Symposium Introductory Comments
Good morning everyone and welcome to Bannan at 25. (For those who don’t know me) My name is Kevin Quinn, and as Executive Director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education, I’m pleased to host this symposium on Mission & Identity at Santa Clara University.
As a center of distinction, the Ignatian Center seeks to preserve and extend the University’s Catholic identity and Jesuit mission. It continues the work of the Bannan Institute for Jesuit Educational Mission founded in 1982 by three generations of the Bannan family to honor Louis I. Bannan, S.J. (“Uncle Lou” to the family), a longtime University teacher and counselor. In 2005 the University brought its most uniquely Jesuit programs together to form the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. Two formerly distinct centers of distinction, the Bannan Center for Jesuit Education and the Arrupe Center for Community-based Learning, merged to become one. Each of these Centers had a special role in the University as a center of distinction and a particular history. Today the Ignatian Center celebrates the 25th anniversary of its Bannan Institute and invites you—SCU faculty, staff, community partners, and invited guests—to explore the question “We are a Jesuit university! So what makes us different?”
Where should we begin when discussing mission and identity concerns on Jesuit campuses? How should we define these issues for a 21st century university? These are important, and often controversial, questions. We chose to structure this symposium around our Ignatian Center’s mission statement. Please permit me to read from it:
The Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education seeks to preserve and extend the Catholic identity and Jesuit mission of Santa Clara University. Dedicated to advancing the University’s strategic vision of “educating citizens and leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion” on the campus as a whole, the Center serves students, faculty, staff, and community partners. It does this by facilitating a pedagogy of engagement through community-based learning and immersion experiences, encouraging faculty and staff participation in the Jesuit higher educational mission, supporting faculty teaching and scholarship that advances the University’s Catholic and Jesuit character, and promoting Ignatian spirituality within an interreligious context. In so doing the Center seeks to create opportunities for global conversation about Jesuit higher education and to share its best practices with other universities.
So the structure of the day is as follows: First, Fr. Charles Currie, S.J., President of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, will present a keynote address reviewing the state of “mission & identity” on Jesuit campuses nationwide. His keynote will be followed by three panel presentations on (1) engaged pedagogy (community-based/service learning and immersion experiences), (2) faculty and staff engagement in Jesuit education, and (3) Ignatian spirituality on campus. For each panel, a distinguished visitor will lead the panel discussion, having framed the particular issue with a short position paper to which SCU panelists will respond. Finally, a panel of distinguished alumni will comment on the day’s proceedings and share their thoughts on mission and identity concerns.
Let me now introduce our President, Fr. Paul Locatelli, whose creative imagination and strong leadership has resulted in a well-positioned Ignatian Center, and who in turn will introduce our keynote speaker.
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