Enriching the Classroom Experience
As a Jesuit university, our values and tradition are brought to life in a variety of contexts, but the relationship between educator and student makes the classroom a critical space for shaping students’ hearts and minds. Over the course of the 2025-2026 academic year, thirteen SCU faculty met to explore the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm and the values of Jesuit education. Sponsored by the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), the Ignatian Pedagogy Certificate Program is a new initiative across the Jesuit network in the United States, Canada, and Belize. The Bannan Forum was excited to collaborate with Professor Paul Schutz, Department of Religious Studies, to make this offering available to faculty from across the university and a variety of disciplines, including the humanities, sciences, business, and engineering. Reading key texts from the Ignatian tradition, participants reflected deeply on their pedagogical vision, goals, and aspirations and collaboratively developed strategies for implementing Ignatian Pedagogy in the classroom toward the realization of their vision.
“I believe participants have come away from this opportunity with skills and knowledge they can use to even more fully create spaces where students learn to think rigorously about the intersection between what they learn and the world in which we live, with a special emphasis on issues of justice. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to lead this inaugural cohort.”
As one faculty member new to Ignatian Pedagogy said “Participating in the Ignatian Pedagogy Workshop has been a meaningful experience for me, both personally and professionally. I realized throughout the sessions that many of the ideas we discussed were things I already believed in, but I had never really articulated them in a structured way. This program helped me put language and intention behind how I teach and how I want to grow as an educator.”
Yet it wasn’t just faculty new to Jesuit education and Ignatian Pedagogy who found the cohort and conversations valuable. As another participant said, “Having been educated by Jesuits as an undergraduate, Ignatian pedagogy has profoundly shaped my life. Cura personalis, seeking the magis, the importance of discernment and reflection upon experience so as to act in ways that serve all, especially the most marginalized, are not simply things to be done, but are to become part of who we are. Participating in the Ignatian Pedagogy Certificate Program has been a remarkable opportunity not only to study these aspects of Ignatian pedagogy more closely, but also to do so with a community of like-minded seekers. I feel that I have gained deeper insights as well as new friends, a “company” with whom I can continue to reflect and grow with through the years at SCU.”
While this year was the first offering of this new collaborative initiative across the AJCU, we are excited to make this an annual program that builds community among our faculty, deepens their understanding of the mission and tradition of Jesuit education, and enriches the classroom experience for students across Santa Clara University.
~ Aaron Willis