Stay Thirsty, Indeed

What a week. So many good things, everywhere, all at once, swirling around my mind on a Friday afternoon.

I went to a Noteworthy Choir Shining Stars Pop Concert and it was so much fun, but I had to apologize to a cell phone talker/walker, for finding myself singing unintentionally but nonetheless quite badly, “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” on the post-concert walk from Recital Hall to parking garage. In any case, I can’t wait to hear the choir next time, at their Christmas Concert on December 5^th.

I went to a fascinating talk on “Unmasking the Ethnic Roots of the African Diaspora: A Scientist’s View,” sponsored by our Black World Studies program.

We’re in the middle of Founder’s Week, which celebrates the life and accomplishments of Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P., who founded the Sinsinawa Dominican order. My colleagues in University Ministry outdid themselves this time with a YouTube video that just cracked me up. It’s here. Enjoy. Then have a Dos Equis. Or not.

The kick-off to Founder’s week was our Lund-Gill Lecture by Eboo Patel, which was superb and played to a packed house. If you have some time, it’s worth hearing, here.

After his talk our incredible Better Together students facilitated an interfaith after-party and “speedfaithing” session that was really great fun and most interesting.

Here’s a very short video on that, and some additional still photos are here. I was so proud of our students, who made it happen and ran the event.

Our terrific Recipe Box Café continues its tradition of culinary and community delights. Here’s a sample. For the real thing you need to get to the Parmer Hall Atrium. Yum.

The Chicago Tribune ran a nice story on our Service Learning programs. Here it is and they included this photo from our Cuernavaca program.

That’s MaDonna Thelen, our super-director, under the green baseball cap.

I went to an opening at our O’Connor Art Gallery of the exhibition “Cosmic Commentaries,” which was quite extraordinary.

Finally, here’s a message I received a little earlier today from our athletics department:

For the second time in as many years, the Dominican University men’s soccer team and women’s volleyball teams will host their respective Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Tournament Championships on the same day. Both teams were crowned NAC regular season champs, running through their conference opponents with unblemished records (men’s soccer 11-0-0 and women’s volleyball 12-0) and have earned the right to host their respective conference championships by knocking off their foes in the semifinals of the tournaments.

Go Stars! They play tomorrow.

Meanwhile, stay Dominican, my friend, and may yours be the most interesting life in the world.

Students’ Remarks from the Endowed Scholarship Lunch

As promised, here are the comments from Jeff Batres and Sarah Gromek — our two outstanding student speakers at the recent Endowed Scholarship Lunch. Enjoy!

Jeff Batres

Good afternoon fellow members of the Dominican University community.

It is an honor to be able to be up here and share with you all a little bit about my life and experiences here at Dominican University. I am a senior student majoring in psychology and minoring in corporate communications. I transferred here as sophomore back in 2009, and since then I have been proud to call Dominican my school. I have never before been a part of a community that made me feel so welcomed, supported, and cherished. I chose Dominican, because I valued the student-faculty collaboration and the small class sizes. More importantly, I thought it was vital to find a university that’s values closely aligned with mine. To pursue truth, to give compassionate service, and to participate in the creation of a more just and humane world: That is exactly what I feel a university should strive for. Dominican does not just educate students; Dominican helps them discover how to be an active global citizen aimed at making a difference in the world. This is far and beyond what most schools do.

Throughout my three years here at Dominican, I have always done all I could to get the most out of my education: to make it as intellectually rewarding as possible and to ensure that I was more prepared for graduate school. Since early in my high school career, I have aspired to be a psychologist. The psychology faculty, much like the entire faculty here at Dominican, is very interested and supportive in the academic and personal development of their students. I was able to be a research assistant for Dr. Tina Ritzler’s study on racial privilege and discrimination. Currently, I am conducting an independent research project with the guidance of Dr. Rebecca Pliske. Dominican is full of opportunities and resources that help you shine as a student, discover your passion, and help you in nurturing that passion, whatever it may be.

