February 2024 Newsletter
In this edition:
- President's Message
- 2024 JASPA Awards - Nominations Open
- 2024 JASPA Innovation Grants - Applications Open
- Online Enrichment Webinar
- Vice President for Online Enrichment
- Save the Dates
President's Message
Greetings JASPA Colleagues,
As you know, we are devoting each of our monthly newsletters this year to one of the Principles of Good Practice for Student Affairs in Catholic Colleges and Universities. A collaborative effort between JASPA and the Association of Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities (ASACCU), this document both binds our work with that of colleagues at other Catholic institutions and gives us an opportunity to reflect on what is distinctive about student affairs in Jesuit higher education.
This month, we look at Principle 5, which:
"Calls and challenges students to personal integrity, reverence, and care for self, one another, and the community."
Immediately my mind (and yours, too, probably) goes to our Jesuit value of cura personalis and the work we do every day to meet each of our students where they are and in who they are in their complete fullness. By modeling this approach of utter respect and inviting them into right relationship, we begin to see them treat themselves and one another in the same way. This is Principle 5 at work.
My mind also goes to the oft-quoted wisdom from the 2020 talk Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, S.J. gave at Santa Clara University. "The real measure of our Jesuit universities lies in who our students become...and the adult Christian responsibility they will exercise in the future towards their neighbor and their world." [Before you say anything, of course not all of our students are Christian, neither are all of us. We'll focus instead on the point he's making.] Who our students become and their formation as loving persons with high ideals and integrity -- this is our purpose in Jesuit student affairs.
Will the path be straightforward? No. Will our students make mistakes? Yes. Will we make mistakes as we accompany them? Yes, of course we will. And we -- like our students -- will reflect on our experiences, learn what serves us well, and move forward in the process of becoming.
Our shared Jesuit ethos is replete with the power of reflection. We invite our students to reflect regularly because we know that lingering over the sources of consolation and desolation is one of the most significant teachers they can have. We encourage our students to develop a habit of reflection that will continue to serve them throughout their lives. And reflection is not just for our students, it's for us, too.
Like our students, who we are and who we are becoming reflect the institutions where we contribute to a better future. If no one has done this for you lately, I encourage you to take five minutes today and -- in a posture of gratitude -- review what brings you joy and what troubles you in your work, and resolve to move forward in the process of becoming.
I hope to see many of you at our Annual Conference in a few weeks. Many thanks to the team at Seattle U for hosting us! Until then.
Michele
President, JASPA
Senior Vice President for Student Development and Mission
College of the Holy Cross
2024 JASPA Awards - Nominations Open
Nominations are now open for the 2024 JASPA Awards. Every year, JASPA recognizes initiatives and individuals for their hard work and dedication to promoting the Jesuit ideals on our respective campuses. Please take a moment to consider submitting a nomination for the following awards:
2024 Ignatian Medal for Outstanding Academic Partnership
2024 Ignatian Medal for Outstanding Commitment to Diversity and Social Justice
2024 Ignatian Medal for Outstanding Campus Program or Initiative
2024 Ignatian Medal for Outstanding Graduate Student in Jesuit Student Affairs
2024 Ignatian Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Jesuit Student Affairs
2024 Ignatian Medal for Outstanding New Professional in Jesuit Student Affairs
2024 JASPA Scholarship Award
2024 Ignatian Medal for Outstanding Service to JASPA
* The 2024 Reverend Victor R. Yanitelli, S.J. Award will be selected by the JASPA Executive Board.
Nominations will be open until February 2024. If you are interested in serving on the selection committee or have questions about the 2024 JASPA awards, please contact Alyse Hudock at hudocka@bc.edu (JASPA Awards & Recognition Chair, Boston College).
2024 JASPA Innovation Grants - Applications Open
Proposals for Innovation Grants will be accepted until all funding is dispersed however priority will be given to proposals received by Monday, April 8, 2024. Decisions will be made and communicated between May and June, and grants will be awarded in the new fiscal year. Applications are now open.
Each year, JASPA awards a limited number of grants for the purpose of applying current research to address pressing issues in Jesuit student affairs. While proposals for all projects and programs that address the goals and values of JASPA are welcome, special emphasis will be placed on those that are focused on efforts promoting diversity and inclusion. $10,000 will be available to fund these initiatives each year.
Interested in serving on the Innovation Grants committee? Each year, several JASPA members volunteer to serve on the Innovation Grants committee to review the applications that have been submitted for the current funding cycle. Serving on this committee is a terrific way to learn more about the work going on at other institutions and it is a rewarding experience to meet and engage with JASPA colleagues. Reviewers will read through all applications and make recommendations for funding to the JASPA Executive Board. The time commitment includes two to three weeks to review the submissions and attending a meeting to discuss the reviews and agree on a final recommendation. The review process takes place during April and May.
Please contact Patrick Rogers at progers@holycross.edu (JASPA Innovation Grants Chair, College of the Holy Cross) if you have any questions or if you are interested in serving on a committee to review grant applications.
Online Enrichment Webinar
JASPA Online Enrichment Webinar:
Jesu-what?! An Introduction to Today's Jesuit Mission
Wednesday, April 3, 2024 from 3:00-4:30 pm EST
Zoom link to follow
Presented by: Timothy O’Brien, S.J., Associate Vice President for Mission, College of the Holy Cross
This webinar will offer an introduction (or a refresher!) for JASPA professionals wishing to know more about the foundations and contemporary vision of Jesuit education. What does it mean for our AJCU institutions to be part of this educational tradition, and how might it shape how we understand our individual contributions through student affairs work to their mission?
In this session, we will see that Ignatius Loyola and the early Jesuits never planned to start schools, but quickly learned that their spiritual vision fully aligned with the pursuit of academic excellence and the desire to help form responsible citizens and leaders. This session sketches how Ignatius’s spiritual vision came to shape both how and why Jesuits founded schools, and will ask us to ponder our own education in the light of its key themes.
Our presenter, Timothy O'Brien, S.J., currently serves as Associate Vice President for Mission at the College of the Holy Cross. He recently earned a doctoral degree in the history of spirituality and religious life from Facultés Loyola Paris (formerly Centre Sèvres), the Jesuit faculties of Paris. A historian of Christian spirituality -- especially the Jesuit and Ignatian traditions -- he is a specialist in the religious culture of the early modern Iberian world. Fr. O’Brien holds additional graduate degrees in history and the history of Christianity from the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Vice President for Online Enrichment
If you are interested in volunteering with JASPA, our Vice President for Online Enrichment position will soon be available. This position is one of six Vice President positions on the JASPA Executive Board.
Additionally, we also have a few other volunteer positions available:
- Innovation Grants Vice Chair
- Online Enrichment Chair
- Social Media Chair
Please contact Tedd Vanadilok at tvanadilok@scu.edu (JASPA Vice President for Technology and Communication, Santa Clara University) if you are interested in any of these volunteer roles and you will get connected with the appropriate JASPA Executive Board member to further discuss.
Save the Dates
2024 JASPA Annual Conference
Saturday, March 9, 2024
@ Seattle University
2024 National Jesuit Student Leadership Conference
July 16-20, 2024
@ John Carroll University
2025 JASPA 5-Year Institute
June 23-27, 2025
@ Loyola University New Orleans
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