Since 1992, the Ignatian Center has hosted faculty and staff immersions, sparked initially by the signing of the peace accords in El Salvador and the call for truth and reconciliation in the wake of the civil war there. Over the years, many members of our campus community have taken part in Ignatian Center immersions. We hear time and time again that those experiences have made a profound personal and professional impact on participants. They offer participants a unique, personal opportunity to enrich their own involvement with Jesuit higher education, strengthen their solidarity with marginalized communities, and foster companionship and collaboration with fellow SCU colleagues.

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Summer 2025 Staff & Faculty Solidarity with Migrants: An Ignatian Immersion

For the past three years, the Ignatian Center, in collaboration with Kino Border Initiative, has been sending groups of faculty and staff to the US-Mexico border to learn more about the experiences of those living in the Borderlands, particularly those who are migrating. These experiences are anchored in Ignatian pedagogy and a spirit of mutuality, and have been highly transformative for the faculty and staff participants. The immersions have also helped transform our Santa Clara University community, as many of the participants have taken action steps back on campus to live in deeper solidarity with those who have migrated.

Inspired by the commitments previous participants have made, and in light of the ongoing dehumanization of migrants in the United States, the Ignatian Center has updated the immersion for faculty and staff. The Solidarity with Migrants: An Ignatian Immersion is a year-long commitment that will enable participants, and Santa Clara University, to more deeply commit to upholding the dignity of all those who have migrated or are currently migrating, especially the undocumented living, working, studying, and praying among us.

This program consists of the following commitments:

• Summer Formation
  Asynchronous readings + reflection meetings (July 23, August 6, August 20)
• Nogales Border Immersion
  August 30-September 4, 2025
• Ignatian Retreat
  October 10-12 at Villa Maria del Mar
• Action Projects
  Campus and community engagement

Applications open May 21 - 29

(Select login, and then log in via SCU on the next page)

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All SCU faculty and staff, including JST, are eligible to participate and would need to get approval from their supervisor. (Staff, please review HR Policy 623.) This immersion includes traveling abroad, and you will need a valid passport to participate. Passports should have at least six months of validity when traveling internationally.