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Faculty Liaisons Bring Mission ‘Home’ to Their Departments

Bringing the University’s Jesuit mission “home” to the academic departments is among the goals of the newly created faculty mission liaisons. 

mission faculty

Faculty mission liaisons attend their inaugural meeting last week. Members are (left to right): Mary Flick, CSJ (mission and identity); Bonnie Wilson, John Ragsdale, Travis Threats, John James, Randy Rosenberg, Crisitina McGroarty, Kelly Everard, and Fred Rottneck.

Begun this fall by Chris Collins, S.J., assistant to the president for mission and identity, this gathering of professors is one way of encouraging fellow faculty members to see how mission can help them be more effective in their work as professors and researchers and more connected to their colleagues.

“This is a modest but important initiative to deliberately cultivate an atmosphere of mission awareness and creativity in the various schools and colleges,” Collins said. “I hope each mission liaison can undertake some simple initiative in the coming year to create space for learning, reflection, discussion and brainstorming ideas among their colleagues in furthering their understanding of our Jesuit, Catholic mission. Ultimately, these encounters can serve to enhance teaching, research and community engagement.”

Just as important, Collins said, is the opportunity for mission liaison faculty members to gather with one another on a regular basis to share ideas and build community across academic units. The group plans to meet three times each semester.

Faculty mission liaisons for 2016-17 are: