A study led by Ascione Faculty Formation Fellow and Professor Belle Liang explores the impact of faculty and staff formation initiatives—particularly those informed by Ignatian spirituality.
In collaboration with two doctoral students in the Counseling Psychology program, Maria Gregoire and Elisa Liang, formation is examined as both a science and an art form, brought to life through discernment, freedom, and mission-aligned practice. The study’s companion article was recently published in Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal, advancing scholarship and practice surrounding formation in higher education.
The basis of the study underscores Boston College’s continued commitment to the holistic development of both employees and students, citing faculty and staff as “central carriers and interpreters” of Jesuit educational tradition. Formative programs for employees aim to guide the commitments and practices of community members, preparing them to shape institutional culture as mentors, scholars, and leaders.
“In the Jesuit tradition, formation is cura personalis in action—care for the whole person. It's not a program you complete; it's an ongoing process of reflection and discernment that helps people live with greater integrity, purpose, and freedom. For faculty and staff, that means being supported not just as professionals, but as human beings who bring their whole selves to the work of education.”
—Belle Liang
Ascione Faculty Formation Fellow
Professor
Drawing on open-ended survey responses from 134 Boston College faculty and staff, the study provides a closer look at the community’s response to ongoing formation efforts. The results uncover an important distinction: though the program is facilitated through a series of separate events, participants experience formation as a continuous process.
Participants valued the opportunity to reflect on their vocation while taking space to rest or engage without interruption. Community and “protected time away” also emerged as crucial conditions for impactful developmental experiences. The study breaks down these formative conditions and their outcomes, providing a conceptual framework to inform the practice of formation.
Results revealed that when formation is experienced as an encounter defined by care, responsiveness, and trust, participants report lasting shifts in their institutional role and vocational clarity.
One person described how the program "uncorked deep reservoirs of energy and determination" to return to a stalled book project—not because of pressure or accountability, but because feeling less alone in the struggle restored something essential.
Through the synthesis of survey responses, Liang and her research team identify the factors most commonly related to renewal and vocational clarity. Five interrelated elements emerged:
People
Pause
Place
Purpose
and an animating dimension that brings them to life: Presence.
Together, these represent the core of Liang’s Five P’s framework, a model that identifies not only what conditions make formation possible, but the relational quality through which these conditions become genuinely transformative.
Participants from a wide range of religious backgrounds, including some with no religious affiliation, described Ignatian practices as accessible and welcoming. Many of the experienced practices, such as reflection, discernment, silence, and the Examen, served as invitations to consider questions of purpose, values, and vocation.
The study documents meaningful outcomes
85%
participants reported a strengthened connection to the University
89%
reported growth in their relationships with colleagues or students
Though all five elements are essential, the study finds that what makes them truly transformative is Presence—the relational quality of how the experience is held. Unlike the other four, Presence is not a program element; it describes how facilitators walk alongside participants with attentiveness, spiritual care, and trust, turning a well-designed program into an act of accompaniment.
Formative education at Boston College is crafted to embrace the power of Presence. Program facilitators guide participants, providing moments for reflection and communal belonging. Boston College’s continued commitment to cura personalis, care for the whole person, has paved the way for meaningful experiences that, in turn, strengthen institutional culture and community.
Read the companion article to learn more about how Boston College’s formation programs are helping faculty and staff return to their work with renewed purpose—and to their colleagues with greater openness, trust, and care.