A. Gabriel Esteban has Seton Hall University growing in size and stature

[Halldan1]

SCHOOL OF THOUGHT: A. Gabriel Esteban has Seton Hall University growing in size and stature ... and he's just getting started The Interview Issue

By Tom Bergeron,

Dr. A. Gabriel Esteban, president, Seton Hall University. - (PHOTO BY AARON HOUSTON)

Seton Hall University President Dr. A. Gabriel Esteban knows about all the issues facing higher education institutions today.

Fewer students. Rising costs. A basic business model that many feel doesn’t work anymore. And then there are the issues that can come up at any time for any reason.

“Let’s face it, in this job, there are going to be decisions that are going to be controversial and wish you could take back, but sometimes you have to fly by the seat of your pants,” he said.

Esteban clearly is flying right.

Since taking over at Seton Hall in 2011, he has helped the school grow its already high academic profile and overseen a boom in building. All while assuring the school is one of the most financially sound institutions in the state and in the country.

And while keeping a pulse on his campus.

“I meet with small groups of 6-8 students and faculty every few weeks just so I can see what’s happening on campus,” he said. “I meet with student government to see what they think.”

It has been rave reviews for some time now.

NJBIZ recently sat down with Esteban to get his take on Seton Hall and higher ed.

DR. A. GABRIEL ESTEBAN

Organization: Seton Hall University

Position: President

School ties: University of the Philippines (B.S. in mathematics; MBA); Chaminade University (M.S. in Japanese business studies); University of California-Irvine (Ph.D. from graduate school of management)

Family tree: Wife, Josephine; daughter, Ysabella (in medical school)

Just Jersey
Favorite place to go/vacation: Anywhere near the water.

Favorite restaurant: Depends on type of food and where I am; too many to choose one.

Bruce, Bon Jovi, Sinatra or Whitney: Sinatra

Sopranos, Jersey Shore or Housewives of NJ: Sopranos

All you
What you wanted to be when you were 6: A medical doctor

Historical figure you’d like to meet: Jesus

Worst job you ever had: None, really; I found something to like in every job I have had.

Something about you your co-workers don’t know: I studied Taekwando, Muay Thai (kickboxing) and a little Tai-Chi as an adult.

NJBIZ: Seton Hall was at a bit of a crossroads about the time you took over as president in January 2011. It has really surged since the implementation of the strategic plan, ‘From Strength to Strength,’ in 2010. Talk about how that has worked.

A. Gabriel Esteban: The big question was where we were going to focus. Typically, there are two ways you can compete: price or product. Either you charge less and people see that you charge less than anyone else, or you offer something which is of extreme value to the prospective student.

Even though we were in the beginning of the recession, we thought it was going to be tough to compete on the basis of price long-term as long as public higher ed receives some sort of assistance from the state. So we decided to compete on the basis of what we have to offer: our educational experience.

NJBIZ: Everyone wants to do that — how do you get the right message out to the right market?

AGE: We are a very strong academic institution, one that offers a small, personalized environment — you get to know the faculty and your adviser here. We recognize it’s not for everyone. Some people like the large classes and like being quasi-anonymous at other institutions. Some people like all the things that a campus with 30,000 or 40,000 students will bring. That’s fine. Those students may have a difficult time adjusting here. We need to make sure that the message that’s sent is consistent with what they will experience here because then it starts to impact your retention. We felt if we got the messaging right, the students would come.

NJBIZ: And they have. It appears that talk of a drop in enrollment was unfounded.

AGE: In five out of the last six years, not only have we exceeded our target freshman enrollment, this year’s freshman class has 1,406 students who have higher GPAs and test scores than ever before. These classes represent our largest freshman classes since 1982. We felt if we could identify top students, whether it’s on campus visits or at open houses, and we could give them the right message, they would like what they saw at Seton Hall.

NJBIZ: That’s easy to see. Seton Hall was founded more than 150 years ago, but it’s hard to walk around and find many things that are old. Talk about that building growth?

