2022: Implicit Racial Bias and the Academy
Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN, October 28-30, 2022
Eddie Glaude, Jr., James S. McDonnell Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of African American Studies, Princeton University
Tabitha Jones Jolivet, Associate Professor in the School of Behavioral and Applied Sciences, Azusa Pacific University
Forrest E. Harris, Sr., President, American Baptist College and Professor/Director of the Kelly Miller Smith Institute on Black Church Studies at Vanderbilt University
2021: Science, Faith, and the Common Good
Boston College, Boston, MA, October 8-10, 2021
Stephen Barr, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware
Thea James, Vice President of Mission and Associate Chief Medical Officer, Harvard University and Boston Medical Center
Nancey Murphy, Senior Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary
2020: Tranquillitas Ordinis: Education and the Common Good
St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX, October 19, 2020
Jeremy D. Wilkins, Boston College
Nathan Cornelius, Johns Hopkins University
Joel Scott Davis, Samford University
Daniel Gee, University of Southern California Thornton School of Music
2019: The Character of the University
Baylor University, Waco, TX, October 18-20, 2019
Talbot Brewer and Candace Vogler: "Pathologies and Prospects"
Francis Su and Elizabeth Newman: "How Do We Make Room for Human Flourishing?"
Thomas Hibbs: "Liberal Education at the Margins"
2018: Robust and Receptive Ecumenism
Hope College, Holland Michigan, October 12-14, 2018
Lisa DeBoer, "The Accidental Ecumenist"
Steven Harmon, "Redemptive Ecumenism and the Construction of Christian Identity in Christian Higher Education."
Daniel Keating, "Robust and Receptive Ecumenism: Challenges and Opportunities"
2017: National Conference: Discernment, Engagement, Reflection
Loyola Marymount University, October 27-29, 2017
Stephanie Paulsell, “A ‘whole made of shivering fragments’: Contemplation, Creativity, and Education”
Douglas Christie and Rubén Martínez, “Mystics, Migrants: Desert Practices in an Age of Exile"
2016: National Conference: Reformed and Always Reforming: Faith, Science, Art and Culture
Augsburg, Minneapolis, MN, October 14-16, 2016
Brad S. Gregory, “Why the Reformation Still Matters (Whether We Want It to or Not)”
Lea F. Schweitz, “Seeing the Infinite in the Finite and Reforming Our Visions of Nature”
Joanna Lindell, "Art and the Reformation"
Paul Oman, "Drawn to the Word"
2015: National Conference: Created for Creativity: Music, Culture and Faith
Belmont University, Nashville, TN, October 9-11, 2015
Steve Guthrie, “From Possession to Gift: A Theology of Creative Generosity”
Panelist Discussion on Christianity and the Arts featuring: Ginny Owens, William Powell & Rod Riley
Music, Culture, and Faith Performance
2014: National Conference: A Future City, A New Creation: Equal on All Sides
Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA, September 26-28, 2014
Monya Stubbs, “Indebted Love: Paul's Subjection Language in Romans”
Elijah Anderson, “The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life”
John Ware, performance of “Freedom Rides”
2013: National Conference: Faith and Academic Freedom in Civic Virtue
The University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania, October 18-20, 2013
Plenary Addresses:
Mark Ravizza, SJ, "Inspiring Faith and Engaging Reality: Education for Civic Virtue in a Secular Age"
Patricia McGuire, Esq. "Civic Virtue Starts at Home: Faith and Freedom for Institutional Transformation"
Rob Kapilow, Perfomative Presentation
2012: National Conference: Incorporating Service: The Body at Work
The University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, October 19-21, 2012
Plenary Addresses:
Jeff Bouman, Faithfully Present: Building the Universe, Each in Our Own Inexplicable Ways
Samuel Wells, Rethinking Service
Regina Wolfe, Minding the Common Good: Creating and Maintaining a Mission-Driven Institutional Culture
2011: Reconciliation in History, Music, and Literature
Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama, October 21-23, 2011
Plenary Addresses:
Charles Marsh, “Are We Still of Any Use?: The Audacious Hope of the Engaged Scholar”
Trudier Harris, “The Terrible Pangs of Compromise: Racial Reconciliation in African American Literature”
Rosephanye Dunn Powell, "African-American Spirituals and Gospel: Song Creating Community”
2010: Face to Face in Time and Place: Perspectives on Place in Higher Learning
Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, October 15-17, 2010
Plenary Addresses:
Gretchen Buggeln, Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christianity and the Arts, Associate Professor of Art History and Humanities, Valparaiso University, Campus Places and Placemaking: Tradition and Innovation in the Architecture of American Higher Education
Gerardo Marti, L. Richardson King Associate Professor of Sociology, Davidson College, Hacker Ethics and Higher Learning: The Moral Clash Determining the Future of Education
Vincent Miller, Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture, University of Dayton, Where is the University Now? Education and Place in Global Space
Video of the Plenary Sessions are available at Valparaiso University's YouTube page:
For Gerardo Marti's talk, click here. For Vincent Miller's talk, click here.
