Ignatian Faculty Forum

The Ignatian Faculty Forum was established in 2002 with the objective to discover Ignatian Spirituality as it is lived by faculty. A spirituality that integrates Ignatian insight with the day to day struggles of teaching, scholarship, and university service as actually experienced by faculty. Specifically the Forum provides a small community of trust in which faculty share joys and struggles as they engage in reflective discernment. This program is a serious commitment to both the future of Santa Clara's Jesuit heritage and the development of faculty leaders, and faculty participants commit to attendance at each of the eight dialogues, careful reading of the shared assignments, and thoughtful Forum participation. Participants in IFF I are chosen from faculty applicants from a variety of academic disciplines, at different career stages, and from multiple religious traditions.

“In ways that touch upon all of my roles here at Santa Clara, the IFF has offered the time, space, and stimulus for an authentic experience of community in which colleagues listen deeply to each other’s honest exploration of concerns vital to connecting spirituality and work."

Judith Dunbar, English

Program Structure

The program is held the first Monday of each month from 4.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m., October through May, with the exception of January, when the Forum meets the second Monday. Each Forum meeting is structured as follows:

•  Monthly gathering (4 hrs/mo) of 10-14 faculty, including two faculty co-facilitators.
•  Lighting the ‘candle of confidentiality’ / opening [interfaith] reflections-meditations.
•  Professional and personal ‘check-in’
•  Discussion of the month’s readings
•  Community discernment on participants’ ‘current issues’
•  Closing [interfaith] reflections

For more information about IFF, please contact Tony Cortese (acortese@scu.edu) or Dave Feldman (dbfeldman@scu.edu)