THE DEAN'S BLOG
January 2008
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Calibrating the
Heart’s Compass: Giving Thanks,
Taking Stock, Looking Ahead It is hard to believe that the fall
term is over, Thanksgiving is past, and the traditional twelve days of
Christmas are drawing nigh. Thus far, my experiment with “blogging” has
taught me several important lessons. One of the more important is that the
production of concise and informative prose, and doing so on a strict
timetable while managing the other responsibilities that come with being a
dean, is more than a notion! My default writing mode is ordinarily deliberate
when I have abundant free time. When it is necessary to balance writing with
several other activities, such as advising, spring registration, and other
end-of-semester duties, my pace slows even further. As a result, this third “blog” entry
spans three months (November, December, and January), three seasons in the
Catholic Liturgical Calendar (Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany), and three
themes – giving thanks, taking stock, and planning for the future. With less
than two weeks remaining before the start of classes, these topics are
particularly timely for first-year students and their families. The more I learn, the more acute my appreciation
of those who have taught me, or created opportunities for me to continue my
education, becomes. Without colleges and universities, dedicated
scholar-teachers, supportive family members, and friends, none of my academic
achievements would have been possible. During these days of calm between
semesters, I can’t help being overwhelmed with a sense of thankfulness for
the gift that these institutions and persons have given me, and many others.
I feel a tremendous responsibility to exercise good stewardship over that
gift – i.e., to share it, and to use it constructively for the benefit of the
larger society. As a result, self-examination and personal assessment have
become part of my cycle of activities. By regularly assessing personal goals,
strengths, weaknesses, successes, and failures, I am better able to keep
myself on course as I seek to use the skills I have been given. Giving thanks, taking stock, and
looking ahead – such activities help one to calibrate the heart’s compass, so that it points accurately
toward those objectives that really matter. Without such disciplines, it is
easy for us to lose sight of the goals of liberal learning in the Catholic
tradition and to find ourselves adrift in a sea of activities and endeavors
that vie for our attention. It is for this reason that I ask
those of you in this year’s entering class to take a few moments to give
thanks, to see whence you have come and wither you are going academically and
vocationally, and to cast an eye toward your coursework and learning goals
for the remainder of the academic year. I invite you, as well, to prepare a
brief written assessment of your academic journey at Notre Dame thus far. It
might address several of the following questions: (1) At this point, what are
my intellectual interests?; (2) Are my fall grades an accurate reflection my
understanding of the material covered in the classes for which I enrolled?;
(3) Have I taken full advantage of opportunities available for learning
outside of class – e.g., lectures, conversations with professors, and
independent research projects?; (4) Are there academic weaknesses that I
still need to address?; and (5) Am I growing – intellectually and spiritually
– in a manner consistent with expectations? Please feel free to send a copy
of your written meditation to your
advisor in the First Year of Studies. It will help to inform the
conversations you have with her/him when you return about your academic
aspirations for this year and next. For many, November, December, and
January are months in which old projects are brought to a
close and new ones are begun. The transition from fall to winter, the
gradual journey from Ordinary Time (through Advent and Christmas) to
Epiphany, the unfolding of the first-year of University life at Notre Dame –
these are events best seen through a contemplative “lens.” Before the Midwestern snows thaw,
bringing with them the first signs of spring and the inevitable preparations
for the Sophomore year, please join me in giving thanks, taking stock, and looking
ahead – in calibrating the heart’s
compass – so that it always points toward your dreams.
Hugh R. Page, Jr. THE DEAN'S BLOG "Wandering the Stacks" I don’t recall when it first
happened. In truth, it may have started when I browsed freely, as a child,
through the books in my home, and those of my grandparents, aunts, and
uncles. Perhaps it was the frequent excursions to the bookstores dotting the
Baltimore landscape on which my mother took me, or my first trip to the
central branch of the city’s Enoch Pratt Library. At fifty-one, the exact
time and place are lost in my fading memory. All I know is that very early in
my life I became an inveterate stack
wanderer. What, you may ask, is a stack wanderer? A stack wanderer is an
individual for whom perusing the shelves of bookstores and libraries is as
necessary as eating or breathing. Such a person enjoys going to places where
books are bought, sold, or housed and trundling around shelves filled with
them. He /she has no problem allowing serendipity to dictate where the
sojourn leads or what they happen to pick up and “leaf through” along the
way. Stack
wanderers enjoy the tactile
sensations associated with holding, opening, and turning the pages of tomes –
old and new. If they are at all like me, wandering
becomes a kind of intellectual and spiritual pilgrimage, guided mysteriously
somehow by grace. I recall fondly the many times when, as a seminarian or
graduate student, a walk from my study carrel into the stacks would prove
both refreshing and – at times – utterly surprising. The discovery of a
discipline about which I had never heard, a glance at a well-known journal
which I had yet to read, the realization that there is more to know than any
person can possibly learn in a lifetime – these were the experiences that fed
and sustained me. This didn’t change when I became
a faculty member. In fact, over the years stack
wandering has given me some of the ideas I’ve developed into
published works. It’s even helped me understand better when and how
undergraduates study. I’ve even gotten inspiration for classes that I’ve
developed and techniques for mentoring first-year students. Stack wandering helped
me to realize how important it is to obtain an education that has breadth and
depth. It also showed me the value of becoming an autodidact – i.e., a person who can teach
her/himself new skills. That is why, even today, you are
likely to find me wherever there are books. Barnes and Noble, small
independent bookshops, Amazon,com,
the Hesburgh Library – these are places I wander when time allows.