We are all here today to honor and give thanks to the generous Alumni who have financially supported deserving students in reaching their educational goals. The cost of an education is not by any means a cheap investment, but I view it as one that will definitely provide rewarding outcomes. I want to extend my personal gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Dittus for the Harriet and Joseph Kern Scholarship. A thank you as well to Mr. and Mrs. Meyer, who could not be with us today, for the Class of 1946 Scholarship. I have been working part-time as a nursing assistant with Advocate Health Care for over four years now in order to help make some financial contributions to my tuition. With two private loans, several federal loans, and a part-time job, I work hard to be able to attend Dominican. Generous donors like, Mr. and Mrs. Dittus, help lessen the financial toll a college education will have on a student. During these very difficult economic times, I am truly fortunate and blessed to have your financial support. Thank you very much.

Let’s us all forever keep in our hearts the warm and generous acts of others, and let us remember to pay-it-forward for what we have done for ourselves dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.

Thank you and take care.

Sarah Gromek

Hello everyone it is an honor to be here today.

My name is Sarah Gromek and I am from a small rural town in Michigan called Yale. I live with my parents and my ninety year old Grandpa. Growing up, my family life revolved around raising the farm animal, the alpaca. When I turned six years old, I began learning to care for, train and show alpacas. Caring for alpacas has taught me to be responsible and dedicated. I have worked hard achieving high ideals and goals for myself. The one goal I set for myself and achieved was to maintain a 3.5 or higher GPA all during high school. I have the same goal now. I chose Dominican University because I was sent a booklet with the “I can” in Dominican highlighted. This caught my eye and as I read the motto of the university I fell in love. What Dominican stands for is what I believe in.

As I begin my sophomore year at Dominican University, I have made the decision to major in Corporate Communications with a double minor in Photography and Social Justice & Civic Engagement. After college graduation I wish to obtain a masters degree and would love to find employment with the organization People to People International. I have traveled with this organization and it has changed my life. Their motto of “creating peace through understanding” is how I see myself helping other students expand their horizons. I believe it is important in today’s world for individuals to learn and experience other cultures to create a more just and humane world.

During one of my travels with People to People I went to Costa Rica. I had many great memories from this trip but one in particular was painting school houses for children of the Meluku tribe. I find it personally rewarding to give of my time and talents. Last winter break I had the opportunity to travel to Cuernavaca, Mexico through Dominican University. I met a little girl named Vania and tried to speak to her in my poor Spanish. Even though communicating with her was difficult I soon realized that smiling is the universal language because it comes from the heart. At some point during my time at Dominican University I wish to study abroad in Ireland to have a deeper understanding of my family’s culture. I would also love to travel to Haiti through the university this spring break to help orphaned children. I plan to continue my education both in and outside of the classroom.

When I first realized I was awarded the scholarship I was at a loss for words. I was very touched. This award will help me set my college financial worries at ease. This scholarship will go directly towards helping pay for the rise in tuition. I thank you again Mrs. Morency for your generosity in awarding me this scholarship. It means so much to me that people care about my future and are willing to help me achieve my dreams.

I hope to, as Gandhi says, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Dweebs with Dreams

Today was the 16^th annual Endowed Scholarship Lunch. It connects donors with students who have received these scholarships, along with their families. The best talks were from two students, who promised to send me their remarks so I could include them in this space later. Meanwhile I was also asked to give a talk and here’s what I said:

It’s extraordinarily exciting to hear from President Carroll that we awarded over 150 endowed scholarships this year. But we have nearly 2,000 undergraduates. So we need more help for more students. And what I would say to our donors here today is that we are in the wonderful position of being able to point to your generosity, to the difference you are making, so that new donors who aren’t here yet can be inspired by your good example. You make it possible for others to follow your lead, and so you make it possible for even more students’ dreams to come true. I want to thank you so much for your support and your trust in what we are trying to accomplish here at Dominican University. What are we trying to accomplish?

My faculty colleagues and I talk about this all the time, and we’ve been involved more recently in some really intensive and wonderful conversations. It’s still a work in progress, but here’s where I’d say we are right now. Many of these words come directly from various faculty colleagues who have been crucial participants in our discussions.

Dominican is a place where undergraduates grow as liberal learners whose skills, knowledge, abilities, and habits of mind are developed, applied, and integrated through a distinctly Dominican course of study characterized by breadth and depth of inquiry that prepares graduates to be ethically responsible global citizens.

We develop students’ foundational abilities essential for further learning: Communication (written, oral and visual), computer applications, critical thinking, cultural knowledge, information literacy, quantitative reasoning, reading, and research fundamentals.

