The Lilly
Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts, established in 1991,
addresses two critical problems faced by church-related institutions
of higher learning in the United States. First, though many
church-related colleges and universities are seeking to recover
or refortify a sense of purpose and identity, there has been
no sustained national conversation expressly designed to
renew and deepen a sense of corporate vocation among these
schools. Second, settings for the formation of younger scholars
who wish to pursue their vocational commitments at church-related
colleges and universities scarcely exist in the United States.
In brief, the hegemony of the secular research university
has gradually eroded both institutional and individual senses
of Christian vocation, leaving many schools and many Christian
scholars in need of renewed vision and mutual support.
The Lilly Fellows Program therefore consists of two distinct
but integrated programmatic initiatives. First, it established
a national network of church-related institutions of higher
learning and sustain among them a discussion of Christian
understandings of the nature of the academic vocation. The
network represents a diversity of denominational traditions,
institutional types, and geographical locations. Representatives
from the network institutions meet annually for a national
conference. Additionally, several workshops and mini-conferences
are scheduled annually on the campuses of the network institutions.
A biannual newsletter reports network activities, provides
listings of young scholars interested in teaching at church-related
institutions, and includes reports from conferences and workshops.
In 1995, the Program established a National Network Board,
consisting of twelve Network representatives. Together with
the Lilly Fellows Program staff, this Board has devised and
supervised a number of Network projects including the following:
- Mentoring Programs on Network campuses intended to provide
new faculty members the opportunity to acculturate themselves
into the ethos and traditions of a particular institution;
- Annual
Network Exchange Programs allowing Network schools to
showcase distinctive features or programs that highlight
the Christian character of their institutions.
- Summer Seminars
for College Teachers designed for new faculty from Network
School;
- Undergraduate Conferences to encourage the best
undergraduates at Network schools to consider seriously
finding their vocations in Christian higher education;
- Annual
National Research Conferences to encourage Christian
research and scholarship among faculty at Network institutions;
- Administrative
Workshops offering administrators from Network schools
practical counsel and opportunities to discuss particular
common issues such as "Hiring for Mission."
Second, the Lilly Fellows Program offers young scholars
in the humanities and the arts a chance to renew and deepen
their sense of vocation, and to enrich their postdoctoral
intellectual and spiritual life within a Christian community
of learning. Each academic year Postdoctoral Fellows are
appointed for two-year periods, selected from candidates
interested in considering the relationship between Christianity
and the academic vocation. The Fellows are prepared through
a variety of teaching experiences, participation in a weekly
colloquium, and regular association with mentors, to seek
permanent employment within church-related institutions of
higher learning. A total of thirty-three postdoctoral fellowships
have been awarded to date.
The current Lilly Fellows are:
Sara Running Danger (English), 2004-06
Mary J. Streufert (Theology), 2004-06
Franklin Harkins (Theology), 2005-07
Matthew S. Hedstrom (American Studies), 2005-07
Joanne E. Myers (English), 2005-07
These initiatives bring focus, clarity, and energy to a
critical aspect of a much larger project: the imaginative
reformulation and implementation of an agenda for church-related
higher learning for the twenty-first century.
The Lilly Fellows Program
in Humanities and the Arts is based in Christ College,
the interdisciplinary honors college of Valparaiso University,
Valparaiso, Indiana.
For more information, please consult the Lilly Fellows Program
website at www.lillyfellows.org.
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