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Michael Higgins		The Human Journey Core: Integrating A Faith-based Education for the 21st Century: Challenges and Responses Sacred Heart University Fairfield, Connecticut Sacred Heart University hosted the Network Exchange April 15-18, 2012. The featured speakers were Fr. David Tracy, Thomas S. Hibbs, Thomas A. Howard, and Michael Higgins.

Consistent with and reflective of Sacred Heart University’s Mission, which is rooted in the liberal arts and Catholic intellectual tradition, the University has in place a Common Core, The Human Journey. This Common Core engages students in an integrative, multi-disciplinary understanding of the arts and sciences and the Catholic intellectual tradition framed by four BIG enduring questions of human meaning and value. The courses that constitute The Human Journey are history, literature, a choice between a social science(psychology, political science,anthropology, sociology), or a natural science (physics, biology, chemistry) and a capstone in religious studies, theology, or philosophy. The four enduring questions frame the syllabus of each course and each course engages the Catholic intellectual tradition from the perspective of its discipline.

Using The Human Journey Core as one way of responding to the challenges we face today, this Network Exchange brought together faculty and administrators from all Christian denominations to address how best to integrate the meaning and values of their faith-based missions across the curriculum and how best to educate and prepare students for a contemporary and global world. Showcasing the components of The Human Journey Common Core gave an opportunity for attendees to discuss and share how the Common Core's various programs, curricula, pedagogies, and assessment methodologies best serve their students, institutions, and society.

Participants heard from leaders of distinguished programs:  Michael Higgins of Sacred Heart University;  Thomas S. Hibbs from Baylor University; Thomas A. Howard from Gordon College as well as from renowned theologian and leading thinker about the Catholic intellectual tradition, Fr. David Tracy from the University of Chicago. 

For more news on this Network Exchange, see Sacred Heart University's press release.

For viewing or downloading plenary sessions, syllabi, and workshop notes from the Exchange, please click here.

Any established and distinctive institution, program, or curricular emphasis that especially promotes the college or university's mission and Christian character may be an appropriate focus for a Network Exchange. These may be programmatic initiatives like core programs, honors programs, interdisciplinary programs, or capstone courses. Or they might take the form of research or study institutes, international experiences, co-curricular programs, off-campus study centers, or service learning programs.

A Network Exchange program may be funded for $25,000. Institutions that have already received a grant in this category will not be eligible in the same category again for three years after the original grant was awarded. The next deadline for applications is September 15, 2013 for a program planned for the 2014-2015 academic year.

The precise character and format of each program is to be determined by the applicant. The normal expectation is that the program should run for three days, allowing participants to observe and experience first-hand the particular aspect of the institution being featured. There should also be well-planned opportunities for visitors to exchange ideas with the host institution and with one another about possible lessons and applications of the program in other settings. Each Program should consist of ten to fifteen participants from other Network schools, with a limit of two participants per institution.

Institutions selected to host a Network Exchange Program will be responsible for organizing and structuring this Program, making all on-campus arrangements, publicizing the Program at National Network institutions, and recruiting participants. At the conclusion of the Exchange the Coordinator must submit a written report.

Each application must include a proposed budget. The budget should cover on-campus expenses, fees for speakers or presenters, a stipend for the program Coordinator, and a 10% overhead cost for the host institution. The budget should also include funds for participant costs for travel, food, and lodging; these costs may be paid directly by the host institution, or allotted in the form of stipends to each participant.

Applications must also include plans for evaluating the program in the short and long term.

Finally, while the focus of the Network Exchange should be on what the participants themselves learn, the best Exchanges will have a broader impact on the LFP, church-related higher education, or the academy in general. Applications should therefore address plans to disseminate more broadly, especially among LFP schools, features of the program highlighted in the Network Exchange.

Applicants must consult with the Lilly Fellows Program Director prior to submitting the application.

The next deadline for applications is September 15, 2013 for a program planned for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Application to host a Network Exchange Program

Network Exchange Programs previously funded

2009 - Calvin College
From Every Nation: Revised Comprehensive Plan for Racial Justice, Reconciliation, and Cross-Cultural Engagement at Calvin College
Director: Michelle Loyd-Paige

2008 - Geneva College
Returning to the Roots of Civil Rights
Director:  Todd Allen

2007 - The Entrada Scholars Program at Calvin College
Coordinator: Rhae-Ann Booker
July 10 - 13, 2007

2007 - Catholic Studies Program at Loyola College in Maryland
Coordinator: Angela Russell Christman
April 18-21, 2007

2002 - The Paideia Exhange Program at Luther College
Coordinators: Ruth Kath, Department of Modern Languages and Literature
Mark Muggli, Department of English

2001 - The Lasallian Honors Program at St. Mary's University of Minnesota
Coordinator: Jane Kelley Rodeheffer

2001 - Academically Based Service Learning at Calvin College
Coordinator: Claudia Beversluis, Dean of Instruction

2000 - The Goshen College Study-Service Term Abroad (SST)
Coordinator: Russell A. Leichty, Special Projects Director

1999 - Christ College, the Honors College, Valparaiso University
Coordinator: Margaret Franson, Assistant Dean of Christ College