A1. ‘IMPACTS’ FOR CORE UNIVERSITY LEADERSHIP
We will begin by gathering people of vision and generosity
from within our University who are representative of the
University’s constituencies (members of the Board of Regents and
administration, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students,
parents of students, staff, alumni and people from the community
impacted by the University). We will invite these leaders to
attend two, three-day retreat-seminars. This Core Group will be
introduced to the IMPACTS processes. They will also learn how to
offer these same processes to their peers and to those whom they
serve. To facilitate and lead the overnight seminars, we will
invite distinguished scholars and experienced vocational experts
from around the country. Some of these have already helped us in
our planning process. Simultaneously with the seminars, we will
gather into an operative manual published resources to be used
by the participants as they go forth to offer the IMPACTS
processes to their own constituencies.
A2. ‘IMPACTS’ FOR FACULTY
ll the IMPACTS Partners will coordinate seminars and
retreats for full-time and part-time faculty. The program will
consist of an initial off-campus retreat, followed by a series
of seminars, led by facilitators with expertise in the area of
vocation and Catholic higher education. Members of the faculty
will be introduced to the four IMPACTS processes
(self-discovery, character formation, viewing work as vocation,
becoming servant leaders).
The IMPACTS seminars and retreats will offer faculty the
opportunity to reflect upon their careers as teachers in terms
of vocation. The seminars will address questions about how that
vocation is translated into the formation of both faculty and
students as servant leaders. Finally, it will consider vocation
and formation in light of the University’s mission. The goal is
to move from an understanding of the University as a place where
information is transmitted and students are prepared for jobs,
to a conception of the University as an institution clear in its
understanding of its vocation and committed to the formation of
its students through raising questions about the best way to
live.
A3. ‘IMPACTS’ FOR STUDENTS
The goals of these IMPACTS seminars are (1) to provide our
students, both undergraduate and graduate, with the opportunity
to take up their quest for personal authenticity; and (2) to
reflect upon the direction of their lives, as well as the needed
habits and dispositions to view their current and future work as
important steps in fulfilling their vocation to become servant
leaders in the Church and in the world. The IMPACTS seminars
will provide an environment for our students that fosters a
greater connection to spiritual realities through reflection and
exploration of their personal vocational call by God. Finally,
the IMPACTS seminars will help our students move from a model of
choosing courses based upon what they perceive to be useful in
getting a ‘good job,’ to reflection on their lives in light of
their experience of being called through their most fundamental
desires. This reflection will then be directly related to areas
of personal identity, career and service to the church and the
world. This pastoral approach will take the form of
relationship-building, presence, individual discussion, programs
and retreats.
A4. ‘IMPACTS’ FOR ALUMNI, ADMINISTRATORS, REGENTS AND
STAFF
The primary purpose of the ‘IMPACTS’ seminars is to
reconnect these constituencies to a sense of vocation and to
awaken and intensify among them a vocation to servant
leadership. Many administrators, staff, regents and alumni,
would welcome the opportunity to engage in the four processes of
‘self-discovery and gift inventory,’ ‘character and skill
formation,’ ‘transitioning from an instrumentalist understanding
of work to a sense of work as vocation’ and ‘servant leadership
formation.’ In order to insure that the widest number of alumni
can participate easily, the Center will work with SetonWorldWide
to develop and offer portions of the IMPACTS seminars on- line
via threaded discussions, chat rooms, and audio-visual
downloadable materials.