Category: Service in Action

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The City’s Role in Advancing University Mission

The post reflects on the city, motivated by this article in the most recent SCS Dean’s Report:

Caring for Our Common Home: Advancing Sustainability and Faith-Based Community Development

Image: L’Enfant’s Plan for the City of Washington, Source: Museum of the American Revolution

Jesuits have made cities a primary site of missionary activity since their founding in 1540. The religious order’s relationship with the urban is not an accident but represents the founder’s vision of Finding God in All Things. St. Ignatius believed urban communities were advantageous to mission because of the concentration of people and places. Cities are not only places of great opportunity but also of great need and Ignatius located the order’s early apostolic ministries in urban sites because Jesuits could help address the concerns of the poor living there.

The urban significance of the Jesuit educational mission is perhaps most evident today in the preponderance of Jesuit schools located within city boundaries. Georgetown is no exception to this and its urban location has multiple meanings as both a local metropolitan community and a global city whose civic relevance has always been tied to the university’s public service commitment to the common good of the nation and the world. But despite these deep historical roots, I have found, both as a professional urban planner and a trained Ignatian mission integrator, that there is not enough discussion and reflection about the connections between Jesuit educational mission and the city.

When you begin to consider this relationship at a deeper level, what comes to mind as a member of the Georgetown community? What role should the city play in how Georgetown and Jesuit schools like it attempt to live out their 500-year-old tradition of education and spirituality? How does engagement with the city, its people and places, factor into your experiences at Georgetown?

As SCS prepares for the next phase of the development of the Capitol Campus this year, perhaps the most significant urban investment in Georgetown’s history, I think it would be helpful to encourage more thoughtful reflection about these questions. This motivation led me to author this article in the most recent SCS Dean’s Report, “Caring for Our Common Home: Advancing Sustainability and Faith-Based Community Development.” This piece takes a detailed view of several SCS initiatives that have engaged with the mission opportunities of contemporary urban life. Both the Master’s in Real Estate and the Master’s in Urban & Regional Planning have addressed the needs of faith-based organizations in ways that are consistent with Georgetown’s commitment to Care for Our Community Home and the integral ecological vision of Pope Francis. Beyond these academic efforts, the School’s urban sustainability vision is further realized through staff-led community service programs, which include a river clean-up with an urban non-profit.

Pope Francis has offered deep insights about the moral implications of fostering just, equitable, and sustainable cities. This feels like an opportune moment to catalyze more discussion, research, and action about engaging with the city as a matter of our mission. I hope the article in the Dean’s Report and the leading examples highlighted in it spark more reflection about the relationships between Georgetown’s Jesuit values and the challenges of our contemporary cities.

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Dean’s Report Emphasizes How Mission Animates the Work of SCS

This week’s post highlights the new SCS Dean’s Report and its emphasis on the role of Jesuit mission and values in the life of the School. 

An anticipated annual production, which involves a lot of careful planning and execution from a dedicated team of staff, is the release of the SCS Dean’s Report. This year’s effort, which covers 2023-2024, sheds an important light throughout the document on the central place of Georgetown’s Jesuit mission and values in how SCS engages in curriculum, partnership development, student life, and service to the world. A quick glance at this year’s article titles makes this connection to mission abundantly clear. As Dean Otter notes in her introduction to this year’s report, mission animates the entire enterprise: 

“Our School is rooted in a 500-year-old tradition of Catholic and Jesuit education that compels each and everyone of us to ask tough questions of themselves and of their professions, rethink traditional solutions, and ultimately seek something greater than themselves.”

This year’s report shows how SCS students, faculty, and staff have done these things with an orientation to realizing justice and the common good. 

The inspiration of Jesuit mission at SCS comes through several articles in an explicit and intentional way. In “Empowering Veterans from Service to Scholarship,” Miranda Mahmud describes how the example of St. Ignatius, himself a wounded warrior, guides the School’s efforts to meet the needs of military-connected students. We learn in this piece about how military-connected students bring many of the Spirit of Georgetown values to life, including being People for Others and helping realize a Community in Diversity. These students find Georgetown’s emphasis on life-calling, mission, and purpose in academic programs to resonate with their military experience. 

