Author: Jamie Kralovec

This year of living in a pandemic has challenged our university community in unprecedented ways. With grace, patience, and creativity, SCS students, staff, and faculty have upheld the standards of a Georgetown education while navigating difficult circumstances that have required flexibility and new ways of thinking and working. One area of the SCS educational experience that has dramatically shifted is the relationship between student and student advisor.

Meg Cohen, SCS senior assistant dean, offered an insightful set of reflections and guidance this week in a piece entitled, “It’s Been Emotional: How to Manage Difficult Student Interactions.” Meg’s suggestions for how staff can manage challenging situations that involve “heavy emotional burdens” are deeply anchored in our Georgetown Jesuit values. I would like to make some connections between the guidance offered by Meg and the lessons of Ignatian Spirituality that are at the heart of the Spirit of Georgetown.

Give Yourself Permission to Experience Your Emotions: In an advising situation that involves a strong emotional reaction, Meg recommends resisting the urge to react in the moment by taking some time and space to get in touch with the emotions that arise in the advisor. Feeling your emotions is ok and normal, not something to avoid or resist. This lesson connects powerfully with the reflective tool of the Examen. This reverential review of one’s day (presented here) is fundamentally about naming one’s emotions, both positive and negative, consoling and desolating, so as not to be controlled by them. Connecting with one’s emotions is a way of resisting the temptation to be overcome by powerful emotions. These emotions are signals that we should pay attention to. As advisors with busy schedules and heavy loads of students, it might seem difficult to find this time and space in the midst of activity. But Contemplation in Action invites just this kind of reflection for active people. It is in the midst of activity that we ground ourselves in deeper contemplation. Ignatian Spirituality is inherently practical.

Empathize: The progression of responses to an emotionally intense advising situation leads to a shift in mindset grounded in empathy. Meg suggests that the advisor consider the student’s context and what might be happening at a deeper level. This move to empathy is also a move to honoring a student’s context, appreciating that Educating the Whole Person involves attending to all parts of the human person. This is precisely why the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (discussed by Mission in Motion here) begins in Context before moving onto Experience, Reflection, Action, and Evaluation. The student advisor cannot begin to fully assist the student without understanding what is happening in the background of the student’s life. The Ignatian Presupposition (covered here by Mission in Motion), which assumes the best of the other’s intentions, also comes to mind. This is not to say that advisors should see themselves as counselors or therapists. Rather, even the slightest expression of empathy by the advisor can engender trust and mutuality in the student advising experience.

Who Else Needs to Know About This? Meg offers that involving the perspectives of trusted colleagues can help the advisor determine the best response to a challenging situation. This points to the need for community and collegiality in the workplace and in the learning community. It is also a lesson with deep resonance in Ignatian Spirituality. St. Ignatius suggests always consulting with a trusted guide in order to make sense of one’s prayer experience and reflection. Our university mission is ultimately strengthened when students and their advisors feel like they are connected to the entire community.

These lessons, and their connections to the Spirit of Georgetown and Ignatian Spirituality, can apply to all professional interactions.  I invite you to consider how you might approach challenging situations, at work and elsewhere, by getting in touch with your emotions, practicing empathy, and consulting others, when appropriate, for guidance about how to proceed.

In his message, “Our Democracy,” President DeGioia invited the university community to a deeper commitment to the common good in light of recent events that have reminded us of the fragility of the nation’s democratic institutions. As a university based in the capital city, with an ingrained Jesuit heritage, President DeGioia called upon the notion of public responsibility, first developed by Cicero and later adapted by the Jesuits into a civic spirituality (an integration, according to Jesuit historian Fr. John O’Malley, of classical humanism and Jesuit spirituality). The power of this civic spirituality is that it can fortify the entire community as we proceed through a “defining moment for our nation in how we choose to respond.”

This month, SCS responded to this invitation by designing several events and programs intended to foster deeper reflection and discerned action about how to meet the many social justice challenges facing Georgetown and the nation. SCS Dean Kelly Otter, in an announcement “From Insurrection to Inauguration: Implications For Our Democracy’s Future,” shared about two school events intended to explore the profound obstacles facing our society with the assistance of the intellectual and professional perspectives of the SCS faculty.

