Kerrigan, John

English

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Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 46 Article 21September 2014Animating the Mission in the First-Year IncentiveProgramJohn KerriganFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationKerrigan, John (2014) "Animating the Mission in the First-Year Incentive Program," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: Vol. 46,Article 21.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol46/iss1/2134 ConversationsE ach fall, RockhurstUniversity provisionallyadmits 25 to 35 studentsinto its First-Year IncentiveProgram (FIP). At a tuition-driv-en institution like ours, inwhich enrollment is crucial, thissmall set of students is invitedto participate in FIP based onsubstantive evidence of theirability to succeed, even if theydo not meet the university’s fulladmissions criteria. Onceaccepted, the students areoffered additional support toassist them in succeeding at theuniversity. Selected faculty andstaff work together to offer acomprehensive support net-work that integrates advising,teaching, and tutoring. ThoughI strive to reflect on the Jesuitmission in each course I offer,teaching composition hasafforded particularly richopportunities to engage withour Jesuit mission. My initial decision to teachFIP courses stirred some anxi-eties about the possibly “reme-dial” nature of such teachingand about the ethics and effica-cy of offering a separate sec-tion of a course populatedexclusively with provisionallyadmitted students. Havingtaught in FIP now for four con-secutive fall semesters, I stilloccasionally find myselfwrestling with such concerns,but I now see a bigger picture:the First-Year IncentiveProgram opens access to Jesuiteducation for many students –first generation college studentsfrom a diverse array of back-grounds – who would not oth-erwise be able to participate,much less to thrive, in it. In my writing courses, Iseek to help students reflect onvalues that have roots inIgnatian pedagogy and spiritu-ality yet are vital to their suc-cess as college students in aJesuit context. In a writingcourse framed by various read-ings on the theme of “success,”students are introduced to andprompted to think about pastexperiences with learned help-lessness. Developing self-awareness about how to combataffective challenges (in writingand in other situations) mayhelp them succeed in college.Thinking about implications oflearned helplessness as a chal-lenge of contemporary culturesubsequently helps them (as itwould help anyone) to reframehow they think about success,to open them to a wider worldin which empathy and possibili-ty-seeking are vital. My English colleagues andI have come to understand thatreflection is the cornerstone ofeffective Ignatian pedagogy.Students learn most whenteachers construct conditionswhich prompt reflection onone’s life and its intersectionwith concerns of the widerworld. In a Jesuit context, suchreflection is a habit best nur-tured by academic hospitality:an environment characterizedby radical openness – in theclassroom, a willingness to lis-ten, to learn, to make mistakes(See Bennett/Dreyer in TheJesuit Education Reader). Indeed, a hallmark ofRockhurst’s First-Year IncentiveProgram has been its capacity toallow us to aspire so significant-ly toward the ideal of cura per-sonalis: with class sizes of 12-16students and with linked, upper-class, trained writing tutors whoattend every class with the stu-dents, faculty are able to offer apersonalized pedagogy andmaintain rigorous expectationswithin an academic environmentof significant and interconnectedsupportiveness.As we seek to animate themission in those we teach, letus not overlook the local andmundane: how we perceiveour students and our work withthem, as the gifts they are, andhow they perceive themselvesas writers and people is subtly,crucially mission work. John Kerrigan, associate professor of English and chairof the humanities division atRockhurst University, partici-pated in Cohort Five of theIgnatian Colleagues Programfrom 2012 to 2014.Animating the Mission in theFirst-Year Incentive ProgramBy John Kerrigandiscussed, the required coursematerial, and handing in writ-ten reflections are emotionaland usually bring up personalexperiences.As a former student ofClampet-Lundquist’s, I remem-ber how classes were taught incircle, with the concepts of“peace-making circles” at thecenter of the class proceedings,which include a talking stick toensure respect and turn-taking.Students sit in alternating seatsallowing them to easily interactwith those who are differentfrom them. In reality, as all thestudents soon realize, the peo-ple sitting side by side have agreat deal in common. Outsidestudents see how easily theycould have in the past or couldin the future end up in theinside students’ seats. Universities tend to beplaces of privilege, includingrace, socio-economic status,education, gender, age, andany number of other factors.Inside-Out classes give univer-sity students the unique oppor-tunity to assess their own privi-lege and the impact of thatprivilege on the course of theirlives. This ongoing assessmentthroughout the 14-week courseand presumably through therest of their lives allows stu-dents to become self-aware andunderstanding of those whoseem different.One day of class is dedi-cated to a facility tour for theoutside students. That day, thestudents do not meet togetherbut separately. The inner ten-sion and anxiety experiencedby the students as they walkthrough the facility is palpable.In later reflections, studentsexplain their disgust and sad-ness as they walked throughthe various “blocks” as if ontour at a zoo. Even the heavydoors closing and opening,enclosing the students in vari-ous spaces, created bodily reac-tions and the feeling of beingclosed in. Nobody could imag-ine living in such a place.Once the fear, skepticism,and awkwardness are defeated,empathy flows through the cir-cle. By the time closing cere-monies arrive, all the studentsare fighting back tears andwishing they could hug eachother tight without breakingprison regulations. Kathleen Shull is a 2014 gradu-ate of Saint Joseph’s University;while a student there she workedin the office of media technologyand was a peer educator and aresident assistant.1Kerrigan: Animating the Mission in the First-Year Incentive ProgramPublished by e-Publications@Marquette,

Animating the Mission in the First-Year Incentive Program

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Animating the Mission in the First-Year Incentive Program

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