We provide opportunities for intellectual conversations of genuine breadth, both within and beyond the university, as students engage in varied fields of study, recognize different ways of knowing and creating knowledge, and demonstrate an understanding of disciplinary concepts and approaches.

Especially through a chosen major field, students study in depth, and they develop a high level of knowledge within a field of study, as well as disciplinary research skills, which are brilliantly on display all over this building every year on the first Wednesday of April in our Exposition of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Investigations.

But foundations, breadth and depth are not enough. We want students to be integrative thinkers. Integrative learning is the practice of making connections among experiences, skills, and knowledge; transferring ideas and abilities across contexts within and beyond the curriculum; reflecting on one’s learning over time; developing increasingly complex frameworks for future learning and action; and sharing learning with others.

One example of integrative thinking is in our LAS Seminar program, where students explore and consider enduring questions, compose informed, well-reasoned responses to these questions, contribute their ideas for collective consideration, and reconsider their own ideas in light of the beliefs of others. Moving into the future, students will be practiced in the art of raising and answering questions that matter, questions like: What are the key influences on a person’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual development? How does “the self” interact with a community? What are the causes and effects of inequality among and within groups? What does it mean to live in a diverse community? What is the place of work in the life of the individual in society? What part does making a living play in making a life? What does it mean to be good, to lead a good life? How does one reconcile self-interest with a sense of social responsibility?

These studies in foundations, breadth, depth and integration are shaped by and conducted in dialogue with a distinctively Dominican ethos, which assumes the harmony of faith and reason in a universe marked by both intelligibility and mystery, is faithful to the gospel of justice and liberation, and engages the Catholic intellectual tradition, which recognizes the sacredness of all creation, the dignity of every person, and the common good. It understands that study is at once contemplative and communal; it unites reflection and dialogue as we collaborate in the search for truth. It enables students to become moral and spiritual stewards of self, community, and the wider creation.

In these ways we prepare students to be global citizens who are knowingly positioned in relationship to the world from within and across cultural, geographic, linguistic, physical, political, religious and socio-economic borders. Shaped by a deep understanding of this relational identity, Dominican students become global citizens through study, experience and reflection. They embrace globally responsible attitudes; they acquire critically interconnected knowledge and skills; and they act ethically to participate in the creation of a more just and humane world.

The cumulative effect of a Dominican education should be that students possess knowledge, character, and skills to take informed, ethical action in the world and to influence others for the good.

Students, it’s a big responsibility. You are among a very small percentage of Dominican students who receive endowed scholarships currently. You set the tone, you set the example, you show what’s possible and by doing all that, you can make it possible for others. So I want to thank you, and I want to challenge you. Keep working hard. Cultivate your curiosity. And don’t be afraid to be a dweeb.

It was mentioned that I write a blog featured on the Dominican website but so do a few of our current students. And I loved what fellow blogger Hannah Minks wrote just a couple of days ago. After recounting how she had just shared the podium with our Lund-Gill Chair and founder of the Interfaith Youth Core Eboo Patel at one of the Chicago Ideas Week events, Hannah went on to write this:

I am working on 193,801,984 things at the moment. I have a couple papers due Friday, a research paper to be worked on continuously for theology, another for philosophy, a few interfaith events to plan, a capstone paper to be thinking about—the life of a student is a busy one! You know what? I love it, though. We’re at a really exciting place in our lives. It is our job to learn as much as possible and to share it with our peers. Sometimes I get frustrated at how unpopular of a notion that seems. It’s so neat, though! Being a scholar is our first and foremost responsibility at this juncture and we have so many resources at our disposal, we have great faculty and staff to support us, it’s awesome. Call me a dweeb, but I feel this is a great time in life. You know what else? We pay so much for it; let’s milk the experience for all its worth, and there’s so much worth here! I hope people aren’t doing this just for a piece of paper; that would be such a sad affair.

Does every student share that sentiment? Perhaps not, but our job is to inspire them and to lead by example. So let’s recommit to doing that, to helping all of our students to get the most out of this precious four year window of opportunity that is college, where they get to find out what they love, what they’re good at, what the world needs from them, and figure out how to turn that dream into a vocation, and to turn that vocation into an action plan, so they can take those next steps they’re truly meant to take.

Like some of our recent grads.

