Faculty Mentoring
Project
In a September 1998 address to new faculty at Boston University,
President Jon Westling suggested that universities today offer "little
more than dormitory rules as instruction for [students'] souls." He spoke
persuasively about the need for faculty to engage students in matters of
heart and spirit, of individual development, and of community awareness
and responsibility. Yet, few opportunities exist for faculty members to
consider how they might mentor as well as teach, or what offering
"instruction for souls"--not in the sense of promoting or discouraging any
particular faith tradition, but by looking after the broader dimension of
students' lives--might mean.
![[ARIL logo]](aril_logo.gif) In
cooperation with the Lilly Endowment, the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life
(ARIL) is funding a project to help Boston University faculty explore
these and similar issues. Led by Boston University's Lutheran and Roman
Catholic chaplains, Rev. Joanne Elise Engquist and Dr. Jane LaMarche,
sixteen faculty at BU began a yearlong series of conversations in the
spring of 1999. In small and large groups, junior and senior faculty are
discussing how faith informs academic work and vice versa, as well as how
faculty in various disciplines might help students integrate their own
selves as persons of mind, body, and spirit. These gatherings establish
supportive environments in which faculty may clarify their own
perspectives on what mentoring--and teaching--involve.
For faculty wishing to join the program for the fall 1999 semester,
five positions are currently open. To apply, or for more information,
please contact Rev. Joanne Engquist at lutheran@bu.edu or (617) 876-3256, or
Dr. Jane La Marche at lamarche@bu.edu
or (617) 353-3632 by September 16, 1999.
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