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December 2023
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences,
Congratulations on all you have accomplished during this action-packed semester! As
readers of Marquette Today, our Arts & Sciences updates page or these monthly messages know, we have much to celebrate this Advent season.
Thanks to all of you who provided input for Marquette’s new Strategic Plan, which was approved and announced this month. This plan will guide the campus up
through our sesquicentennial in 2031. It provides an opportunity to articulate and
advance our Arts & Sciences priorities. Crucially, this strategic plan emphasizes
Marquette’s unique Catholic, Jesuit mission and commitments. As a guide to discerning
what that means, I recommend a recent essay by Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, entitled “What Jesuit Catholic Universities
Can Do to Stay True to Their Identity and Mission” as well as commentaries on this essay that appeared in Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education.
Cardinal Cupich emphasizes the importance of a liberal arts education and cura personalis, or care for the whole person. He notes that “some universities succumb to enrollment
pressures and become technical schools […]. But preparing future citizens and community
leaders must mean preparing them for more than their first job.” In Arts & Sciences,
we are proud to prepare students for life after graduation in a broader and deeper
sense that reflects our commitment to integration, showing that “the difference is
in the and.”
Advent, the season of waiting and expectation, is a wonderful time to look to the
future and reflect upon how we will live out Marquette’s mission in the months and
years to come. Doing this kind of discernment, I have been drawing inspiration from
many quarters. One is a scripture reading from the second Sunday in Advent, which
encourages readers to ask “what sort of persons ought you to be” (2 Peter 3:11). The
question of our anthropology, or understanding of the human person, is particularly
salient given the speed and confusion of contemporary life. We would do well to slow
down, foster our interior lives and discern deeply what kind of persons we are called
to be and what kind of lives we are called to lead. This is one way in which faculty
and staff may help students broaden and deepen their sense of possibility as well
as their understanding of challenges and opportunities presented by the world of today
and tomorrow.
As in past years, many wonderful examples of lives well lived emerged this semester
through the visits of distinguished A&S alumni to a class I teach called “Arts & Sciences
Influentials.” The course focuses on professional formation with topics like flourishing
through relationships, setting habits and discerning a vocation. One alum reflected
the sentiments of many when she said that her Marquette experience helped her see
“the joy and the meaning and the wonder of the world.” Along those lines, I hope that
this season of Advent and the New Year ahead bring you cause for joy, meaningful experiences
and a sense of wonder.
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns or suggestions. I appreciate hearing from you and exploring
ways we can all work together for the common good.
Dr. Heidi Bostic
Dean, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences
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