Another article in the report, “Georgetown Explores Ethical Uses of Artificial Intelligence,” demonstrates how Jesuit education’s humanistic origins, including a heavy emphasis on ethical reflection, are being integrated into curricula that address the most pressing contemporary challenges presented by machine learning. Lawrence Hardy shows how SCS has embraced artificial intelligence as critical subject matter and has begun offering an array of courses and other learning experiences that challenge SCS students to grapple deeply with the moral and ethical implications of these new technologies. 

In “Caring for our Common Home: Advancing Sustainability and Faith-Based Community Development,” I share a few concrete ways that SCS is helping put into practice a distinctly Ignatian urban vision modeled on the ideas of Pope Francis. Through particular efforts by the Master’s in Urban & Regional Planning and Master’s in Real Estate, as well as a volunteer program coordinated by SCS staff, the School is supporting environmentally sustainable approaches to meeting global challenges, like the affordable housing crisis. These novel efforts, which include an academic partnership with area churches to support the development of affordable housing on underutilized land as well as mapping the environmental performance of faith-based organizations’ global real estate, bring to life the value of Care for Our Common Home. SCS is innovatively engaging these pressing issues with programs that are flexibly designed to meet the world’s greatest needs. 

There are many more mission-aligned accomplishments in this year’s Dean’s Report to share, but I think you should read them for yourself! I hope this annual publication helps readers better appreciate the intentional care with which the SCS community preserves and animates Georgetown’s Jesuit mission and values.

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SCS Program in Humanitarian Crisis & Emergency Management Addressing Critical Global Need

This week’s post highlights how SCS recently launched an Executive Master’s Program in Humanitarian Crisis & Emergency Management. The need for such a program is demonstrated by the recent wildfires in California. The Georgetown community is encouraged to assist Loyola Marymount University as it responds to this crisis. 

The recent devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area have highlighted a tragic reality that the world will continue to face devastating weather events in the coming years. Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice has directed our community to focus its relief efforts and assistance by supporting Jesuit university colleague Loyola Marymount University during this challenging time. This is a good example of how Georgetown exists in a mutually supportive global network of Jesuit Higher Education. 

The wildfires demonstrate the fragility of a warming planet and our duty to protect and preserve it. This commitment is at the core of “Care for Our Common Home,” the 10th value in The Spirit of Georgetown. Pope Francis has written passionately about the moral and spiritual crisis of environmental degradation, particularly in his landmark document Laudato Si’. The pope’s attention to this issue and the urgency of responding to the environmental crisis is shared by leaders across religious traditions.

The School of Continuing Studies has answered the call to address the crisis of ongoing environmental disasters and their impact on human populations by recently launching a new program, the Executive Master’s in Humanitarian Crisis & Emergency Management. This 12-month program, which features residencies around the world and engagement with leading national and global emergency management organizations, prepares students to address the world’s greatest challenges as a result of climate change, political forces, or economic hardship. The program’s hands-on learning approach reinforces that human solutions are needed to address human problems. A recent SCS e-story, “Emergency Managers Facing ‘Continuous Response’ to Chronic Disasters,” gives even more detail about the real-world human impact of these programs. 

In announcing the program, SCS Dean Kelly Otter emphasized how Georgetown’s mission to be “People for Others” comes through in the program’s design. Professionals educated in this Executive Master’s will end up helping communities around the globe, according to Otter: “Our Students will emerge as leaders who can drive positive change in humanitarian crisis management, equipped with both practical skills and a global perspective.” Such a values-based orientation is consistent with the School’s intentional efforts to integrate Georgetown’s Jesuit values into new program design. 

At a time of immense sadness and suffering over the loss of life in California, it can be difficult to locate evidence for hope. The emergence of the Executive Master’s in Humanitarian Crisis & Emergency Management, and Georgetown’s commitment to addressing the environmental and humanitarian crisis posed by climate change, is one reason for hope. Consistent with the university’s mission, academic programs like this help Georgetown realize its aspiration to educate women and men “to be reflective lifelong learners, to be responsible and active participants in civic life and to live generously in service to others.”

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2025 Dr. King “Teach the Speech” Offers Lasting Reflections on Movements for Social Justice

This year’s Teach the Speech features a 1967 interview with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in which he offers reflections about the challenges faced by the Civil Rights Movement.

Every year, Mission in Motion reflects on Georgetown’s selected speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and invites some considerations for how its content and themes might be incorporated into courses and other activities at SCS. The 2025 Teach the Speech selection is a 1967 interview given by Dr. King with Sander Vanocur at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. You may also view the full transcript. What is especially remarkable about this text is that the interview occurs 11 months before Dr. King’s assassination and the conversation, unlike a traditional speech, reveals subtle insights into Dr. King’s reflective assessment of the Civil Rights Movement and his own role in it as he nears his death.

