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Staff members of the Division of Mission and Ministry met this week to discuss a series of changes that will increase the size of the division and change its organizational structure.
Under these changes, Campus Ministry and the Center for Ignatian Spirituality will be joined by the Office of First Year Experience, Faculty Outreach and Program Assessment, the Montserrat Program and Channel 46. The changes also include a reorganization of the Intersections Project and the Center for Student Formation, which will now work in partnership in an effort to enhance student formation.
Jennie Purnell, the inaugural director of the Center for Student Formation, will become the newly established chair of Intersections. Together with Burt Howell, the director of Intersections, the restructured office will work with faculty and administrators in advancing the University's educational and religious mission and student formation.
Vice President for University Mission and Ministry Jack Butler, SJ, said that Purnell's role as first director of the center, combined with her experience as a faculty member, will allow her to engage her peers in enhancing student formation. Butler credits Purnell -- who is an associate professor of political science -- with establishing and animating the University's galvanizing initiative of student formation.
"Jennie is a consummate professor who possesses an excellent theoretical understanding of formation. She can help to shape our outreach through her work in the classroom along with her new role as chair of Intersections."
Mike Sacco, the former associate director of Intersections, has been named director of the Center for Student Formation. To foster the intellectual aspects of student formation, Lonergan Center Associate Director and influential instructor Kerry Cronin will become a fellow of the newly revised center.
Although the center finds its home in Mission and Ministry, it will be guided by a steering committee composed of Provost and Vice President of Faculties Cutberto Garza, Vice President for Student Affairs Patrick Rombalski, Executive Vice President Patrick Keating and Fr. Butler.
Sacco said that the Center for Student Formation will build on the existing undergraduate programs developed by Intersections. Experiences such as the Halftime retreat, the AHANA Summit and the Jamaica Summer Service Trip will serve as foundational programs from which the center can build.
"My hope is that the center will serve students in a way that will allow them to integrate their intellectual lives with experiences that challenge them personally, support them spiritually and help them grow into men and women who have a clear understanding of how they might best engage the world," said Sacco. "The center can only achieve its goals by working collaboratively with other divisions, departments and offices in developing and implementing new formational programs."
As was the case with student programs within the Intersections Project, the Center for Student Formation will continue to include faculty and administrators as partners in all undergraduate initiatives.
Fr. Butler described Sacco as the ideal choice to lead the center as its new director. "Mike has great perspective on students and is one of the most creative individuals I have known. I look forward to his leadership in this new role."
Fr. Butler said the overall focus of the restructured division will be the familiar theme of formation, but its implementation will be shared collaboratively among all offices in the division, and not rest just with one department. "Education is the cornerstone of our efforts as a university. As a Jesuit, Catholic university, however, education should have a heart, a soul and an imagination. Our efforts will help to realize that vision."