AGE: In the past five years, we have invested $134 million in the campus. We have expanded a residence hall to include an additional 166 new beds; built a new classroom building; renovated the student recreation center; built a new fitness center; and added a new parking deck. We’re remaking a large part of the campus and we have proposed another $170 million in campus projects. Our initial undertaking will be to consolidate admissions into a new facility.

NJBIZ: Of course, one of the biggest problems in higher ed today is debt — not just student loans, but campus improvements. Has all this building brought huge debt?

AGE: For the projects we completed, we borrowed $36 million, but our debt decreased. We have less debt than we did five years ago. When we started, we had $36 million in deferred maintenance. We now have zero in deferred maintenance. It’s been controlled growth. We financed these projects primarily through cash flow and gifts.

We’ve been very conservative in how we budget. And when we find surplus funds we invest in one-time spending projects.

NJBIZ: Getting the business model right is tough; some feel many colleges and universities will not make it. Do you agree?

AGE: The current financial model for a number of institutions is not sustainable. A number of people have indicated that they expect a large number of higher ed institutions to have to merge or go under. And I have to say that I agree with that. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few mergers occur because of the big shift of demographics in this area. If you look at the number of 18-year-olds over the next decade, we are flat or declining.

And then there’s what happened in the last financial crisis; this area got hit harder than most. There has been a decline in the number of middle class families and with that large shrinkage, where do you get the students? This year, for the first time, 40 percent of our freshmen are from outside of New Jersey. Less than a decade ago, only 20 percent were from outside of New Jersey.

NJBIZ: Let’s talk about that out-of-state growth. Where is it coming from?

AGE: We have freshmen from Hawaii and over 50 freshmen from California. We have recruiters around the country. Seton Hall has a growing national reputation outside the state.

The farther away you get from New Jersey, the stronger our reputation is. We weren’t conveying that enough in the markets where we traditionally recruit.

NJBIZ: OK, recruit me: How are you selling Seton Hall?

AGE: The first would be academic programs. That covers the learning experience on campus, the mentorship/faculty advising and small class sizes that all fit under the grouping of academics. The second would be location and its impact on internships, its impact on experiential learning, its impact on student life.

The third would be our Catholic identity. When we were going through our strategic planning process, there were some who felt we should de-emphasize our Catholic mission and identity and the argument was and still is, if you de-emphasize that, you actually are changing the arena you are competing with. We are a Catholic institution. To me, and quite a few others, it wasn’t how do you de-emphasize, but, rather, how do you capitalize on your Catholic identity?

NJBIZ: So, how do you do that?

AGE: We latched onto a term we had used before and that was servant-leader. When we recruit, we talk about training and molding the next generation of servant-leaders, which fits in perfectly with our Catholic mission and identity.

 

[Halldan1]

NJBIZ: Of course, no matter what you do or how you sell, some people will judge you solely on your ranking by U.S. News & World Report. And while your ranking has been growing steadily (up to No. 123) that must be tough.

AGE: Personally, I really don’t care. It doesn’t measure what we believe we should measure, but you have to adapt to the realities of this. What we did early on was to inform the board and said, ‘OK, what we’re going to do is identify certain metrics, which are important to us as an institution. And we’re going to focus on improving ourselves on those metrics and we’ll compare ourselves year to year as to whether we are getting better or worse. If the rankings follow, so be it, but we won’t be driven by the rankings and we won’t try to game the system.’

NJBIZ: Let’s turn to business in a broader sense: How are you working with New Jersey businesses to improve the experience your students receive?

AGE: We’ve been working extensively with New Jersey businesses. The large majority of our alums are located in New Jersey or New York. So a lot of what we talk about with internships, we work a lot with our alumni, and they are very engaged.

And whenever we make pitches to our alums for large events, one of the things we always talk about is while you may not be able to give financially, if you can help us by meeting with students or providing internships, it will go a long way.

If you go to our job fair, after Rutgers, we have the second-most number of companies.