This annual event of disseminating an MLK Jr. speech to the entire Georgetown community presents manifold possibilities about how to incorporate the ideas of the speech into learning activities. Such an effort reinforces the spirit of the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, which invites instructors to discern how to animate the deeper meanings of knowledge areas for the sake of encouraging students to make more generous, loving, and just choices in their lives and professional careers. Regardless of the particular discipline, each field of study and practice at Georgetown can discover ways to integrate the speech in a course or other learning engagement to inspire plans of action for justice in the spirit of Dr. King. Instructors at Georgetown are encouraged to utilize this set of teaching resources to support whatever plans they develop.

As an urban planner and an educator in several different SCS programs, I think there are several ways that this speech can be meaningfully incorporated into professional studies coursework. First, the entire conversation takes place within the context of Dr. King’s own personal reflections about the effectiveness of the Civil Rights Movement. He is modeling a spirit of reflective evaluation, the final stage of the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, and reinforcing the importance of continuous reflection. Whether it is a social change movement or a particular strategic planning process, reflective professionals should regularly reflect on the effectiveness of their work and its larger impact. What is missing? What barriers are impeding success? What additional data do I need to improve my practices and contributions to a larger effort? These reflection questions seem to be animating Dr. King’s perspectives in the interview. 

Second, Dr. King’s speech makes an important distinction between obvious and more subtle social challenges. He describes how the manifestations of racism in obviously racist laws and forms of racialized violence are more evident to the public. But Dr. King cautions that other areas of social, political, and economic life, like the state of housing affordability, present less visible racism but nonetheless exist within structures in which race has a determining impact on life outcomes. These more subtle forms of racism, so often reproduced spatially, are more difficult to inform the public about and often less supported than more manifestly racist acts and intentions. Instructors might consider how this dynamic is playing out in one’s respective industry. Where are the manifestations of racism products of larger social, economic, and political structures that need to be addressed with more comprehensive, integrated, and systematic ways? Housing, employment, and education are all areas of life where these dynamics continue to play out in the U.S. and have an effect on all of the industries represented in SCS programs. 

Third, the speech presents opportunities to challenge students to consider how major macro forces are impacting the particular subject matter of their professional industries. For instance, Dr. King describes how the Vietnam War made it more difficult to focus the public’s attention on the ongoing Civil Rights Movement. Instructors might invite their students to conduct similar analysis. What larger dynamics in the world are positively and negatively impacting the state of your professional industry? What are strategies for addressing these macro forces in ways that ultimately improve the effectiveness of your particular work in a chosen field of study? 

I hope our community directly engages with Teach Dr. King’s Speech and I encourage you to attend an event in Copley Formal Lounge on the Hilltop campus and online from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday, January 31. 

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A Reflective Review of 2024: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going

This week’s post is a reflective Examen about 2024. 

Since Mission in Motion began nearly five years ago, the blog has posted a year-end Examen that reflects on the most mission-significant occurrences of the past year. My intention, like a classic Examen practice, is to take stock of the experiences of greatest meaning in our collective life as a university and reflect on how these events have shaped us as members of the SCS community. Such a review brings up moments of both consolation and desolation, inviting each of us to reflect on how we have been transformed by our shared experiences and how we desire to journey into the year ahead. This practice is an opportunity to name gratitude for the multitude of ways that students, faculty, and staff live out Georgetown’s mission and values. A look back at 2024 can be especially helpful as SCS prepares in 2025 to move from its current location at 640 Massachusetts Avenue to its new 111 Massachusetts Avenue home on the Capitol Campus.

2024 featured some standard Mission and Ministry programming that brought together students, faculty, and staff to experience the resources of Georgetown’s Jesuit and multi-religious heritage. A newly designed oversight retreat in March 2024, “Journeying the Good life,” encouraged students to more deeply consider what daily practices help them flourish and live out their deeper purpose in life (see “SCS Retreat Invites Students into Reflection on the Meaning and Practices of the Good Life”).  Staff benefited from a new workshop about managing conflict through effective dialogue skills and greater emotional awareness (see “Becoming Spiritually Grounded Strategic Thinkers and Discerning Leaders”). Some of the learning from this new staff-focused program was incorporated into the inaugural “Strategic Thinking & Leadership Academy” offered by SCS as a non-degree certificate. 