• Like Fanny Martinez, who just started graduate work at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.
• Like Tim Lazicki, who just started medical school at Midwestern University.
• Like Grant Newman, who just started the painting program at the Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University.
• Like Thu Ha Pham, who just started the Pastoral Counseling program at Boston College.
• Like Rachael Restko, who just started the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program at Belmont University in Nashville.
• Like Michelle Calvert, who just started Northwestern University’s Master of Science in Education Program after spending a year as a Dominican Volunteer in Atlanta.
• Like Kendall Moore, who just started medical school at Rosalind-Franklin University.
• Like Amanda Bohne, who just started the English PhD program at Notre Dame.
• Like Zach Maher, who just started a master’s program in security and intelligence studies at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
• Or like Annie Hussey, who is marketing and communications coordinator at Global Handmade Hope, a fair trade company in Park Ridge.
• Or like Zlatan Hodzic, who works at the Chicago Board of Trade.
• Or like Roslyn Anderson, who teaches third grade at St. Bernardine School in Forest Park.
• Or like Tracy Williams, who is a medical ambassador for the American Cancer Society.
• Or like Dr. Nicole Gentile. This Rosary alum of just a few years ago finished medical school and is now doing her residency at the Mayo Clinic.

Dweebs with dreams. They will make a difference. Who knows what our current endowed scholarship recipients will do? I can hardly wait to find out. But one thing I’m pretty sure of is this: They will carry with them the spirit of generosity they have experienced at Dominican, in large part through our wonderful donors. They will steep themselves in those habits of mind and heart that continue to make us all so proudly Dominican.

Hunger Banquet

Last week Dominican hosted a “Hunger Banquet,” which is an educational experience that dramatically simulates the disparity of food resources in the world. Each participant is placed randomly in a low (50% of participants), middle (35%) or high (15%) income group, and given a persona and story to identify with. Over 200 people participated from Dominican, as well as from Concordia University, neighbor school down the block, and from the wider community. It was a consciousness-heightening experience and it gave people lots of options for taking action for the common good by engaging in local and global efforts to address hunger. It’s linked as well with a wonderful community gardens project.

This week the Rosary College conference room is host to drop-offs for donations to “Welcome to America! Packs” being donated to new refugees being resettled in Chicago neighborhoods. Each pack contains essential household items. Students involved in this initiative are learning about how war and poverty contribute to the world-wide refugee crisis, and developing relationships with refugee families. We’re doing this in partnership with a wonderful organization, Exodus World Service. It’s a phenomenal learning experience and a chance for ours students to deepen their understanding of what it means to be globally positioned and ethically responsible.

Both activities are part of the work of our new Interfaith Cooperation Committee.

Tomorrow we host the ACCA Scholarship of Pedagogy Symposium, a wonderful conference of teachers from across the Chicago area, coming together to talk about why they love teaching and how they inspire students. I love participating in these kinds of events. I learn a lot and am reminded of how much passion, knowledge, and deep commitment it takes to be a university faculty member. My own students remind me about that every Tuesday and Thursday as well! It’s hard work but work worth doing. If you click on the link above you’ll see the program and the exciting variety of topics we’ll be addressing.

It’s a busy but wonderful semester. The banquet continues!

Taylor Mali Poem

One of my colleagues sent me this YouTube video link today.  At first I didn’t care for it because it seemed to be making fun of young people, but the longer I listened the more I liked it.  What do you think?

Many good things

We’re off to a phenomenal start this year. It’s hard to keep up with all the good things happening at Dominican.

We announced the name of our new publication, The Constellation: A Journal of Undergraduate Research. Our first issue will appear in the spring under the leadership of our terrific student editors. I can’t wait.

This week and next we have information sessions for our upcoming study abroad programs in Cuernevaca and El Salvador.

The first in our weekly Recipe Box Café series begins this week. This has been a wonderful Rosary College tradition for over 50 years and is part of our Quantity Food Production and Service course. The first café dinner is managed by senior Atinuke Isola featuring homemade tomato soup with a touch of coconut milk, banana-leaf wrapped salmon on a bed of quinoa with tropical fresh fruit salsa, and a dessert of frozen bananas enrobed in yogurt, dark chocolate, and diced dried apricots. Sounds good, and healthy, too!

WGN did a nice piece with Eboo Patel and me that aired a couple of weeks ago. Then Eboo gave a superb talk to our entire freshman class. Here’s the link.

