Bannan Mission Integration Grants and Student Formation
Since restarting the Bannan Forum’s grant program in 2020, the Ignatian Center has funded over 30 projects across a range of disciplines and departments at Santa Clara University. While the Bannan Forum is focused on engaging and supporting our faculty and staff, the grants offered often have a direct impact on SCU students. Whether providing opportunities for faculty to develop new courses to engage students in mission-centered questions and pedagogical approaches or supporting cutting-edge faculty research projects which give students direct experience in conducting mission-driven inquiry, these grants are more than just an opportunity for our faculty to connect their expertise and passion with the mission. Often, they are a chance for faculty to form students in the breadth and depth of the Jesuit educational tradition. Oriented towards action, and often towards building solidarity and community, Bannan Mission Integration Grants are an important part of bringing the mission to life for students, as much as for faculty, at Santa Clara.
Integrating the mission into the classroom is the vision of several of the grants awarded in our most recent cycle. In his project, Jesuit Pedagogy and Latine Cultural Responsiveness, Dr. Chris Tirres, the Michael J. Buckley, S.J. Endowed Chair in the Department of Religious Studies is working with faculty to answer several key questions around classroom practices: “How do we, as faculty who teach in the areas of religious studies and theology, activate Ignatian forms of “humanization” in the classroom?” and “How might culturally responsive pedagogies help to aid this task of humanization?” This focus on humanization is critical in this current moment as a means to allow our students to build solidarity across differences and better understand the experiences of their fellow students and the wider communities of which they are a part. Similarly, Dr. Elsa Chen, Professor in the Department of Political Science, in her project Inside/Out: A Signature Transformational Experiential Co-Learning Opportunity, is developing a new course that will allow SCU students to learn alongside incarcerated students. A model used by several other Jesuit universities, the course, like Dr. Tirres’, humanizes all of the students involved in the course and builds solidarity and empathy among the learning community. Both projects are important examples of how the Jesuit educational tradition calls us to think about education holistically and as an opportunity for our students to learn not just material that will make them competent professionals, but also compassionate and conscientious leaders dedicated to their communities.
Faculty research is also geared towards student participation and enhancing student learning. Dr. Iris Stewart-Frey, Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences, is working with collaborators to create a “practical guide to interdisciplinary environmental justice research in the STEM fields with a specific focus on collaboration within and between Jesuit Institutions and historically marginalized communities.” This focus on research ultimately will underpin the articulation and dissemination of “best practices in community-engaged, student-centered STEM education aligned with Jesuit values.” Faculty research inspired by our mission is not just about generating knowledge for its own sake or that remains separate from the classroom or from the wider community. Rather mission-driven research informs educational experiences and a deep engagement with the needs of those beyond campus. In their project, Youth, Environmental Justice, and Health Equity, Drs. Chad Raphael and Jesica S. Fernández, from the departments of Communication and Ethnic Studies respectively, make this outcome clear. Their project will bring together “SCU colleagues who are interested in taking a justice and equity approach to address the intersecting issues of youth, environment, and health (including mental health),” with the ultimate goal of “catalyzing projects that have the potential to attract external funding; building projects that result in practical community benefits and academic publications; and engaging students in these projects through courses, immersions, fellowships, and research assistantships.” The Bannan Mission Integration Grants offer faculty the support they need to make these outcomes possible and to help drive the mission forward through innovative action-oriented projects.
Whether faculty are shaping their classrooms or engaging students in research initiatives, or both, Bannan grants are about the holistic formation of faculty, staff, and students at SCU. While the impact of these initiatives on students might not always be as visible as programs created expressly for our students, as projects rooted in the Jesuit intellectual and spiritual tradition that underpins our educational mission, the formation of students is at the center of the work that Bannan grant recipients do as teachers and scholars. Bannan Mission Integration grants provide opportunities for faculty and staff to carry out mission-centered and innovative projects that intentionally integrate our students and often bring students into contact with communities beyond our campus. The projects we support are a vibrant example that Mission-centered research and teaching is thriving at SCU and enhancing student’s learning.
- Aaron Willis
Director, Bannan Forum and Ignatian Formation