This was a year in which SCS helped contribute to national events. In July, the Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities (AJCU) held its tri-annual assembly on faith, justice, and reconciliation at Loyola University Chicago. SCS work on Ignatian pedagogical strategy for online course development that resonates with adult learners was featured in a national AJCU commission dedicated to Ignatian Pedagogy (see “AJCU Faith, Justice, and Reconciliation Assembly Brings Together University Colleagues at a Critical Time”). The presidential election provided another opportunity for mission resources to help the university community pause and process a mix of emotions (see “Civic Examen Helps Georgetown Community Reflect on the Emotions of Election Season”). 

2024 was another year when the blog featured the diverse voices of SCS students, faculty, and staff as presented in a range of interviews. Dion Thompson-Davoli, a May 2024 graduate of the Master’s in Urban & Regional Planning, reflected on his historic achievement: running down every single street in Washington, D.C. (see “Recent SCS Graduate Accomplishes Major Feat, Running Down Every Street of Washington, D.C., and Discovering More About Himself and the City Along the Way”). Another graduating student, Mary Delaney Fox, won the Spirit of Georgetown award at the SCS Tropaia ceremony and shared about her transformative efforts to promote organ donation (see “2024 SCS Spirit of Georgetown Winner Reflects on Gifts of Life, Family, and Georgetown”). And Haroot Hakopian, SCS assistant dean of student affairs, was highlighted in a Georgetown Faces profile about the many ways he brings a spirit of belonging and inclusion to the work of the summer programs (see “Shining a Storytelling a Spotlight on a Key Member of the SCS Summer Team”). 

More attention was paid on this platform to the evolution of a Capitol Campus and the initial plans for developing a more coherent culture and community among the different units and schools, including SCS, that will bring this campus to life. A dedicated overnight retreat in Fall 2024 for graduate, professional, and law students, with a special focus on students on the Capitol Campus, previewed more efforts to create reflective spaces for this mix of students (see “Fall 2024 Graduate, Law, and Professional Student Retreat Emphasizes Listening to the Voice Within”). Two new spirituality programs for the Capitol Campus brought together students, staff, and faculty to experience this new university reality through the lens of Ignatian spirituality (see “Walking Examen of the Capitol Campus Contributes to Jesuit Heritage Month”) and multi-faith dialogue (see “New Mission and Ministry Program on the Capitol Campus Explores ‘Practicing Pluralism’”). Also, the inaugural Mass of the Holy Spirit for the entire Capitol Campus, which is always celebrated on the Hilltop campus, established a solid foundation for the future of communal worship in this area of the city (see “Capitol Campus Mass of the Holy Spirit Encourages Openness to the New (and Old)”). 

2024 was a momentous year for Georgetown SCS for all of these reasons and more. As we journey into the next year, I invite everyone to take some time to reflect. What are the moments that stand out the most from this year? What experiences brought you the most joy and closest to your truest self? What led to the opposite, draining you of energy and your deeper purpose? How are you being called to renewal and recommitment in the coming year? 

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English Language Center Hosts Annual Panel About Thanksgiving Traditions

This week’s post is about the annual Thanksgiving panel and potluck organized by the English Language Center. 

The Thanksgiving holiday presents an invaluable opportunity to reflect on the diversity of the Georgetown community. The annual Thanksgiving panel hosted by the English Language Center (ELC) is one of the ways this diversity is honored and celebrated. Each year, ELC invites SCS faculty and staff as panelists to reflect for the ELC students about the meanings of the holiday. This conversation elicits laughter, cheers, and curiosity as students, most of whom are newcomers to American life and culture, learn about some differences and similarities in how Thanksgiving is observed in the United States. The panel is followed by a potluck in the atrium, with staff and faculty contributing home-cooked delicacies that give students a real-world taste of Thanksgiving customs. Embodying the themes of the panel discussion, the active hospitality of a Thanksgiving meal brings life to the authentic experience of the holiday. 

