March 2025 Newsletter

In this edition:

• President's Message
• Innovation Grant Applications
• Save the Dates
   

President's Message

Spring Greetings, JASPA Colleagues!

After what has felt like an extra long, cold, and dark winter, I am heartened to see the seasons change. Even if the weather does not want to cooperate with the calendar, the shift from winter to spring reminds me that new life -- hidden from our senses -- is always waiting for just the right moment to burst forth. For me, spring symbolizes the fruits of hope: believing that what seems impossible is actually possible, even if the path to get there is somehow hard to see.

I am reminded of the power of hope by Fr. Bryan Massingale, who delivered a stirring talk at Holy Cross just a few weeks ago. Under the heading “Courageous Hope in Precarious Times,” Fr. Massingale provided a clear-eyed analysis of today’s political landscape and then urged us all to not lose heart. God is in our midst and can make possible what we believe to be improbable. With each new crocus, then daffodil, then forsythia, I am reminded that winter hides -- and even nurtures -- spring’s glory as what appears to be unlikely unfolds before my eyes.

As the signs of spring break free from winter’s grasp, I hope you, too, will see in our natural world the awe and wonder of the miracles we hope for in our social contexts. Remember, too, that in observing you, our students are learning to seek and find hope as well.

We missed our usual March JASPA Annual Conference to make way for our 5-Year Institute at the end of June at Loyola New Orleans. After missing our last institute due to Covid, regathering for this intensive opportunity for community and rejuvenation feels like a miracle in and of itself: the fruit of keeping hope alive!

Until then, friends.

Michele

Michele C. Murray, Ph.D.
President, JASPA
Senior Vice President for Student Development and Mission
College of the Holy Cross
 

Innovation Grant Applications

Each year, JASPA awards a limited number of grants for the purpose of applying current research to address pressing issues in Jesuit student affairs. $10,000 will be available to fund these initiatives each year. Proposals will be accepted until all funding is dispersed however priority will be given to proposals received by Monday, April 7, 2025.

Applications are now open!

Please contact Patrick Rogers, Innovation Grants Chair, at progers@holycross.edu if you have any questions about the application. 

Are you interested in serving on the application review committee?

Each year a committee of JASPA membership will review and make funding recommendations to the JASPA E-Board. The commitment of reviewing applications will be limited to a period of a few weeks during April and May.

Please email Patrick Rogers, Innovation Grants Chair, at progers@holycross.edu if you are interested in serving in this role.
 

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