From the Center Director
With the publication of this issue of explore, I would like to communicate my delight in being able to serve as Executive Director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. Having taught at Santa Clara since 2003, with a joint appointment in the Religious Studies and Classics Departments, I believe deeply in the kind of transformative education Santa Clara provides. Moreover, I am committed to nurturing a vision that will sustain Jesuit education for generations to come.
In many respects, concern for what Jesuit education will become provides the governing theme of this current issue of explore. Articles here emerge from an international conference held in Mexico City in April 2010 on “Networking Jesuit Higher Education: Shaping the Future for a Humane, Just, Sustainable Globe.” The chief architect of the conference was our own Paul Locatelli, S.J., who unbeknownst to anyone, was in the last months of his life. It is fitting, then, that someone who cared so much for Jesuit education was shaping its future to the end.
Those who attended the conference noted two highlights. The first was the palpable sense of the commitment to Jesuit higher education from so many different people around the globe. The second was the keynote address of Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on “Depth, Universality, and Learned Ministry: Challenges to Jesuit Higher Education Today.” This issue leads with articles by four participants. Santa Clara University President, Michael Engh, S.J., offers personal reflections on the conference, and Ron Hansen gives tribute to the legacy of Paul Locatelli, S.J. Paul Crowley, S.J., describes Fr. Nicolás’ keynote, and Cesar Arjona, professor of law from Barcelona, urges us to rethink conceptions of justice in the education we deliver.
Picking up on Fr. Nicholás’ assertion of unique challenges of our times, Elizabeth Drescher, in “HWJT (How Would Jesus Tweet),” gives us a fascinating essay on ways to imagine and understand new media. In addition to recent graduate Hilary Titus’ own reflection on her Santa Clara education, and Valerie Sarma’s reflection on the Jean Donovan Fellowships, we are happy to present reports on the research of students supported by the Ignatian Center
I hope that reading these essays may help you imagine how the future of Jesuit education will best be shaped.
Peace,
Michael C. McCarthy, S.J.