NJBIZ: You have a business school and a law school. And you’re soon to have a medical school, which you are opening in conjunction with Hackensack University Health Network. Let’s talk about opening a med school.

AGE: We want to be recognized as the Catholic health care and medical care educational leader in this part of the country. We already had graduate medical education, and offered residencies and fellowships, so the question was: Shouldn’t we explore whether we should have a medical school? It became obvious that it was feasible, but that it would probably work best if we had a strong partner.

NJBIZ: The medical school brings us back to the rankings. I know you don’t care about them, but the people who do them certainly care about medical schools.

AGE: That’s true. And if you look at the top 50 U.S. News national universities, I think 45 or 46 have medical schools. With a medical school, you bring a different level of research to bear and that’s one of the things we’re very interested in growing.

Our initial goal was to be among the Top 10 Catholic universities in the country and Top 100 nationally. At our last board retreat, we reset that and said by 2025 we think we can become one of the Top Five Catholic universities in the country and among the Top 75 national universities.

NJBIZ: Let’s talk about the law school, where the numbers are down, but also up in some respects.

AGE: In 2010, we made the decision to focus on quality of our incoming students. We said we’d take a hit on quantity to get quality. At one time, we were close to 1,300 students; we’re down to 700. But one of the things we were conscious of was the LSAT scores and academic credentials. Both of those numbers have held steady, especially compared with our competition.

(In LSAT scores, Seton Hall is now equal to Villanova and St. John’s and ahead of Rutgers-Newark; at No. 63 overall, the school itself is ranked well ahead of St. John’s [82], Villanova [87] and Rutgers-Newark [87].)

NJBIZ: A lot of schools are increasing their online presence, either because it’s a sign of the times for learning or it’s an added revenue source. Will we see more of that from Seton Hall?

AGE: We have online and hybrid programs and we will continue to look at expanding it. There are two questions which we have wrestled with on this. No. 1: Since we’re not MIT or Harvard, how does this impact who we are, our brand as an institution? Will it have any negative impact on who we are and how we are recognized? The second is, can we provide the same quality experience that our on-campus students have if we do it entirely online? Unless we know we can address those two concerns we’re going to be a little more selective.

NJBIZ: Talk about being the first Filipino-American president of a major higher ed institution?

AGE: When I was first announced, it was a natural progression of my career. I was just trying to do my job. So it was kind of a surprise and initially it made me feel really uncomfortable. I now realize I can have a larger impact on a larger scale. And I realized it when people wanted to take selfies with me (he says with a huge laugh). You realize, ‘Oh, it is a big deal.’

Some of the most touching compliments I received came from people working on campus. Our employee base mimics what you find around New Jersey. So we have a number of immigrants working here and I’ve had a number of immigrants come up to me and say, ‘Thank you. It’s great that you became president.’ They say they tell their kids, ‘He can do it, so you can do it.’ In that way, it’s great. It’s very touching.

NJBIZ: And you’re distinctive in another way at Seton Hall. You’re the first president who is not a priest in nearly 30 years. How has that been received?

AGE: Everyone has been very welcoming, from the priest community to the archbishop. I think having had the opportunity to work with them before I became president made the transition a lot easier. One of the first things I did was I elevated the position of the executive director of mission and ministry to a cabinet-level position just so we would always have a priest at the executive cabinet level. I have no problem promoting our Catholic identity.

People know that we are Catholic. Instead of looking at it as a disadvantage, I look at it as an advantage. There are about 200 Catholic universities in the United States; that’s a small universe to be competing in. And now we have quite a few students who are not Catholics or are non-Christian. And when I talk to them, they say they feel comfortable here practicing their faith because it is a very spiritual place.

To me that’s a validation of what we thought initially. If you show you can be spiritual here, people of different faiths would be comfortable here. It opened a whole different area for us to compete in.

E-mail to: tomb@njbiz.com
On Twitter: @tombergeron5

http://www.njbiz.com/article/201512...ize-and-stature--and-hes-just-getting-started

 

[TheBluePirate]

Terrific interview of a really outstanding leader. He'll certainly be considered as one of the most important leaders the school has ever had.