Our students have started Interfaith Teahouse, to express opinions or values derived from religion, philosophy or elsewhere on various topics, sharing cookies and tea.

My own wonderful students in my Freshman Seminar Dimensions of the Self: Know Thyself! make me laugh and get me to tell them all kinds of things to make their heads spin. In an early assignment I asked them to invent a course they wished students could take and here were a few of their responses:

• In Their Shoes “takes students outside of the classroom to work with different service organizations, and challenges them to see life from other people’s perspectives.”
• Your Community 101 “offers you the opportunity to learn more about what your community used to be like, to learn more than you already know about it now, and more.” This student went on to say that during high school, “I tried to do whatever I could to help my community, not because I was asked, or told, or getting paid to do it, but because I wanted to be a bigger part of the community.”
• Improv would “require students to pair up and act out responses to particular topics or emotions. This will teach students how to use their imaginations and create a story that they will bring to life.”
• Money Mania would teach students “how to manage money—not money that their parents let them use, but money students work for and earn. Students will be shown the expenses of life as an adult from owning a car to bill paying methods, mortgage payments, household expenses, etc. Once completed students will have a more clear idea of the responsibility that comes with managing their own money.”
• Humanities “lets students get exposed to life’s big questions such as the existence of God, what reality is, and how good and evil are developed. By arousing these questions, students are asked to dig deeper than they normally would in order to strive to answer questions that could directly affect their lives.”

A few of my students joined the many other freshmen on a recent Emerging Leaders Retreat.

Tomorrow is our second annual university-wide Caritas Veritas Symposium, where faculty, staff and students will share their research and reflections on how our motto of love and truth translates into a mission of creating a more just and humane world. A great day at Dominican.

So, it’s an exciting start to a new school year. It makes me remember why I love this work, why it’s a privilege to be in conversation with our amazing students. And I haven’t even mentioned the Caritas Veritas tattoo.

Faith in the Curriculum

August 22, 2011

The other day our marketing department asked me for a short statement about how we integrate faith into our curriculum since a reporter somewhere was writing a story. Here’s what I said:

We are all, in a sense, people of faith — even though we don’t have the same beliefs. We may be Baptists or Catholics, Jews or Hindus, Buddhists or Muslims, Native Peoples or Zoroastrians, ethical humanists or something else. I think of faith along the lines of what David Tracy calls a fundamental trust in the worthwhileness of being at all. Fundamental trust in the intelligibility of reality, so that our research, scholarship and creative investigations strike us as worth pursuing at all. Fundamental trust that we can do something good, do something well, translate our own bests gifts into effective contributions to a world in need, a world beyond our parochial selves and our narrow zones of comfort. Across the curriculum, students at Dominican are invited to reflect deeply on questions of meaning, questions that matter, and to propose their own tentative answers to these enduring questions. They do it in interdisciplinary seminars, in philosophy, theology, history, social sciences, natural sciences, fine arts, and literature courses. And whenever students enter into a deep and sustained dialogue with questions that matter, they are expressing their faith. They are then called to act upon it as ethically responsible global citizens. This is how our curriculum inspires students to think, to do, and to be.

As I think about it more, and as we prepare to start a new school year one week from today, it’s hard to imagine a greater act of faith than what we’re all about to do. We come together from incredibly diverse backgrounds, life experiences, levels and kinds of expertise, and we enter into investigations and conversations that seek and promise nothing less than a transformation and illumination of our lives and the lives of those we encounter. What does it mean to be good, to lead a good life? We don’t need to wait until the LAS Senior Seminar to have that question in our sights. And we won’t.

Education is where it’s at.

In an astounding act of faith in our shared enterprise, and in a telling expression of regard for one another and the desire to do even better on behalf of our students, about 50 of my faculty colleagues came together for two full days last week for an intensive workshop on integrated course design. (We posted some pictures on the RCAS Facebook page.) It was exhilarating and fun and fascinating and just so gratifying to see my colleagues enjoy one another’s company and dream about what their students need most. Our faculty love teaching, and their creativity and sophistication are amazing to me. It’s a privilege to work with people like that.

