Newsletters

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to the Spirituality in Higher Education Newsletter, which presents articles that address recent news and expand academic dialogue concerning the research and practice of spirituality in higher education. Our intent is not only to inform and stimulate discussion, but also to connect colleagues who are interested in this topic.

This newsletter has been part of a larger longitudinal research project funded by The John Templeton Foundation, entitled Spirituality in Higher Education: A National Study of College Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose. It is housed at the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) in UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

Newsletter editions have been distributed electronically on a quarterly basis throughout the years of the project and feature various topics related to the study of spirituality – including health, leadership, the arts, diversity, and teaching and learning, among others. The content of each edition is based on the continued contributions of many talented professionals who share their insight, experience, and awareness with our growing number of readers.  To read past newsletter articles and issues, please view the edition list that follows and click on the article title to open it as a PDF. You also can use the menu on the right to “jump to” the various volumes of the newsletter.

Many individuals have collaborated and contributed to the creation of this newsletter. The previous newsletter editors – Kyle Steward McJunkin, Shannon Calderone, and Estella Gutierrez-Zamano – have helped in the development and dissemination of many engaging editions.

Thank you all for your support and interest in our newsletter.

Best regards,

Leslie M. Schwartz
Editor

Current Issue

Volume V, Issue 5: August 2010
Topic: Enhancing Spiritual Capital on Campus

1. Letter From the Editor
   By Leslie M. Schwartz

2. Exploring Spiritual Capital: An Interview with Danah Zohar
   By Danah Zohar

   In this interview, Danah Zohar, author and internationally known speaker and author on spiritual intelligence and spiritual capital, shares how these areas are essential to develop in college students and within our campus climates. Zohar shares how encouraging service and true education of our students is critical, especially given our current global economic crisis. By asking fundamental questions and having a spirit of creativity and critical thinking, Zohar argues that educators can develop the next generation of engaged citizens.

3. Enhancing Spiritual Capital on Campus: Practical Action Steps for Improving Campus Spiritual Climate
   By Leslie M. Schwartz

   In this article, Schwartz helps educators clarify, consider, collaborate, connect, and create their own spiritual practices to enhance spiritual capital on their campuses. Through sharing five practical action steps to create a Spiritual Action Plan for their institutions, educators can begin to engage in this important work today as they take positive steps to increase their institution’s spiritual campus climate.

4. Building a Campus Movement of Interfaith Cooperation: Interfaith Youth Core in Action
   By Mary Ellen Giess and Eboo Patel

   Developing awareness of and action around interfaith cooperation within our institutional cultures is a core mechanism for increasing spiritual capital on our campuses.  Giess and Patel share how the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) partners with individual campuses to help create vision and a campus ecology of interfaith cooperation in order to impact student and campus outcomes, increasing spiritual capital within higher education.

5. A Reflection on the Spirituality in Higher Education Project: An Interview with Alexander Astin
   By Alexander W. Astin

   At the close of the Spirituality in Higher Education Project, Astin, Co-Principal Investigator, shares his reflections on the Project contributions to deepening the body of research on college students’ development as well as increasing spiritual capital within higher education. Astin also offers additional pathways for future related researcher to continue this important work.

Volume V (2009-10)

Issue 1: February 2009
Topic: Spirituality for an Engaged Citizenship

1. Engagement in Civic Work as Spiritual Development: An Interview with Thomas Ehrlich
   By Thomas Ehrlich
2. Spirituality and Service-Learning: Parallel Frameworks for Understanding Students’ Spiritual Development
   By Marshall Welch and Kent Koth
3. The Art of Spiritual Reflection: Applications for Service-learning and Civic Engagement on Campus
   By Elaine Elliott, Barbara Quinn, and Chris Nayve
4. "What Would Parker Palmer Do?": Confessions of a New Practitioner
   By Abigail Nathanson

Issue 2: May 2009
Topic: Transformative Pedagogy and Practice

1. Transforming Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: An Interview with Parker J. Palmer
   By Parker J. Palmer
2. The Reverent Educator: The Call to Supporting Students’ Spiritually on our Campuses
   By A. G. Rud and Jim Garrison
3. Listening, Reflecting and Collaborating: A Look from Inside the Creation of a Peace and Service Course
   By Audrey Lin, Liane Louie, Megan Voorhees, Maura Wolf, and Kana Yoshida
4. Breathing In: Suffering, Breathing Out: Compassion
   By Fran Grace

Issue 3: September 2009
Topic: Student Affairs and Spiritual Development

1. Creating Communities to Encourage Engagement and Spiritual Questions: An Interview with Carney Strange
   By Carney Strange
2. The Integration of Living and Learning: Perspectives on Seeking Wholeness in Academic Affairs and Student Affairs
   By Jane Fried
3. Creating Shared Vision for Promoting Students' Spiritual Development: An Intervention Model from Edgewood College
   By Mary Klink
4. Spiritual Development Lessons from Student Affairs: A Recent Graduate's Reflections on College Involvement
   By Cecilia Macias