 

[hallgrad80]

Gabe gets it and obviously has his pulse on the state of higher education and what schools like Seton Hall need to do to not only survive but thrive. The thing that most impressed me is that they're proceeding with what appears to be a sound financial plan to achieve their goals without mortgaging the future.

 

[Pirate64]

Gabe is the most effective President I've seen in my 55 years as a Setonian.

We have never been in better shape. These are the best days Seton Hall has ever had.

And more to come.

 

[TheBluePirate]

People know that we are Catholic. Instead of looking at it as a disadvantage, I look at it as an advantage. There are about 200 Catholic universities in the United States; that’s a small universe to be competing in.

This is correct strategy - and correct for the mission - and he realizes we need the primary concept to attach to this advantage - servant leadership. This is a strong term and I know I personally resonate with it.

And now we have quite a few students who are not Catholics or are non-Christian. And when I talk to them, they say they feel comfortable here practicing their faith because it is a very spiritual place.

This to me tells me that he expressly understands that Catholic means universal in an inclusive loving framework, not an exclusive superior framework. I am all in with ensuring that Jews, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhist, other faiths, and non-believers find the grounds at Seton Hall welcoming. You know it's a Catholic University and you know you are welcome. That speaks very strongly to me as well.

I went through an executive briefing session that was posted online (perhaps only via an internal link courtesy of Mrs BP, cannot remember) and for one hour, Dr Esteban nailed point after fiscal point after planning point. It was as strong an executive summary - delivered calmly - no magic and smoke and mirrors - as I can remember. He's "Beyond All Universe" (LOL).

 

[Shuathelete]

Dude is straight dope.

I too thought the part on emphasizing the Catholic university was interesting.

One question, because we identify as Catholic does that mean we are forced to make our students take theology classes?

 

[donnie_baseball]

Dude is straight dope.

I too thought the part on emphasizing the Catholic university was interesting.

One question, because we identify as Catholic does that mean we are forced to make our students take theology classes?

Theology is an important part of any liberal arts education, much the same as philosophy.

 

[hbkmyr]

"One question, because we identify as Catholic does that mean we are forced to make our students take theology classes?[/QUOTE]

Don't think you're "forced" to make students take theology. Notre Dame has considered eliminating theology requirements.

 

[Section112]

He is doing a great job! Its that simple when looking at where the school is going. Terrific leader and I hope we can retain him because there is a lot more work to do.

 

[hallgrad80]

I too think it would be a serious mistake to not give him a contract extension. There is so much more left to be done,the most important of which is getting the medical school up, running and having a solid foundation in place for sustained success.

 

[Seton75]

Gabe is the most effective President I've seen in my 55 years as a Setonian.

We have never been in better shape. These are the best days Seton Hall has ever had.

And more to come.

Yes, totally agree. And re Gabe, by a large margin.

 

[garyshu71]

Those are lofty goals he has set. But it kind of says he plans on being here to get it done. So for me that was the best and most exciting part of the interview. He is a God send to Seton Hall.

 

[Shuathelete]

"One question, because we identify as Catholic does that mean we are forced to make our students take theology classes?

Don't think you're "forced" to make students take theology. Notre Dame has considered eliminating theology requirements.[/QUOTE]
Seton Hall should consider not making it a requirement also

 

[The Crows Nest]

NJBIZ: Of course, no matter what you do or how you sell, some people will judge you solely on your ranking by U.S. News & World Report. And while your ranking has been growing steadily (up to No. 123) that must be tough.

AGE: Personally, I really don’t care. It doesn’t measure what we believe we should measure, but you have to adapt to the realities of this. What we did early on was to inform the board and said, ‘OK, what we’re going to do is identify certain metrics, which are important to us as an institution. And we’re going to focus on improving ourselves on those metrics and we’ll compare ourselves year to year as to whether we are getting better or worse. If the rankings follow, so be it, but we won’t be driven by the rankings and we won’t try to game the system.’

