving, to lead. All members of the
university should come to realize that learning in, through, and for community generates
high expectations for responsibility from each person in the community.
The
pursuit of learning in community also means that the undergraduate academic
program should prepare students for intelligent and fruitful participation in
various forms of community that mediate human life and activity in the local,
regional, national, and global spheres.
Practical wisdom: The innovative and transformative
purposes of higher education in a Catholic and Marianist context mean that the
search for wisdom and truth that defines any serious university must ultimately
be rendered practical. A Catholic,
Marianist university strives to cultivate wisdom in the adoption of practical
ends, in practical judgment, and in reflective decision-making. It aims to educate persons for good and whole
lives, to influence sensibilities, motives, and conduct in academically
appropriate ways, as well as to build theoretical understanding.
Cultivation
of practical wisdom requires that deep immersion in the world through
experience, activity, and imaginative exploration be central to a university
education. In particular, university
education must address real human problems and needs. This is why descriptions of Catholic,
Marianist education properly emphasize integration of liberal and professional
education and the uniting of creative imagination with analytical forms of
inquiry.
Reading the signs of
these times:
The
Society of Mary was formed in response to crises in modernity that the
Marianist founding generation experienced in the wake of the French Revolution. Central to Marianist education is the forging
of abilities for the critical interpretation and examination of one’s
times. While higher education with a
Marianist character draws upon profound and longstanding intellectual
traditions, it also interrogates the particular challenges of its own time and
place in an open, critical, and hopeful spirit that seeks justice, peace, and
the common good.
The
common academic program of a Catholic, Marianist university addresses the
university’s specific historical, geographical, and social circumstances and
prepares students to acquire habits of inquiry and reflection that enable them
to identify, evaluate critically, and respond creatively to the pressing issues
of their own day. The university’s
academic program in the early decades of the twenty-first century must
investigate the ethical, social, political, technological, economic, and
ecological upheavals and crises of its time.
Vocation: Education in the Catholic and
Marianist traditions strives to support academically each students’ efforts to
find and explore the deep purposes that lend meaning, mystery, and fulfillment
to their lives. Such a commitment
follows from the fundamental objective to educate whole persons, in mind,
spirit, and body, for whole lives.
Students’
reflection upon their unique vocations belongs in the common academic program because
the habits of mind and character which that program inculcates support
thoughtful investigation and articulation of life purposes. The academic program also prepares students
for excellence in the majors or professional studies that will influence much
of their working lives, as well as their communal roles and
responsibilities. Through the common
academic program students come to grips with the multiple dimensions of human
flourishing with which they must engage as they pursue the meaning-giving
purposes of their lives.
Academic
support for reflection upon vocation naturally accompanies the other orienting
educational aims of a Catholic, Marianist university. Pursuit of rigorous inquiry in a sacramental
spirit, through a community of learning dedicated to cultivating practical
wisdom in the face of the critical issues of the times, naturally encompasses
extended reflection upon the unique contours and directions of our individual
and collective lives. Excellence in
university education also fosters dedication to the particular vocation of
learning throughout our lives.
III. Core student learning
outcomes for the common academic program
For the
past year, the Marianist Education Working Group has facilitated campus-wide
conversations about the purposes and substance of education in the Catholic and
Marianist traditions at the
The
learning outcomes presented below are intended to function at the level of the
common academic program. They could be
promoted in different ways, through different structures and activities, in
students’ major program of study, in General Education and the Competencies
programs, in co-curricular programming, and in learning experiences that
transpire outside the formal curriculum.
They are not to be regarded as the exclusive responsibility of a limited
segment of the university community.
Rather, they should shape all intentional planning for students’
educational experience in every division of the university.
The
proposed outcomes do not map onto unique elements of the common academic
program, nor do they exhaust the goals of the academic program for students.
* * *
Membership of the Marianist Education
Working Group
Paul Benson (Chair): Associate Dean for Integrated Learning and
Curriculum, College of Arts and Sciences
Jim Biddle: Chairperson, Academic Policies Committee of
the Academic Senate
Una
Cadegan: Director, American Studies
Program
Chris
Duncan: Chairperson, Department of
Political Science
Jim Dunne: Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and
Information Technology,
Kevin Hallinan: Chairperson, Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering
Judith
Huacuja: Assistant Professor, Department
of Visual Arts
Katie Kinnucan-Welsch: Chairperson, Department of Teacher Education
Paul Marshall, S.M.: Rector
Don
Pair: Chairperson, Department of Geology