Mission in Motion has written before about how Thanksgiving observance has obvious resonance with the Ignatian spiritual emphasis on gratitude, which is primarily expressed and practiced through the Examen. This daily practice invites honest and realistic awareness of one’s inner movements of emotions, feelings, thoughts, sensations, etc., both the consoling and the desolating, for the sake of discerning how one is being moved to make choices. The focus of awareness in the Examen is intentionally about small details, the kind of things that often escape our notice when we are moving too quickly through our days and weeks. Savoring the small stuff of our experience can increase the likelihood that we notice more opportunities to give thanks. The data of the day, both the big details and the smaller ones, invite us to ponder with curiosity how we are being moved to act more generously in the world. An attitude of gratitude can lead to the disposition of loving kindness. 

This year’s panelists affirmed the centrality of gratitude in their experiences of the holiday by pointing to both the small details and larger significance of their observance of the holiday. I heard Thanksgiving gratitude expressed on the panel in many ways, including: much-needed rest from work and school at a busy time in the semester; the annual occasion of being with family and friends often dispersed around the country; and the longed-for opportunity to be in a safe space with trusted people who can disagree (sometimes vigorously) while maintaining the bonds of affection. Others named gratitude about the opportunity to shape the holiday in ways that reflect particular cultural identities and expressions. For example, Frances Bajet, SCS Senior Director of Communications and Events, reflected: 

“It was wonderful participating in ELC’s Thanksgiving event because it was an opportunity to share a few of my Filipino family’s holiday traditions. For instance, we always have some type of pancit, i.e. a Filipino noodle dish in addition to turkey! Although Thanksgiving is known as a very American holiday, my favorite aspect is how we’re able to tailor it to our own family’s traditions and culture.”

I believe the students walked away with a clear impression that there is no single way to live out Thanksgiving and this diversity adds to the holiday’s richness as a cultural ritual. As we contemplate how we desire to enter into the upcoming holiday season, I hope this Thanksgiving helps us grow our awareness for the gifts (small and large) of our lives.

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New Mission and Ministry Program on the Capitol Campus Explores “Practicing Pluralism”

Rabbi Rachel Gartner, seen here at last year’s SCS Student Retreat, helped co-facilitate a new staff series offered this fall by Mission and Ministry on the Capitol Campus, entitled “Practicing Pluralism”

Recently, Mission and Motion has devoted increased attention to the evolution and growth of Georgetown’s Capitol Campus, a unified anchor of academic programs seeking to leverage the experiential learning opportunities of proximity to the U.S. Capitol. Over the next years, the consolidation of different Georgetown schools and units on the campus will mean increased opportunities for collaboration and coordination. 

To foster more cross-unit community building, Mission and Ministry offered a staff-focused program this fall, entitled “Practicing Pluralism.” Co-facilitated by myself and Rabbi Rachel Gartner, SCS Senior Advisor for Spiritual Care and Co-Director of the In Your Shoes™ Research and Practice Center, the four-part series was organized to address these questions: 

  • How can I maintain my authenticity as a person and the values that matter most to me while serving others whose viewpoints and perspectives conflict with mine?
  • What does it actually mean to realize a Community in Diversity?
  • How to acknowledge our real differences while striving for meaningful unity that respects our identities?
  • How can I remain centered and focused when I hear things that are very difficult for me to hear, particularly when leading others through hard conversation? 

The series, offered for staff on the Capitol Campus, was an intentional effort to more deeply explore the meanings and applications of being a “Community in Diversity,” one of the core values of The Spirit of Georgetown. It was also presented as an opportunity to build more relationships between staff members from across the campus, such as from the McCourt School of Public Policy and SCS, to name a few 

With a particular emphasis on the Ignatian and Jewish traditions, “Practicing Pluralism” began with the foundational commitments in religious traditions that affirm the case for pluralism. The Jewish tradition of reading texts in pairs and engaging in critical interpretative engagement with Torah affirm the need for pluralistic perspectives and views on the same source material and shared traditions. The Ignatian tradition, animated by the Post-Vatican II spirit of the Catholic Church, has made pluralism a guiding principle of Jesuit institutions. At a 2022 conference, organized by Georgetown’s Berkley Center, Jesuit Superior General Arturo Sosa affirmed the modern Jesuit embrace of pluralism when he said: “I prefer to speak of cultures in the plural in order to highlight one of humanity’s greatest riches: cultural diversity. Cultural diversity offers one of the most wonderful ways to participate in the creation is born in God and his Word.” The series invited participants to consider these foundations but also to assess their own trusted sources for positively engaging with pluralism. 