All of the faculty will come together later this week for another daylong workshop exploring the theme of global citizenship with a keynote from this semester’s Lund-Gill Chair Eboo Patel, founder and president of the Interfaith Youth Core. I am so excited to begin our second year of partnership with IFYC and to continue enhancing an awareness of and respect for religious diversity on our campus. Again there will be breakout sessions, with faculty sharing their passion for teaching and learning and the ways they bring their scholarship and research into their work with students. I love my colleagues. So if a reporter asks me how we integrate faith into the curriculum, I’d say I already have faith in our curriculum because of the phenomenal people who design and deliver it with such astonishing integrity and depth.

Facebook, Cuba, Interfaith Youth Core and More

June 23, 2011

I haven’t written in this space for a while.  I must admit that I’ve been more interested of late in posting stuff to the Rosary College Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RCASdu.  Check it out!  They gave me the code and I’ve been a roving iPhone reporter.

It includes shots of Candle and Rose (including a great shot, if I do say so myself, of Sr. Melissa Waters “the ultimate Rose”), May Commencement, stories about a student art exhibit at a prestigious off-campus gallery, some amazing exploits of our students in the world of research, and some wonderful national coverage of our phenomenal study abroad program in CUBA, which just concluded.  Check out the students’ blog, here: http://duincuba.wordpress.com/.

Summer is really a vibrant time at Dominican, even with fewer classes and students around.  Today, for example, we’re hosting the third freshman orientation/registration.  It’s so much fun to meet the new students.  One of them told me he wants to design album covers and we compared notes on our favorites.  (Mine: Sgt. Pepper.)  We’ll meet with them again in a couple of hours and help them get ready to register for classes tomorrow.

Next week we host an Interfaith Leadership training with the Interfaith Youth Core, bringing students, faculty and staff from across the country to our campus.  I’ll be participating with them for all four days, and Dominican is very involved in a partnership with IFYC.  Eboo Patel will be teaching at Dominican in the fall as our Lund-Gill Chair.  We’ll be participating as well in President Obama’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge (http://www.ifyc.org/presidents-challenge).

I’ve been having some really great meetings with faculty, talking about our favorite topic: Our hopes for students.  Lots of daylong meetings starting the week after graduation, and they’re continuing still.  A few highlights so far:

We want students to grow as liberal learners whose skills, knowledge, abilities, and habits of mind are developed, applied, and integrated through a distinctly Dominican course of study characterized by breadth and depth of inquiry that prepares graduates to be ethically responsible global citizens.

We want students, especially in our Liberal Arts and Sciences Seminars, to explore and consider enduring questions.  They compose informed, well-reasoned, and necessarily provisional responses to these questions.  Since enduring questions are precisely those that extend across generations, thinkers and disciplines, students conduct careful and critical analysis of texts and materials from diverse fields of study, contribute their ideas and experiences for collective consideration, and reconsider their own ideas in light of the beliefs of others.  Additionally, because these questions arise in and are informed by distinct contexts, the seminars ask students to identify and connect what they have learned through different experiences.  Moving into the future, students will be practiced in the art of raising and answering questions that matter.

And while there is permeability, transition, and transformation within and across disciplines, we recognize distinct areas of study necessary for developing a liberal learner. Courses in Area Studies prepare students for intellectual conversations of genuine breadth, both within and beyond the university.

Okay, enough.  Back to work, and don’t forget: http://www.facebook.com/RCASdu.

We’re All Athletes

February 6, 2011

Last night I had the privilege of attending the inaugural Hall of Fame Dinner for Dominican University Athletics. Among those honored were outstanding coaches and players from Dominican’s past, as well as our former Registrar who over 30 years of service helped establish a crucial behind the scenes infrastructure for Dominican’s programs.

Also honored was Erick Baumann, who was an undergraduate student and soccer player before becoming head men’s soccer coach and director of athletics. Right now, Dominican is enjoying the most successful overall winning stretch for its many athletic teams in the school’s history. In 2009 men’s soccer went to the Final Four and went deep into the national tournament again last year. I got to go to that Final Four in San Antonio, rode the bus with the players, sat next to a student I had in class that same semester. It was unforgettable. As I told Erick then, I wish I had more time to attend every game of every sport at Dominican. I love student athletes. I love what they achieve and what they stand for. I love what they teach the rest of us.

They have balance. On the court and on the field, obviously, but in their lives, they balance academic coursework with demanding practice and conditioning schedules. They manage their time superbly and in doing so, they set an example for the rest of us.