For Vespers Homily on Exodus 33 by Dr. Frederick Niedner, October 14, 2010, click here.
For Vespers Homily on Luke 24 by Dr. Frederick Niedner, October 15, 2010, click here.
For Photos from the National Conference as well as the Postdoctoral Fellows Reunion and Workshop for Senior Administrators, click here.
2009 - Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Practicing Cosmopolitanism
Plenary Addresses:
Angela Christman - The Cosmopolitan Church: Voices from the Tradition
Amir Hussain - Building Faith Neighbors: Church Colleges and Muslim Communities
Suresh Canagarajah - The Possibility of a Community of Difference
2008 - Seattle Pacific University: Beauty: What's Justice Got To Do With It?
Nicholas Wolterstorff - Beauty and Justice
E. Christine Chaney - Beauty and Truth
Benita Wolters-Fredlund - Beauty and Suffering
2007 - Mercer University: Three Mirrors: Reflections on Faithful Living: The Legacy of Robert Shaw, Flannery O'Connor, and Martin Luther King, Jr
Ann Howard Jones - Teaching America to Sing: The Legacy of Robert Shaw
Christina Bieber Lake - Vocation Through Limitation: Flannery O'Connor's Life of Faith
Andrew Manis - With and Without Honor: The Prophetic Legacy of Martin Luther King,Jr. and American Response
2006 - Xavier University: A Blessed Heritage: The Contributions of American Church-Related Higher Education
Rhonda Jacobsen and Douglas Jacobsen - Protestant Universities and American Experiences: Vanity, Variety, Vision
David O'Brien - Higher Education: Catholic and/or American: The Contribution of Catholic Higher Education to the American Experience
Walker Gollar - The Role of Midwestern Christian Education in the Abolition of Slavery
2005 - College of the Holy Cross: Keeping the Faith: Four Religious Perspectives on the Creation of Tradition
William J. Abraham - Tradition and Change in Methodism
Alan Avery-Peck - Creating an Authentic Faith: Traditions and Traditionalism in Judaism
Margaret Bendroth - Liberating Reformed Tradition: The Challenge of Christian Vocation in the Twenty-First Century World
John E. Thiel - Faithfulness to Tradition: A Roman Catholic Perspective
2004 - St. Olaf College: "fling yourself farther": Metaphor, Faith, and Learning
Gregg Muilenburg – The Cretan Glance: Toward a Theory of Metaphorical Responsibility
Julia Kasdorf – ’Same, same!’: Pleasures and Purposes of Metaphor
John Ferguson – Performative presentation of the Magnificat
2003 - Pepperdine University: Christianity and Liberal Learning: Revisiting the Connection
Jeanne Heffernan – Liberal Learning and the Light of Faith: An Initiation into Wholeness
Roger Lundin – ‘What We Have Loved’: Memory and the Heart of Learning
Christopher Parkening and Jubilant Sykes –Performative presentation
2002 - Valparaiso University: Vocation, Liberal Learning, and the Church-Related Academy
Father James Heft – The “Gentleman” and the Christian
Peter Mercer Taylor – JS Bach: Influences on His Music
Stephanie Paulsell – Life Work
2001 - Rivier College: “What, Then, Must We Do?” Social Justice, Service, and Religious Mission in Higher Education
Stephen Webb - Beyond Politics: Possibilities for Transformation in the Post-Secular University
Rebekah Miles - That’s All a Mule Can Do: Rethinking Work and Vocation in American Culture