“Practicing Pluralism” was deliberately designed not as a seminar with a large reading load, but as a space for discussion and practice. All involved were invited to consider what is both energizing and challenging about a commitment to embodying pluralism in our work. Some skills introduced include practicing receptivity by resetting the table and asking questions that follow the meaning. Other practice-oriented suggestions included ways to create safety in situations of conflict by reinstating good intentions (this is a skill emphasized in “Crucial Conversations,” a book that this Mission and Ministry has used to help units in SCS work constructively through difficult conversations). 

This inaugural offering presents much promise for the future of the series’ stated goal to help build community on the Capitol Campus. All of us at Georgetown are encouraged to reflect individually and collectively about the gifts and talents we bring to realizing a true Community in Diversity. 

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SCS Open House Creates Opportunity for Hospitality and Reflection on Georgetown’s Mission

This week’s Mission in Motion reflects on mission-oriented new degree programs at SCS tackling pressing economic, social, and environmental challenges. 

As the nation’s attention turned this week to the devastating impact of another high-powered weather disaster (if you’d like to support disaster relief efforts, the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service has identified organizations serving the affected regions), I was reflective about recent curricular news at SCS. The School has launched a new “Executive Master’s in Humanitarian Crisis & Emergency Management” program as part of its portfolio of market-focused and social impact-oriented degrees. You can read more about this new opportunity, “SCS Launches Exec. Master’s in Humanitarian Crisis & Emergency Management.” This new program follows another recent curricular addition by SCS in the creation of a Master of Professional Studies in Artificial Intelligence Management. You can read more about this new program, “Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies Launches Master’s in Artificial Intelligence Management.” 

I had both of these new offerings on my mind as the School opened its doors this week for one of its regular prospective student open houses. Regular readers of Mission in Motion will know that this blog pays some attention to the open house event. These open houses are more than occasions for the transaction of information and specific details about the admission process. I believe that the open house format, complete with nourishing and appetizing food as well as a full presence of spirited and committed faculty and staff on hand, is a reflection of the University’s commitment to a long-standing tradition of hospitality. I relish in observing the spontaneous conversations that arise during this event, watching at a slight distance as inquiring adults learn more about the many SCS offerings available. I also notice what happens when staff and faculty from across different programs convene in a shared space and pause for a moment of reflection in between providing resources to inquirers.

The addition of new programs that are tackling pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges from the perspective of skilled and ethical professional practitioners reminds us that a Georgetown education at SCS is about more than career advancement. The spirit in the space at open house also suggests, however implicitly, that everyone engaged in conversation is aware of this deeper purpose. New visitors to the building find visible indicators of the Spirit of Georgetown and the University’s Jesuit heritage and mission. They also experience this mission presence in the way that programs market degree outcomes in how alumni engage in service to the common good and the ways that staff and faculty speak with pride about how SCS prepares students to lead professional lives in service of others. 

There is much discourse about the changing nature of the higher education landscape. So many factors have affected what content, skills, and values are being offered to prospective students around the world. Technological innovations have greatly impacted how programs are delivered and in what formats. Global challenges, like the advent of artificial intelligence and the persisting reality of natural disasters requiring coordinated emergency response, make such professionally oriented, practice-centric programs so important. But what makes the Georgetown value proposition distinctive is the University’s mission. I hope that everyone partaking in the student lifecycle, from prospective students all the way through alumni, can take some time to appreciate this dimension of the Georgetown experience. 

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Staff Appreciation Day Builds Community, Highlights the Diverse Talents of Georgetown’s Workforce

This week’s post reflects on Staff Appreciation Day at Georgetown, an occasion to grow in gratitude for how our staff members animate Georgetown’s mission and realize a “Community in Diversity.” 

Mission in Motion has regularly highlighted the many ways that staff members contribute to realizing Georgetown’s mission. Previous interviews on the blog have explored the unique talents of our staff community and how these gifts are brought to bear in support of our shared educational endeavors. I hope that readers come away with a clear sense about how such a complex global organization like Georgetown needs a talented and diverse team of employees in order for the university to flourish. 

This year’s Staff Appreciation Day hosted on the Hilltop Campus (a Capitol Campus event will take place in the spring) was an experience of gratitude for the committed members of our community who make Georgetown run. As the largest private employer in Washington, D.C., Georgetown has an enormous influence on the economic fortunes of this region. I was especially struck this year by the turnout, impressed by the size of our workforce, and amazed about how these essential roles, however diverse in their functions and locations across the university, come together to form a coherent whole. In the language of Georgetown’s mission and values, Staff Appreciation Day really puts a finer point on our being a “Community in Diversity.” 