NJBIZ: Let’s turn to business in a broader sense: How are you working with New Jersey businesses to improve the experience your students receive?

AGE: We’ve been working extensively with New Jersey businesses. The large majority of our alums are located in New Jersey or New York. So a lot of what we talk about with internships, we work a lot with our alumni, and they are very engaged.

And whenever we make pitches to our alums for large events, one of the things we always talk about is while you may not be able to give financially, if you can help us by meeting with students or providing internships, it will go a long way.

If you go to our job fair, after Rutgers, we have the second-most number of companies.

NJBIZ: You have a business school and a law school. And you’re soon to have a medical school, which you are opening in conjunction with Hackensack University Health Network. Let’s talk about opening a med school.

AGE: We want to be recognized as the Catholic health care and medical care educational leader in this part of the country. We already had graduate medical education, and offered residencies and fellowships, so the question was: Shouldn’t we explore whether we should have a medical school? It became obvious that it was feasible, but that it would probably work best if we had a strong partner.

NJBIZ: The medical school brings us back to the rankings. I know you don’t care about them, but the people who do them certainly care about medical schools.

AGE: That’s true. And if you look at the top 50 U.S. News national universities, I think 45 or 46 have medical schools. With a medical school, you bring a different level of research to bear and that’s one of the things we’re very interested in growing.

Our initial goal was to be among the Top 10 Catholic universities in the country and Top 100 nationally. At our last board retreat, we reset that and said by 2025 we think we can become one of the Top Five Catholic universities in the country and among the Top 75 national universities.

NJBIZ: Let’s talk about the law school, where the numbers are down, but also up in some respects.

AGE: In 2010, we made the decision to focus on quality of our incoming students. We said we’d take a hit on quantity to get quality. At one time, we were close to 1,300 students; we’re down to 700. But one of the things we were conscious of was the LSAT scores and academic credentials. Both of those numbers have held steady, especially compared with our competition.

(In LSAT scores, Seton Hall is now equal to Villanova and St. John’s and ahead of Rutgers-Newark; at No. 63 overall, the school itself is ranked well ahead of St. John’s [82], Villanova [87] and Rutgers-Newark [87].)

NJBIZ: A lot of schools are increasing their online presence, either because it’s a sign of the times for learning or it’s an added revenue source. Will we see more of that from Seton Hall?

AGE: We have online and hybrid programs and we will continue to look at expanding it. There are two questions which we have wrestled with on this. No. 1: Since we’re not MIT or Harvard, how does this impact who we are, our brand as an institution? Will it have any negative impact on who we are and how we are recognized? The second is, can we provide the same quality experience that our on-campus students have if we do it entirely online? Unless we know we can address those two concerns we’re going to be a little more selective.

NJBIZ: Talk about being the first Filipino-American president of a major higher ed institution?

AGE: When I was first announced, it was a natural progression of my career. I was just trying to do my job. So it was kind of a surprise and initially it made me feel really uncomfortable. I now realize I can have a larger impact on a larger scale. And I realized it when people wanted to take selfies with me (he says with a huge laugh). You realize, ‘Oh, it is a big deal.’

Some of the most touching compliments I received came from people working on campus. Our employee base mimics what you find around New Jersey. So we have a number of immigrants working here and I’ve had a number of immigrants come up to me and say, ‘Thank you. It’s great that you became president.’ They say they tell their kids, ‘He can do it, so you can do it.’ In that way, it’s great. It’s very touching.

NJBIZ: And you’re distinctive in another way at Seton Hall. You’re the first president who is not a priest in nearly 30 years. How has that been received?

AGE: Everyone has been very welcoming, from the priest community to the archbishop. I think having had the opportunity to work with them before I became president made the transition a lot easier. One of the first things I did was I elevated the position of the executive director of mission and ministry to a cabinet-level position just so we would always have a priest at the executive cabinet level. I have no problem promoting our Catholic identity.

