Program Descriptions
The Center for Vocation and Servant Leadership’s mission to form servant leaders is directly aligned with the mission of the University. Although the Center is not an academic program, it is a catalyst for mission excellence in academic programs. We do this by integrating servant leadership into the culture of the University, attracting students who show promise as servant leaders, and by providing faculty and students a deeper understanding of the Catholic mission.
CVSL Program Descriptions
Servant Leader Scholarship Program - This program develops students who have demonstrated the importance of both scholarship
and servant leadership in their lives. It provides partial scholarships for over 40
students, both graduate and undergraduate, whose academic excellence and commitment
to service are exemplary. A GPA of 3.0 and twenty hours of service are required each
semester. The programming offered during two meetings each semester develops the students’
skills as servant leaders.
University Seminar on Mission - This seminar takes on the challenge of Catholic mission in an atmosphere of collegiality
and respect. Over a period of seven weeks each semester, 14 members of the faculty
and administration meet weekly for two hours. Each session includes expert faculty
commentary on assigned readings followed by general discussion. The topics include
a history of Seton Hall, a Catholic vision of education, and the recent history of
Catholic higher education in America.
Advanced Seminar on Mission - The Center is offering an Advanced Seminar on Mission entitled “Wisdom, Method
and the Catholic University” beginning in Fall 2011. During five sessions each semester,
14 participants meet every other week for two hours. The aim of this seminar is to
help faculty and administrators come to a deeper appropriation of their own interiority,
and in so doing, come to appreciate the special wisdom that should characterize the
Catholic university.
Faculty Retreats - The Heart of the University Retreat Series is offered primarily for the faculty
who, as the heart of the University, express its deepest convictions by their teaching.
The theme of the series is captured by the Latin "cor ad cor loquitur," that is heart
speaks to heart. It is about the human heart as a place of encounter with God. These
half-day retreats, held on campus, encourage faculty and administrators of all faiths
to examine their individual journeys of faith.
Faculty Summer Seminar - Over a period of three days, a gathering of approximately 20 faculty members, led
by an invited scholar, focuses on an aspect of academic vocation at a Catholic university.
The seminars have a proven track record of deepening the sense of academic community
and shared mission among the participants. At the end of each seminar, participants
write an article on the seminar topic from the point of view of their respective disciplines.
The articles are collected and published in online format by the Center for Catholic
Studies, with whom we cosponsor this program.
Faculty Development is also offered through lectures, colloquies, and conferences
cosponsored with the Center for Catholic Studies.