Issue 4: January 2010
Topic: Spirituality and Social Justice

1. Spirituality and Social Justice: Exploring Identity Intersections - An Interview with Dafina Lazarus Stewart
   By Dafina Lazarus Stewart
2. Spiritually Engaged Pedagogy: The Possibilities of Spiritual Development Through Social Justice Education
   By Jennifer M. Pigza & Marshall J. Welch
3. Race, Religion, and Campus: A Case Study of Using Faith to Dialogue on Race
   By Julie J. Park
4. Promoting Spirituality for Diversity Advocacy and Social Justice Education: A Practitioner’s Perspective
   By Patricia Wolfe Anton

Volume IV (2007-08)

Issue 1: November 2007
Topic: Meaning Making, Mentoring, and Vocational Development

1. The Undergraduate Quest for Meaning, Purpose, and Faith: An Interview with Sharon Daloz Parks (PDF)
   By Sharon Daloz Parks
2. Expanding Vocational Understanding: Lilly Endowment Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation (PDF)
   By Leslie M. Schwartz
3. Vocation, Leadership Formation, and College as a Mentoring Community (PDF)
   By Chris Johnson
4. Reading Resources: Discovering Connections Among Meaning-Making, Mentoring, Vocation, and Spirituality (PDF)

Issue 2: February 2008
Topic: Spiritual Impacts on Health and Well-Being

1. Exploring the Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Health, Well-Being, and Spirituality: An Interview with Shauna Shapiro (PDF)
   By Shauna Shapiro
2. The Psychological and Physical Benefits of Spiritual/Religious Practices (PDF)
   By Ellen Idler
3. The Center for Spirituality and Health at the University of Florida (PDF)
   By Allen H. Neims, Monika Ardelt, Shaya R. Isenberg, and Louis A. Ritz
4. An Invitation – Promising Practices: Spirituality in Higher Education (PDF)

Issue 3: June 2008
Topic: Intersections Between Leadership and Spirituality

1. Encouraging Ethical & Authentic Leadership: An Interview with Nance Lucas (PDF)
   By Nance Lucas
2. Spirituality, Ethics, and Leadership (PDF)
   By Walter Earl Fluker
3. Leading as a Spiritual Endeavor: Living, Leading, and Developing Community with Vocation (PDF)
   By Larry A. Braskamp
4. The Role of Spirituality in Leadership for Social Change (PDF)
   By Maiko Yasuno

Issue 4: October 2008
Topic: Spiritual Struggles and Student Development

1. Normalizing and Supporting Students’ Spiritual Struggle: An Interview with Pam Viele (PDF)
   By Pam Viele
2. The Spiritual Struggles of College Students: Illuminating a Critical Developmental Phenomenon (PDF)
   By Alyssa N. Bryant
3. The Winding Road: A Promising Approach to Addressing the Spiritual Struggles of College Students (PDF)
   By Maria R. Gear, Carol Ann Faigin, Meryl R. Gibbel, Elizabeth Krumrei, Carmen Oemig, Shauna K. McCarthy, and Kenneth I. Pargament
4. Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk: Exploring my Spiritual Struggles in a Heterogeneous College Environment (PDF)
   By Amanda Weldy

Volume III (2006-07)

Issue 1: September 2006
Topic: Authenticity and Everyday Spirituality

1. Lessons from a Campus' Compassionate Dialogues (PDF)
   By Estella Gutierrez-Zamano
2. Role-Modeling Authenticity in Higher Education (PDF)
   By Judy L. Rogers
3. Higher Education and a Spirituality of Everyday Life (PDF)
   By Elizabeth A. Dreyer & John B. Bennett
4. An Undergraduate's Spiritual Journey (PDF)
   By Rajiv Ramdeo

Issue 2: January 2007
Topic: Spirituality and Artistic Expression

1. The Relationship Between Spirituality and Artistic Expression: Cultivating the Capacity for Imagining (PDF)
   By Christine Valters Paintner, Ph.D.
2. The Empowering of Art and Spirituality (PDF)
   By Marilyn Russell, Ph.D.
3. Why Spirituality? Lessons that Educators Can Take from an Artist (PDF)
   By Julie J. Park
4. For Your Bookshelf... (PDF)

Issue 3: April 2007
Topic: National Institute on Spirituality in Higher Education