People know that we are Catholic. Instead of looking at it as a disadvantage, I look at it as an advantage. There are about 200 Catholic universities in the United States; that’s a small universe to be competing in. And now we have quite a few students who are not Catholics or are non-Christian. And when I talk to them, they say they feel comfortable here practicing their faith because it is a very spiritual place.

To me that’s a validation of what we thought initially. If you show you can be spiritual here, people of different faiths would be comfortable here. It opened a whole different area for us to compete in.

E-mail to: tomb@njbiz.com
On Twitter: @tombergeron5

http://www.njbiz.com/article/201512...ize-and-stature--and-hes-just-getting-started

To me, we haven't had a leader with this vision, the ability to implement it, and the ability to communicate as effectively as he does in.........well I dont know when we did. What he has done, and is doing for the University cannot and should not be understated or overlooked; they would be more than wise to lock him up for the foreseeable future...I would rather state it is their fiduciary responsibility to do so.

 

[Seton75]

To me, we haven't had a leader with this vision, the ability to implement it, and the ability to communicate as effectively as he does in.........well I dont know when we did. What he has done, and is doing for the University cannot and should not be understated or overlooked; they would be more than wise to lock him up for the foreseeable future...I would rather state it is their fiduciary responsibility to do so.

nm

 

[HALL85]

Now that's a leader. Interesting background too!

 

[lloyde dobler]

Scary thinking... Religion/theology classes should 100 percent be a part of a Liberal Arts education. Along with philosophy, history, fine arts, etc.

A religion class doesn't have to be limited to Catholicism... It could be historical (American Religious Experience, for example, where you study the history of religion and its influences in America). Philosophy, likewise can cover the usual standards like Logic and Ethics, and also include offerings like Eastern Philosophy.

Besides the fact that religion and theology is a key part of a Liberal Arts education, you should take classes like that if you are attending a school like Seton Hall. Otherwise you just enroll at any state or non-sectarian private school.

 

[Pirate64]

nm

Dick

I think he's here for another 5 years. That's the scuttlebutt.
We've never had anyone close to his caliber. In fact, he may be among the best in the country. A perfect fit for us.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

I'm an atheist and the religion class I took at SHU (World Religions I believe) was completely harmless and very educational. It's not like we're indoctrinating the youth here at SHU. No need for change.

 

[Shuathelete]

Scary thinking... Religion/theology classes should 100 percent be a part of a Liberal Arts education. Along with philosophy, history, fine arts, etc.

A religion class doesn't have to be limited to Catholicism... It could be historical (American Religious Experience, for example, where you study the history of religion and its influences in America). Philosophy, likewise can cover the usual standards like Logic and Ethics, and also include offerings like Eastern Philosophy.

Besides the fact that religion and theology is a key part of a Liberal Arts education, you should take classes like that if you are attending a school like Seton Hall. Otherwise you just enroll at any state or non-sectarian private school.

Yea i mean that sounds fine. Maybe my adviser put me under the impression that catholicism was mandatory (which is a valid possibility LOL)

I wonder how many students enroll because we're a catholic university. i think most the people i knew was due to the awesome financial aid they give out.

 

[seton1996]

Not sure I would say you are forced to take religious classes, the only thing I see that you are required in Arts & Sciences to take is a class called Christianity & Culture in Dialogue (see discrption below) seems to be a pretty basic theology type class.

There is a religious/philosophy elective group, but can be filled with none religious courses like logic or philosophy, or things like Religions of the World, SHU even offers some courses in non Christian religions to meet that core curriculum. So no forcing of Catholic type beliefs in these classes either.

CORE 2101 Christianity & Culture in Dialogue
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth-in a word, to know himself so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves." —Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 1998
This course is taken by second-year students and considers the relationship between Christianity and culture through an approach based on principles of dialogue, development and community. Texts from the Christian tradition are paired with texts from non-Christian traditions in order to demonstrate connections across cultures that influenced the development of the Catholic intellectual tradition. The course seeks to foster the development of a community of conversation through a focus on key questions and significant texts.

