Courier Spring 2017
President Cervelli has asked Professor Joe Incandela, Aquinas chair in Catholic theology, and me, Judy Fean, Vice President for Mission, to coordinate an exciting initiative entitled, Landscapes of the Spirit.
Answering a Question
Landscapes of the Spirit is intended to capture your personal stories and to serve as a starting point for deeper conversations with faculty, staff, current students and alumnae of the Saint Mary’s community about the Catholic intellectual tradition. We want to hear how your intellectual and spiritual formation has influenced the person you are today. Our goal is to bring the individual voices of those who have been shaped by Saint Mary’s into a virtual community that answers the following question:
How does a Catholic, Holy Cross education from Saint Mary’s College form students as liberally educated women with keen self-knowledge, lively imagination, lifelong intellectual and cultural interests, religious sensibility, and the ability to make socially responsible choices about the future? (Mission Statement and Philosophy and Purpose found in the Mission Booklet)
Tell us your Saint Mary’s story!
We invite you to contribute a reflection of 3-5 min addressing the question above through VoiceThread, which is an online audio blogging tool that will allow us to capture the voices of Saint Mary’s alumnae and gather them into one virtual community around this important question.
VoiceThread allows for contributions to come in through typed text, audio, or audio + video (webcam). The audio and video options use your computer or laptop’s internal microphone and camera. If your device lacks a microphone, you can even have VoiceThread call you up on the phone and leave your comment as you would a voice message. While we’d certainly prefer a video, how you contribute is up to you and to your comfort level with this technology.
How to Share Your Story
The information below on VoiceThread should allow you to get up and running in about 5 minutes. The first four links will give you some background on what VoiceThread is, how to use it, and how to get a free account. The fifth link will take you to the actual “Landscapes of the Spirit” VoiceThread where you would leave your own comments on the third slide that will come up automatically.
- This 1.5-minute video provides an introduction to VoiceThread.
- This 2-minute video shows some of the options about how to contribute a VoiceThread comment (text, recorded audio, or recorded audio & video).
- Register for a free VoiceThread account.
- Learn how to add your picture to your account (optional).
- And finally, this provides the link to the Landscapes home page on VoiceThread. Scroll down to the bottom center of the page and click on one of the options for commenting (profiled in the link at the second bullet point above). It will look like this:
Note that VoiceThread always allows you to start over by clicking the little trash icon that comes up next to your comment. Or, if you contribute over the phone, just follow the prompts after hitting “1” that allow you to redo your comment if you want.
Resources
We are sure you already have some thoughts in mind as you read this invitation. Be sure when recording your reflection that you give your name, major and year of graduation. We have attached resources that might be helpful in formulating your remarks:
- Saint Mary’s College Mission Booklet
- Four markers of a Catholic Institution for Higher Education (Ex Corde Ecclesiae)
Quotes from the Founders and Sponsors of Saint Mary’s College
Eight Characteristics of People involved in Holy Cross Education
Your stories will provide great insights about how a Catholic, Holy Cross education from Saint Mary’s College has formed you to respond to the complex needs of our world. We’d like to move forward with the next phase of this initiative before the end of the spring semester.; So we’d ask that you make your contribution sometime prior to mid-February. Note too that we specifically want to invite both positive and not-so-positive comments. We know that not all students lived their Saint Mary’s years with the senses of empowerment and liberation that we wish for all our graduates. Hearing those stories too will remind us that we are one community on a common journey to better live the Mission we profess.