Regina Shearer – Performative presentation
2000 - Loyola Marymount University: Moving Images: Film, the Sacred, and Higher Education
Richard Blake - Uncovering the Sacred: Substance and Style in the American Film
Fredrick Barton - Cultural Revelation and Historical Obfuscation: The Potentials and Dangers in Cinema as a Tool of Education
Tony Bui - Conversations with the director of Three Seasons
1999 - Valparaiso University: From Hellenistic to Pluralistic: Christianity and the Religions of the World
Paul J. Griffiths - Seeking Egyptian Gold: A Fundamental Metaphor for the Christian Intellectual Life in a Religiously Diverse Age
Antonie Wessels - The Role of Storytelling in Interreligious Dialogue
Nelly Van Doorn-Harder - Sharing the Gold: The Dialogues of Life and Action
1998 - Saint Mary’s College / University of Notre Dame: Athens and Jerusalem: Sacred Learning and Secular Culture
Nicholas Wolterstorff – Tertullian’s Enduring Question: What Does Athens Have to Do with Jerusalem?
Michael Buckley - Science and Religion: Antinomy, Dependence or Coordination?
Libby Larsen - The Canticle of Mary: A Setting for the Magnificat
1997 - Baylor University: The City of God Revisited: Church and State in the Twenty-First Century
Kent Greenawalt - Religious and Secular Arguments in Liberal Democratic Discourse
Eileen Barker - Religious Pluralism and America’s Public Philosophy
James M. Dunn - Christian Citizenship and Political Advocacy
1996 - Valparaiso University Nurturing Souls: Scholarship and the Christian World View
Jeanne Knoerle - Love of Learning and the Desire for God
Richard Mouw - Christian Scholarship: The Difference a World View Makes
Robert VerEecke - Dance and Religion: Reforming the Sacred Circle
1995 - Valparaiso University: Nurturing Souls: Learning and the Sciences of Human Development
Sharon Daloz Parks - Led Where We Did Not Plan To Go
Mary C. Boys - The Grace of Teaching
David Morgan - The Role of Images in Religious Education
1994 - Valparaiso University: Nurturing Souls: Teaching and the Arts of Formation
Arthur F. Holmes - Teaching as Formation
Mary K. Oyer - The Nurturing Spirit
Shirley H. Showalter - Teachers Teaching Teachers: What We’ve Learned
1993 - Valparaiso University: Communities of Learning
Parker J. Palmer – “Only Connect”: On Living and Learning in Community
Barbara Doherty - The Diversity of Spiritualities in the Community of Learners
Walter M. Wangerin, Jr. – “Saxifrage” - A Story of, from and for One Christian Community
1992 - Valparaiso University: Spirituality and Higher Learning
Bernard McGinn - The Letter and the Spirit: Can Spirituality Be an Academic Discipline?
John Steven Paul - Lord, Hear and See Our Prayer: Artistic Performance as Expression of Personal Spirituality
Roberta C. Bondi - Re-Envisioning the Rational: Loving, Praying and Thinking
1991 The Inaugural Conference - Valparaiso University: Christianity and the Academic Vocation
Lawrence Cunningham - Gladly wold he Lerne and gladly teche: The Catholic Scholar in the New Millennium
Frank Burch Brown - Teachers, Mediums and Magi: Christian Educators in Humanities and the Arts
Sallie McFague - The Planetary Agenda and an Earthly Theology