The first event, “Insurrection to Inauguration: Reflections Across Professions,” takes place on Tuesday, February 9 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST (you can RSVP here). Co-hosted by Dr. Kristen Hodge-Clark and Faculty Director Kerry O’Grady, the panel convenes distinguished local experts from four different fields – journalism, public relations, emergency and disaster management, and applied intelligence – to discuss and reflect upon the events that unfolded in Washington, D.C. (you can read a Mission in Motion interview from the summer with Dr. Hodge-Clark here).

The second event, “Current and Emergency Security Challenges in Washington, D.C.,” takes place on Wednesday, February 24 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST (you can RSVP here). Moderated by Faculty Director Dr. Frederic Lemieux, the event features D.C. Chief of Police, Robert J. Contee III, who will discuss existing and upcoming security challenges that the Metropolitan Police Department is facing.

Both events take place in the context of February’s celebration of Black History Month. SCS is honoring Black voices, within Georgetown and throughout the wider community, with a “Find Your Voice” social media campaign. Each week, the campaign will highlight an influential figure in Black history, as well as share reflections about their impact. This week, SCS staff member and alum of the Sports Industry Management program, Tremell Horne, hosted an Instagram takeover that featured his service work at Dreaming Out Loud, a D.C.-based non-profit that addresses health and food inequities through economic opportunities in marginalized communities. You can check out Tremell’s Instagram takeover here as well as an interview he did here with Mission in Motion during the fall semester.

Taken together, these efforts reflect the special responsibility of Georgetown SCS being located here in the capital city just blocks away from the U.S. Capitol. As President DeGioia noted, affirmed by Cicero and Fr. John O’Malley, our university character strives to be shaped by an “unwavering commitment to truth, service, and the common good.”

Shenita Ray, SCS Vice Dean for Education and Faculty Affairs, invited the school’s faculty to a special session last week on “Teaching for Mission: Suggestions for Incorporating Georgetown’s Jesuit Values in Your Virtual Courses” (a recording of the session is available here). The event provided an opportunity on the eve of the new semester to reflect on the pedagogical significance of the Jesuit values at the heart of the Spirit of Georgetown and offer the values-based framework as a critically important teaching resource for these virtual times.

Some faculty members are interested in these values but might not know where to begin the journey of incorporating Jesuit principles into their teaching. Others might assume that this invitation requires a particular religious background. There is no prerequisite for accepting this invitation other than a sincere and intentional commitment to make the values come alive in a way that honors the unique contexts of the faculty member, her students, and her specific discipline or industry.

Organized as a panel, the session sought to address faculty interest by introducing the Spirit of Georgetown as a pedagogical framework, reviewing the many teaching support resources that SCS has developed, and offering reflections from SCS faculty leaders on their own experience of bringing Jesuit values into course design and teaching.

Fr. Mark Bosco SJ, Vice President for Mission and Ministry, led off the presentation by putting the Spirit of Georgetown into context. In addition to summarizing the unique difference of an education rooted in the Catholic and Jesuit traditions, Fr. Bosco walked through each value and explained the potential implications for teaching. The value of People for Others, for example, invites faculty to address a “provocative challenge” that our learning “must engage the struggle for justice to protect the needs of the most vulnerable and the most marginalized of society.” There are resources across the university, like the Center for Social Justice, that are available to faculty desiring material about how to cultivate students’ commitments to service and solidarity. Similar connections to on-campus and off-campus resources apply for each of the values.

I followed by providing a bridge between these high-level values that we aspire to as a university community and the specific ways that SCS has created pathways, through information and tools, for faculty to apply Jesuit values in their teaching. These resources include an innovative strategies guide for online and on-campus courses as well as an instructional continuity framework intended to encourage the use of Jesuit pedagogical strategies as a way to support community values. In addition to these resources, I shared suggestions for how faculty can use digital tools to make space in their classrooms for students to share openly about  challenging feelings–especially because of intersecting and overlapping crises of global pandemic, racial injustice, and increasing social and political polarization.

