showcasing scholars
A monthly publication of virtues & vocations, Good Thought pieces showcase scholars from various disciplines reflecting on how issues of virtue and vocation intersect with their work in higher education.
In this article, Zena Hitz, Tutor at St. John’s College and founder and president of the Catherine Project, distinguishes between two kinds of work, hollow work and real work, aimed at a human good. Read more.
In this article, Paul Balschko, Assistant Teaching Professor and Founding Director of the Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society, upends the cultures of achievementism and productivity, both of which conspire to empty both work and education of meaning. He asks and attempts to answer the question: “What Does Leisure Look Like Today?” Read more.
In this essay, Michelle Weise, Chief Impact Officer of The Kern Family Foundation and co-host of “A Life Worth Working,” muses on a new "understanding of calling: one that embraces the messiness, imperfection, and circuitous routes through which people forge meaningful lives." These are the spaghetti pathways, and they appear to define our working lives today. Read more about finding purpose in these circuitous and slippery journeys.
In her welcome letter to the latest issue of Virtues & Vocations: Higher Education for Human Flourishing, Suzanne Shanahan invites us into a conversation about the meanings of work.
In this essay, Cristy Guleserian, Executive Director of Principled Innovation at Arizona State University, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, reflects on how we can foster campus cultures that individuals and communities. She asks, "How can we hold strong convictions and practice genuine civility and civic grace? As educators, are we modeling and encouraging humility and openness to ideas, or are we fostering generations more inclined to seek being understood than to understand?"
GOOD THOUGHT
GOOD READ
GOOD WORK
This monthly digest will provide you with articles of interest, examples of character initiatives in higher education, book recommendations, and news about upcoming events.