 

[Section112]

Scary thinking... Religion/theology classes should 100 percent be a part of a Liberal Arts education. Along with philosophy, history, fine arts, etc.

A religion class doesn't have to be limited to Catholicism... It could be historical (American Religious Experience, for example, where you study the history of religion and its influences in America). Philosophy, likewise can cover the usual standards like Logic and Ethics, and also include offerings like Eastern Philosophy.

Besides the fact that religion and theology is a key part of a Liberal Arts education, you should take classes like that if you are attending a school like Seton Hall. Otherwise you just enroll at any state or non-sectarian private school.

I agree with Lloyd here 100%. One of the values of attending a school like SHU is that students get a well rounded education. There is a lot of value to that rather than just focusing on your major. Because in the end you need to be able to walk and talk and relate and converse with people whether they are customers, associates, competition or partners. Getting that well rounded education helps you do that and much more. There are plenty of religion classes that are harmless that a student can take to learn about another religion or culture without being indoctrinated. To suggest removing religion from the liberal arts curriculum would be a very bad decision. At SHU as part of the liberal arts portion of my curriculum (I was an acctg major) I took a class in African history. It was very enlightening and interesting to me. I liked it so much I took another class that further studied African history and I am glad I took those classes and have cited a few things I learned in business conversations and it also helped me understand more about history in general.

 

[Shuathelete]

Not sure I would say you are forced to take religious classes, the only thing I see that you are required in Arts & Sciences to take is a class called Christianity & Culture in Dialogue (see discrption below) seems to be a pretty basic theology type class.

There is a religious/philosophy elective group, but can be filled with none religious courses like logic or philosophy, or things like Religions of the World, SHU even offers some courses in non Christian religions to meet that core curriculum. So no forcing of Catholic type beliefs in these classes either.

CORE 2101 Christianity & Culture in Dialogue
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth-in a word, to know himself so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves." —Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 1998
This course is taken by second-year students and considers the relationship between Christianity and culture through an approach based on principles of dialogue, development and community. Texts from the Christian tradition are paired with texts from non-Christian traditions in order to demonstrate connections across cultures that influenced the development of the Catholic intellectual tradition. The course seeks to foster the development of a community of conversation through a focus on key questions and significant texts.

Yea thats a core class. I wasnt referencing that one, but LOL that class goes down in history among friends as being the most heinous class. teacher was a character.

Hazell was in that class. Went to the very first class and looked through the window of the door on the very last class. Passed with flying colors.

 

[HallB]

I didn't go to SHU undergrad, but the school I did attend (a private institution in the South) offered several religious courses, and they were amongst my favorite courses in college. And by no means was I indoctrinated - and fyi, they were intro to religion (learned about Santeria, Hinduism, Buddhism, among others), and Intro to Islam which has become even more interesting since this was pre-9/11 times. Learned about the origins of shiite and sunni sects, and how they came to be, and how this separation plays out in today's world, really interesting stuff.

By the way, I would also recommend Art History for anyone interested in these types of things, it connects well to religious studies. This discussion is making me want to get back into it

 

[seton1996]

Yea thats a core class. I wasnt referencing that one, but LOL that class goes down in history among friends as being the most heinous class. teacher was a character.

Hazell was in that class. Went to the very first class and looked through the window of the door on the very last class. Passed with flying colors.

I remember my time at SHU, whenever there were athletes in the elective classes, usually a good sign the professor was not going to be the toughest, whether you were an athlete or not.

 

[Section112]

I remember my time at SHU, whenever there were athletes in the elective classes, usually a good sign the professor was not going to be the toughest, whether you were an athlete or not.

Was Rocks for Jocks still around with Father Funk in 96?

 

[The Crows Nest]

I'm an atheist and the religion class I took at SHU (World Religions I believe) was completely harmless and very educational. It's not like we're indoctrinating the youth here at SHU. No need for change.

Yeah I took World Religions too....and the Holocaust....good learning experiences....probably even more relevant today