The session concluded with personal testimony from two SCS faculty directors, Erinn Tucker and Ifedapo Adeleye, who shared examples of how they have appropriated Jesuit values into their work. Dr. Tucker, faculty director for the Global Hospitality Leadership program, presented on the way that she uses a reflection journal throughout a course to foster students’ deeper, interior engagement with the course material. And she shared how People for Others is a central theme of her classes, drawing an important connection between Jesuit values and a holistic understanding of hospitality. Dr. Adeleye, faculty director for the Human Resources Management program, offered examples of how the program’s curriculum puts students directly in touch with real-world clients faced with significant human resources challenges. When done well, client-facing opportunities within coursework encourage students, Dr. Adeleye observed, not only to develop necessary professional skills but also to develop their own values and mission in the world.

Every faculty member at SCS, representing every discipline and professional industry, is invited into deeper engagement with our university’s founding principles and values. If you would like to explore the Jesuit values and their relationship to your teaching, please reach out to Jamie Kralovec, SCS Associate Director for Mission Integration, at pjk34@georgetown.edu.

Georgetown’s MLK: “Let Freedom Ring! Initiative” takes on added significance this year, especially in light of last week’s insurrectionist violence at the U.S. Capitol. Faculty are annually encouraged to “Teach the Speech,” taking a selected speech from Dr. King and incorporating it into courses and other learning activities at the university. 

The invitation from the Center for Social Justice and other university offices extends beyond faculty to include students, staff, and community partners. More than observing the MLK Jr. holiday as a day off from work, the tradition of teaching the speech reminds us that the struggle for racial and economic justice, which animated Dr. King’s life, continues today and requires our individual and collective action. That struggle, which is also reflected in several of our Spirit of Georgetown values, like a Faith that Does Justice, invites the Georgetown community to commit more deeply to the legacy of Dr. King. 

The 1965 speech “Our God is Marching On” is a classic example of Dr. King’s rhetorical ability to name both reasons for despair and for hope. On the side of despair, Dr. King points to the way Black communities encounter systemic inequality in jobs, housing, education, and economic opportunities. He also notes the way that cynical political and economic interests sought to purposefully divide Blacks and whites in order to advance their bottom lines. The point for Dr. King, then and now, is that the campaigns for racial and economic justice must be intertwined. But Dr. King does not rest in the desolation of these realities. Instead, he points to a transcendent hope in the struggle: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” This is not a superficial, naïve hope, however, but one that is grounded in truth and non-violence. 

The late Congressman John Lewis, in his 1963 speech for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, echoes many of the points that Dr. King will make in 1965. However, given the wishes of Dr. King and other senior leaders who advised that he tone down his rhetoric in light of political sensitivities, we can see how Congressman Lewis amended his prepared remarks.  The side-by-side comparison of these speeches helps us appreciate some ongoing tensions in social justice movements. 

A concern that Lewis’s prepared remarks might alienate the presidential administration of John Kennedy led to language that affirmed the ways that Kennedy’s federal efforts supported the cause of civil rights: “It is true that we support the administration’s Civil Rights Bill. We support it with great reservation, however.” Lewis goes on to point out the many ways that legislation alone, the courts alone, cannot provide jobs and cannot provide safety against violence. Seeing these speeches in comparison helps us reflect on the discernment necessary in the movements for racial and economic justice. What language to use? How to frame the arguments? Who to address? 

Taken together, this year’s speeches by Dr. King and Congressman John Lewis have the capacity to provoke some necessary reflection in our SCS learning spaces. No discipline or industry is immune from serious reflection and analysis about how to contribute to the movements for racial and economic justice. The speeches also affirm our ongoing commitment at Georgetown to attend to the whole person in our teaching and learning. For both King and Lewis, the interior life—a life devoted to reverence and worship—was always integrated with their lives of public action. This is a good reminder that an education is not just about the mind, but also the soul, the heart, and the hands. May we find inspiration this year in the wisdom of Dr. King and Congressman Lewis as we continually discern our actions for justice.