Reflecting on the Carlow Common Hour Meetings

This past week saw the conclusion of the Common Hour meetings for fall 2017, a new initiative of the Center for Mercy Heritage this year. This month’s meeting was a robust discussion of the Carlow University philosophy statement which was drafted in 2014-15 to support the then newly adopted mission, vision, and values statements. Taken together these statements provide a concise way of articulating the Carlow approach to higher education. A major focus of the discussion was the notion of the transformative power of a liberal arts education, which the philosophy statement articulates in a very compelling way. The discussion centered around the extent to which that is present or may be threatened in the current climate of emphasizing professional programs, highlighting career outcomes, and allowing students more choice in their liberal arts courses. While acknowledging that all those changes seem to be important responses to the changing environment, there was a concern that the transformative Carlow education grounded in the liberal arts was potentially at risk. This was an important conversation and one that will certainly need to continue. How do we foster an ongoing commitment among faculty, staff, and students to the value of the liberal arts as part of a Carlow education? As long as we are having these conversations across the university, I am confident that we can continue to offer an education that is truly transformative, even in changing contexts. I am grateful to the Common Hour committee for facilitating this one.

The previous three Common Hour session discussions each highlighted important dimensions of what is means for Carlow to be a university in the Sisters of Mercy tradition. In November the presentation focused on faculty research related to the Project to End Human Trafficking. This presentation was an excellent instance of the way in which social justice concerns, rooted in the critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy, feed into faculty/student research, the classroom, and impact the community. October’s Common Hour was a presentation on “Sabbath” and its implications for our work as faculty and staff and in working with students. Particularly with the rapid pace of change, the need for space to reflect is vital. The question was how and to what extent we are inviting students to make time for reflection. And how might we be more intentional about this. September kicked off the Common Hour series with a presentation about the Sisters of Mercy critical concerns in light of their recent Chapter 2017 meeting. In particular, Sister Sheila Carney shared their “Word of Comfort to a Suffering World” in which they “invite others to make common cause in these efforts.” The document can be found here:

Taken together, these sessions demonstrate a real commitment to creating space for faculty and staff to come together to learn about and discuss important issues facing the community. The spring 2018 line-up looks just as promising for addressing issues of importance to all members of the university community. In particular, the Feb 6 Common Hour will be focused on civil discourse in our academic community and beyond.

Many thanks to Sister Sheila and the Common Hour committee for a great semester of programming!