They have strength and determination. Again, not just within their sports, but in a more holistic way, they apply these qualities to their lives and to their academic work as students.

They understand teamwork, hard work, loving your work, studying your flaws and working on them specifically so that you can get better. They “look at film” literally and metaphorically, again in ways that translate and transfer to their lives as students and beyond.

The Many Become One: Distinctly Dominican

October 19, 2010

Sometimes I’m asked what’s distinctive about academics at Dominican? So much to say, but here’s one take on it.

We’ve thought strategically about the “others” with whom we should compare ourselves and we’ve selected carefully a list of 12 “peer” institutions across the nation. I’m sure you’ve noticed that much has been written lately about the dismal record many colleges and universities have in terms of graduation rates. How do we measure up against our peers? The six-year rate is the standard, acknowledging that many students take longer to graduate — they stop out, need to reduce their course load, etc. Where do we rank among peers in the six-year graduation rate? We rank first. How about the five-year rate: We rank first. And the four-year rate: Again, we’re first.

What about our three top “competitor” schools, that is, the three schools students most frequently attend rather than Dominican when they’ve applied to both and we’ve accepted them? We beat all of them as well. We beat our top competitor, that is, the school to which we lose the most students, by 14 percentage points! Our four-year graduation rate is 17% higher than our #2 competitor and 12% higher than our #3 competitor. My colleagues in the Admissions Office told me I’m not allowed to name names. OK. But you probably know who I’m referencing if you’re comparing Dominican with other schools.

Why are our students so successful? Because of who we are as an educational community. Our identity is distinct, clear and unmistakable. We are, to paraphrase our official “identity statement,” a relationship-centered educational community rooted in the liberal arts and sciences, known for rigorous and engaging academic programs, the care and respect with which we mentor students, our commitment to justice, our ongoing exploration, expression and experience of our Catholic Dominican identity, and the enriching diversity of what we study, how we study, and the community of learners with whom we study. In short, our pursuit of truth is infused by love.

What’s “distinctive” about Dominican is not only that among our many wonderful programs, some are rather unique in comparison with other schools — although that’s true. It’s not so much about being “distinctive” in only that way. Instead, it’s really that each and every individual student has a “distinct,” that is a clear and unmistakable, Dominican experience. It’s an experience in which the many become one, in which the many amazing possibilities come together in this student’s own authentic blend, in her or his own unique educational moment. In each instance, it is her or his particular and authentic coherent combination of courses and professors, major field and perhaps minor field, papers and projects, internships, study abroad, service learning, seminars, undergraduate research, scholarship and creative investigations, academic advising and co-curricular participation.

For example, in undergraduate research, where students complete more intensive, ambitious projects, usually in a one-one-one relationship with a single faculty mentor, students synthesize their best work, bring it all to bear on a more intensive, in-depth study or creative piece. It can link with study abroad, using travel sites as opportunities for archival, geographically intense hands-on research to complete a project begun on campus; or students may come back from an international program inspired and wanting to follow up with coursework and research back home.

The same holds true with service learning, internships and other forms of experiential learning. The students’ passion energizes the curriculum for themselves and others. An older generation may not exactly relate to this, but if they can relate to a professor who took extra care to make sure you succeeded, they can relate to the individualized attention and truly relationship-centered learning that occurs when these kinds of projects develop. Undergraduate research is a profound sharing of the passion for inquiry, discovery, application, integration and creativity with a trusted and inspiring faculty mentor. Dominican style, once again: relationship is at the heart of our educational mission.

And always, it’s the individual student’s authentic blend of all these opportunities and more, in which the many become one, one in the student’s lived experience, which allows and empowers that student to stand up and say, “Here I am, this is me, I am distinctly Dominican. No one else has ever done it exactly this way. It’s mine, it’s my special blend, and I’ve owned this experience.” To coin a phrase from the mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, “the many become one and are increased by one.” At Dominican, the many educational opportunities, authentically chosen, internalized, balanced and combined into a beautiful and integrated whole, result in a transformed self. The many become one in that student, and that one student, then, increases by one the richness of the Dominican community, a community of strong and independent thinkers who mean to participate in the transformation of our world.

So what’s distinctive about academics at Dominican? Each and every one of our students, because they are clearly and unmistakably, distinctly Dominican.