1. Overview of the National Institute on Spirituality in Higher Education (PDF)
   by Leslie M. Schwartz
2. Faculty Priorities: Where Does Faith Fit (PDF)
   by R. Eugene Rice
3. Creating a Campus Culture to Support Student Spirituality (PDF)
   by Mary B. Coburn
4. Big Questions: A First Year Faculty Fellows and Student Affairs Collaborative Program (PDF)
   by Indira Nair, Jennifer Church, and Harriet Schwartz
5. An Ethic of Connectedness (PDF)
   By David K. Scott

Issue 4: August 2007
Topic: Understanding and Promoting Religious Pluralism on Campus

1. Understanding and Promoting Religious Pluralism on College Campuses (PDF)
   By Robert J. Nash
2. Beyond Tolerance.An Interview on Religious Pluralism with Victor Kazanjian (PDF)
   By Victor Kazanjian
3. Pluralism on the University Campus: Princeton University's Religious Life Council (PDF)
   By Elizabeth Jemison '08 and Dana Graef '05
4. Pluralism Projects in Action: A Report on the Difficult Dialogues Initiative (PDF)
   By Leslie M. Schwartz

Volume II (2005-06)

Issue 1: January 2005
Topic: Teaching for Social Transformation and Service Learning

1. An Interview with Cheryl Keen (PDF)
   By Cheryl Keen
2. Helpful Resources for Making Service Learning a Spiritual Endeavor (PDF)
   By HERI Project Staff
3. Fostering a Long Term Commitment to Service: The Role of Campus Religious Leaders in Service-Learning (PDF)
   By Kent Koth
4. Realizing a Transformed Pedagogical Dreamfield: Recasting Agreements for Teaching and Learning (PDF)
   By Laura I. Rendón

Issue 2: April 2005
Topic: Spiritual Impact on Teaching and Learning

1. An Interview with David K. Scott (PDF)
   By David K. Scott
2. Spirituality & Higher Education Curriculum: The HERI Syllabi Project
   By HERI Project Staff
3. Teaching, Learning, & Spirituality (PDF)
   By Peter Laurence
4. Improvisation, Creativity, and Consciousness: Life at the Academic Fringes (PDF)
   By Ed Sarath

Issue 3: July 2005
Topic: Institutional Support of Spiritual Development

1. An Interview with Diana Chapman Walsh (PDF)
   By Diana Chapman Walsh
2. Instituting Change in the Spiritual Make-up of Yale University (PDF)
   By Martha C. Highsmith
3. How College Fosters Faith Development in Students (PDF)
   By Larry A. Braskamp, Lois Calian Trautvetter, and Kelly Ward
4. My Soulful College Quest (PDF)
   By Whitney Doe

Issue 4: February 2006
Topic: Organizational Change and Spiritual Transformation

1. An Interview with Barbara Hill (PDF)
   By Barbara Hill
2. UCLA's Student Affairs Leadership Forum (SALF): Holistic Interventions within Student Affairs (PDF)
   By UCLA Division of Student Affairs
3. Institutional Use of Spirituality Data: What Can We Learn from the Work of Others? (PDF)
   Compiled by HERI Project Staff
4. Useful Resources for Initiating Institutional Change (PDF)
   By HERI Project Staff

Volume I (2004-05)

Issue 1: April 2004
Topic: Spirituality and the Academy

1. Academic Spirituality (PDF)
   By John B. Bennett
2. Why Spirituality Deserves a Central Place in Higher Education (PDF)
   By Alexander W. Astin
3. Education as Transformation: History of a Movement (PDF)
   By Peter Laurence
4. Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Dimensions of Students' Lives in the First Year of College (PDF)
   By Alyssa N. Bryant, Jeung Yun Choi and Maiko Yasuno

Issue 2: June 2004
Topic: Spirituality and College Student Life

1. I Do and I Understand: The Self Knowledge Symposium Model of Transformational Education (PDF)
   By SKS Founder, August Turakt
2. An Interview with Arthur Chickering
3. Politicized Religion (PDF)
   By Rev. Mark D.W. Edington

Issue 3: August 2004
Topic: Spiritual Impact on Professional Life

1. Finding Meaning in College (PDF)
   By Rev. William (Scotty) McLennan
2. An Interview with Claire Gaudiani (PDF)
   By Claire Gaudiani
3. Learning to Surrender: Accessing the Meaning in Education (PDF)
   By Estella Gutierrez-Zamano
4. Project Update (PDF)
   By Project Staff

Issue 4: October 2004
Topic: Health, Teaching, and Transformational Leadership

1. An Interview with John Astin (PDF)
   By Kyle S. McJunkin
2. Current Thinking on the Role of Spirituality in Medical Education & Training (PDF)
   By Shannon Calderone
3. The Connection of Spirituality to Culturally Responsive Teaching in Higher Education:
   From Research to Personal Practice and Back Again (PDF)
   By Elizabeth J. Tisdell
4. Some Thoughts on the Role of Spirituality in Transformational Leadership (PDF)
   By Helen S. Astin