JESUIT EDUCATED: their experinces

The Integration of Intelligence and Faith

The distinctive qualities of a Jesuit education

  1. By Sonja Martin Poole, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Marketing School of Management, University of San Francisco

When I think of Jesuit education, I immediately think of the integration of intelligence and faith. It’s about developing minds to achieve at the highest possible level and developing hearts so that others are helped by what is learned. All of us have this responsibility. As it is written in 1 Peter 4:10, “Each one, as a good manager of God’s different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God.”

Ignatian spirituality inspires and prepares me to carry out this responsibility in my role as a faculty member in the School of Management at the University of San Francisco. I believe that my words or actions can have a tremendous effect not only on the leaders in my classroom, but also on the institutional, community, and societal cultures that those leaders are bound to influence.

I know that many think that business is not a field that is defined by helping others. The helping professions are typically associated with other fields, such as medicine, education and social work, in which lives are saved, human conditions are improved, and people dedicate their lives to making others’ lives better. Business, on the other hand, tends to be associated with the selfish pursuit of power, prestige and money, prominent measure of success in our culture, but not traditionally related to creating social value.

However, Jesuit mission and identity encourages us to think differently about business — that we can use the tools, practices and models of private enterprise to improve societies. We can transform communities by discerning when a part of society is not working and using business knowledge and proficiency to fix it. In other words, intelligence and faith can drive our actions. That is distinctly Jesuit.


Sonja Martin Poole, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor with the Marketing School of Management at the University of San Francisco. Her teaching and research centers on topics related to marketing, social change and culture. Dr. Poole studied Economics, African American Studies, and Education Policy and Organizations at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received BA, MA, and Ph.D. degrees. She also holds an MA in Economics from California State University and has post-doctoral training in Marketing from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business.

 

 

  1. JESUIT EDUCATION : More than Facts and Figures

Statistics, facts and figures…I have always appreciated the value of data and the use of quantitative methods in seeking answers to compelling research questions. Data can be extremely useful in understanding and addressing public policy problems and in the ultimate pursuit of truth. In fact, an entire industry focused on data is growing exponentially every day. Regardless of the value data can provide, any leader, teacher or student knows that this type of analysis can only go so far in addressing real world problems. This is where my passion for Jesuit education and Catholic social teaching comes into consideration.

My personal experience with Jesuit education began at Fordham University in the early 1970s. From protests of the Vietnam War to Watergate, I was introduced to the Jesuit ideals of intellectual rigor, critical analysis, integration of knowledge and deep concern for moral and ethical questions, during a time of great social and political upheaval. Jesuit education and Catholic social teaching calls us to be agents of change for society and the world and this calling is what attracted me to Saint Peter’s University, where I served for decades as a professor, provost and vice president for academic affairs, and today as president. Here on the frontiers of urban society, we educate first generation students from incredibly diverse backgrounds to go forth and change the world.

While Jesuit education is ingrained in who we are and what we do at Saint Peter’s, the Jesuit tradition was not as readily familiar to the general public, that is until Pope Francis was elected as the first Jesuit pope. Pope Francis truly is an extraordinary example of Jesuit education and Catholic social teaching in action. He has already had a greater impact than any pope in recent memory. He has been a catalyst for young people and Catholics who have fallen away from the Church to reconnect. His welcoming message of inclusion and compassion is connecting with the Saint Peter’s community as we have seen an increasing number of our students attending Mass at our University church and participating in campus ministry activities.

The hope and promise of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States is that he will bring a message of peace, justice, love, and most importantly, grace and mercy to an America that lately has shown little of these important values. This visit provides an exceptional opportunity for us to share the ideals of Jesuit education with the country beyond our Jesuit campuses.


Dr. Eugene J. Cornacchia is the president of Saint Peter’s University. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1976 and a master’s degree in political science in 1979 from Fordham University. He also earned a Ph.D. in political science from Fordham in 1985. Prior to becoming the first lay president of the Saint Peter’s and after many years of teaching at the University, Dr. Cornacchia served as academic dean and subsequently as provost and vice president for academic affairs.

 

3.  A Tradition of Excellence

A Canisius alumna reflects on the Jesuit education that led her to the University of Oxford

By Lindsey Lauren Visser, Canisius College ‘14

I graduated from Canisius College in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science, and have just begun graduate studies at the University of Oxford in England. I want to share a recent experience that makes me proud of my Jesuit education.

 

On the first day of classes at Oxford, our lecturer wanted to get a sense of where we were from and what we planned to study. We were asked in typical fashion to go around the room and say our name, our previous university, and our intended course of research. As one would expect, there were quite a few students who hailed from Oxford, Cambridge, Columbia and other very prestigious and well-known institutions.

When it came time for me to say where I was from, I made a point of saying I came from a small Jesuit school called Canisius College, and that I would forgive them in advance if they had not heard of it. After I finished my introduction, my lecturer clarified what a Jesuit school was for those who were unfamiliar with the concept. She explained that coming from a Jesuit school, I came from a very rich academic tradition that embraced cross-disciplinary study and had a very distinctive identity that was instrumental in shaping the course of my undergraduate education. She commented on how involved the Jesuits had been historically in education and how the Jesuit records are still considered impressive even today. To my great surprise, she even mentioned that she had been in contact with another American Jesuit university, Fordham, to access their archives. She concluded by expressing her disappointment that a Jesuit education is not an option in England and that the education system would be better for it.

In that moment, the Jesuit tradition and the excellence associated with a Jesuit education superseded the name recognition of some of the world’s most prestigious universities. It linked me to a tradition of excellence that crossed continents. But most importantly, it reminded me personally that I had just as much a right to be in that room as those from Cambridge, Oxford and the other institutions that had originally intimidated me.

I am eternally grateful to Canisius College not only for the incredible education I received, but for inviting me into a legacy of rich academic and intellectual tradition. I am noticing more and more how my perspective is different from my colleagues because it has been shaped by a plurality of ideas that have stemmed directly from the diversity of the Canisius core curriculum. My identity has been shaped tremendously by the Jesuit values I was exposed to as a student. I know that I would not have been accepted by Oxford had it not been for the help I received from the incredible faculty at Canisius, including Ray Barker, Ph.D., adjunct professor of history; Julie Gibert, Ph.D., associate professor of history; and professor emeritus of English Frank Riga, Ph.D. I am also grateful for the number of opportunities I received over the course of my education at Canisius.

I felt compelled to share my experience abroad because while it initially surprised me, it reminded me that not only am I able to identify as a proud Canisius alumna, but I am also part of the legacy of the strong and rich Jesuit tradition.


Lindsey Lauren Visser graduated from Canisius College in 2014. She is now a graduate student at the University of Oxford in The United Kingdom.