This rich diversity was evident in so many ways. Different offices and sub-communities among the staff, like the Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), had tables and offered resources and impromptu conversations. The spread of food was nutritious and delicious and helped spark fellowship and camaraderie. There was music and even dancing! Despite the threat of rain, the mood was friendly and celebratory. I walked away with a gift from the raffle (a nice Georgetown mug!) and some lasting memories about connecting with both new and old colleagues. I was delighted by the number of conversations that led to a commitment to set up a meeting to find more time to meet and connect. 

I hope that this annual occasion helps the larger university community grow in awareness and gratitude about how staff members working in front and behind the scenes help animate Georgetown’s mission and values. I also hope that this festive gathering encourages staff members to continue seeking out the spontaneous sparks of affection that are possible when we come together as one.

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Reflecting on Georgetown’s Composition of Place in the Downtown

graphic of the buildings around the capitol campus
This week’s post is an invitation to consider the geospatial reality of Georgetown’s downtown location. What meaning can we gain by entering more fully into the physical context of our campus and its surroundings?

St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits and patron of Jesuit schools around the world like Georgetown, possessed an impressive awareness of spatial dynamics. What do I mean by this? The Jesuit founder thought carefully about how the physical location of things influences our spiritual lives and how we go about realizing the mission of our work. In this way, the 16th Century saint was ahead of his time in his geospatial consciousness. The Jesuits were unique among religious orders of the period, for example, because of Ignatius’ insistence that locating Jesuit institutions in urban cores would bring about more mission advancement. Serving the needs of the human (people) and physical (places and spaces) city has been a hallmark of Jesuits for the last five centuries. This is one of the many reasons that most Jesuit schools around the globe are located within cities. 

But Ignatian emphasis on the mission opportunities in the city is about more than administration. In the Spiritual Exercises, the guided, developmental retreat that the Jesuit founder created, Ignatius insists that prayer experiences need to be rooted in a “composition of place.” Here is the original text from the Exercises: “It should be noted here that for contemplation of meditation about visible things … the ‘composition’ will consist in seeing through the gaze of the imagination the material place where the object I want to contemplate is situated…” (Spiritual Exercises, 47). Here we see that Ignatius is inviting the one engaged in prayer and meditation to get concrete and material about the details of their imagination. This prioritization of real description of actual objects of contemplation suggests that fruitful prayer and meditation is not a flight into fantasy but a deep engagement with the reality of one’s experiences. A very basic way of putting this is that context matters. 

Context is intentionally the first stage of the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (described here by Mission in Motion) because of this Ignatian composition of place. The idea is that any meaningful learning activity must first be situated within the material place of learning and the persons and things that comprise that place. In this way and inspired by St. Ignatius, I invite us to journey into this semester of learning at SCS by coming to better understand the composition of place for our campus. What does it mean that our study and work are based in the physical place of downtown Washington, D.C.? How can the urban context and environment of our learning inspire the ways that we engage with the tasks of education this semester? 

All of these questions about context are especially appropriate for us at Georgetown as the movement toward a unified Capitol Campus continues. In a year’s time, the SCS campus at 640 Massachusetts Avenue will migrate to 111 Massachusetts Avenue and become co-located with other schools and units that comprise a comprehensive Georgetown anchor of graduate and professional education in the downtown. The meaning and implications of our geo-location will take on more importance as SCS shifts locations in the neighborhood and additional consideration is given to the School’s urban surroundings. 

For the time being, I invite the SCS community to continue to take seriously the place-based reality of the current campus situation at 640. One way to engage deeply with this embeddedness is by understanding the place. You might consider learning about this neighborhood through reported data about the composition of place via the U.S. Census. You might also consider spending time getting to know the people and places that comprise our neighborhood. Are there opportunities this semester to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing the persons, places, and spaces of this particular neighborhood? How can our learning pursuits serve these needs? 

In all things at Georgetown, we are encouraged to seek out the resources of our Jesuit heritage and traditions in ways that inspire our present endeavors. As we continue our SCS operations in the downtown and contemplate our future operations in a more coherent Capitol Campus, I invite all of us to more deeply reflect on the significance of our spatial reality.