Sometimes, I even wander
when I seem to have very
little spare time. I’ve learned that even a few moments of
intellectual exploration can yield valuable insights that can be life
altering. This leads me to my final point –
from time to time, all first-year students ought to peruse the stacks in one
of our on-campus libraries, even if they do so for only ten to fifteen
minutes each week. Even a modest investment like this can change one’s life.
Sure, online collections and web-based resources may give one access to
materials more quickly, but such data retrieval methods tend to be
target-specific. They don’t allow one to have the fully embodied experience
of walking, gazing, and reading contemplatively. Stack
wandering promotes dreaming. Dreaming
elicits hope. Hope, coupled with faith and strengthened by love, makes all
things possible… Hugh R. Page, Jr. THE DEAN'S BLOG "Creativity is Messy" My wife reminds me of this
whenever my patience with those moments of disorganization and confusion that
inevitably occur in day-to-day life wears thin. I’m glad she does, because
it’s easy to forget that from time to time, circumstances arise that one is
unable to control through advance planning or set right through
organizational triage. For example, relocating to a new
city, moving into a new home, or starting a new semester – activities with
which all of us are familiar – often result in our feeling unsettled for a
while. On such occasions, there is a period of time when old ways of doing
things no longer seem tenable, but we find ourselves in a quandary because we
have yet to develop new ways of doing them. Our lives may seem unstable and
less than certain for a time. Rather than fighting to hold on to old habits,
or formulating hastily conceived plans to deal with our new situation,
prudence suggests a slightly different course of action – to utilize this
period of apparent chaos as a “contemplative moment,” a time to take stock of
whence we have come, where we are now, and wither we are going. Moreover, in so doing, we should
try not to lose sight of an important fact – i.e., that new
and exciting opportunities for growth are often preceded by the
leaving behind of old ways of seeing, knowing, and being. As one scholar in
my discipline of biblical studies has noted, disorientation is but a prelude
to reorientation,* or, as my wife would say,
“creativity is messy.” As a scholar and academic
administrator, I have come to appreciate how valuable a lesson this is. Each
school year brings new challenges and opportunities. Some are predictable,
others less so. For example, “blogging” is a completely new experience for
me. As I write this first entry, I find myself being concerned about things
that many “bloggers” consider minor – e.g., length, spelling, and precise
phrasing. I find myself wanting to go back and carefully craft every
sentence, the way I would a piece of personal correspondence. Casting a quick
glance to my left at the stacks of papers on my desk and in my over-full
briefcase, I feel an overwhelming urge to stop typing, and organize them. However, if I give in fully to
either urge, I will sacrifice two tremendous opportunities –i.e., to master a
different medium of communication and to do an honest assessment of my
current workload. The better path is to live in the moment, consider its
deeper meaning, and move forward with both a new resolve to grow and renewed
trust that Divine grace will sustain. I am sure that the fall term has
been challenging for you. The experience of living on your own, of planning
your own activities, of adjusting to new living arrangements, etc. has been
exciting and perhaps at times disorienting. As week five draws to a close,
step back, find a few moments of calm in the storm. Listen closely to your
heart. Learn new skills. See the world from your new vantage point as a
university student. Remember that the first semester of college life is in
fact a time of incredible creativity that is, by nature, “messy.” However, always remember that
just beyond the “mess,” on the not too distant horizon, are your dreams… Hugh R. Page, Jr. *This may be the only “blog” in
America with a footnote. Nonetheless, the scholar to which I am referring is
Walter Brueggemann. See his book The Message of the Psalms: A
Theological Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1984). |
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