Saturdays at Seven

In the thirty-first episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Sandra L. Richter, the Robert H. Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies at Westmont College. Richter begins by sharing how the details through which Old Testament (and New Testament) scholars are called to sort can be of benefit to their fellow scholars as well as to the Church. While those details rarely make it to parishioners, Richter claims scholars can develop the skillset that allows them to share those details without compromising their complexity. Such efforts demand discipline, creativity, and an eagerness to interact with a variety of audiences but such efforts, Richter believes, are well worth it. Richter then goes on to explain how she came to develop such an understanding of the academic vocation—one that came as much as the result of planning as a willingness to embrace opportunities as they surfaced. Such opportunities, for example, led her and her family to live in the Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, and out on the West Coast. Over the course of those years, she developed habits that allowed her to write monographs and group Bible studies as well as mentor scholars and parishioners. Richter then closes by discussing the virtues Old Testament scholars need to cultivate in order to make such efforts as well as the vices they need to be ready to confront.

In the thirtieth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Peter Harrison, Professor of History and Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Queensland and Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame Australia. Harrison opens by exploring the popular perception that the narrative concerning the relationship shared by science and religion is one defined by conflict. Harrison contends, however, such a narrative is predominantly constructed and perpetuated by individuals with little understanding of theology. Compounding the challenge is that the narratives to which those individuals gravitate are often ones taken out of context and/or ones from which only select details are recounted. A longer view of history recounted by individuals with deep appreciations for science and theology offers a narrative populated by scientists of deep faith whose theological commitments often animated their scientific investigations. Harrison then shifts to discussing his own formation as a scholar, the challenges scholars with interdisciplinary interests face, and the sources of optimism and hope those scholars can pursue. For Harrison, those sources of hope and optimism came while studying as a graduate student at Yale University with Hans Frei and George Lindbeck and then as a young scholar in the writings of Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre. Those sources of hope and optimism left their marks on Harrison’s own efforts—efforts which eventually led him to deliver the Gifford Lectures in 2010-2011 at the University of Edinburgh. Harrison concludes by reflecting upon the roles that virtues such as charity and gratitude play in the lives of scholars called to grapple with questions—often the largest of questions—defying the disciplinary strictures populating academe.

In the twenty-ninth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Mia Chung, Executive Director of the Octet Collaborative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chung begins by exploring the relationship shared by genius and effort. As a concert-level pianist, Chung began playing the piano at the age of seven. By the age of nine she determined she would pursue a calling as a concert pianist. While blessed with a considerable measure of talent, that talent needed to be accompanied by hours of practice during which she pursued technical precision. Over time, however, she also notes she needed to develop an appreciation for what beauty as expressed through music could offer. That appreciation not only added to her ability to perform as a pianist but also sent her down a path in search of the relationship beauty shares with truth and goodness. Chung discusses the lessons she learned as an undergraduate at Harvard College, as a graduate student at the Yale School of Music and the Julliard School, and as a faculty member at Gordon College and the Curtis Institute of Music. Each one of those chapters added in its own unique way to Chung’s ability to appreciate that relationship. Only now looking back can Chung see how the lessons learned during each one of those chapters prepared her to lead the Octet Collaborative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While Chung originally sought to establish a comparable Christian study center at her undergraduate alma mater, a core group of faculty members at MIT were already in place and eager to support such an effort. Chung then closes by discussing ways that the Collaborative and the faculty who invest in its efforts are prepared to be of greater service to the mission of the Church.

In the twenty-eighth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Todd Martin, the President of Trinity Western University. Martin opens by reflecting upon his expertise as a family studies scholar, exploring the ways that channeling theory and family development theory can prove beneficial to educators striving to understand the students they serve. However, Martin is also quick to note that God is sovereign and, as a result, parents and children do not always have to make optimal choices in order for flourishing to be possible. Wise, prayerful choices as highlighted by these theories are valuable but leaving room for God to act also proves important. Martin then shifts to discussing his own vocational discernment, how his service as a minister intersected with his growing interests in the sociology of religion and the sociology of family, and then how he began to discern adding administrative roles was part of how he was called to express his vocation. Along the way, the underlying theme Martin stresses in terms of vocational discernment is a willingness to be used by God and be of service in whatever context one is called to live. As a result, part of the joy he derives from serving as president is solving problems. While serving as provost, Martin shares that he led an effort to develop what came to be known as “A Faculty Vocational Career Guide”—a guide that seeks to help all faculty members at Trinity Western live their fullness as they were called by God. As he closes, Martin returns to his experience as a family studies scholar, cautioning fellow scholars not too make too much of their previously experienced field work residing with their respective families of origin but also to seek to understand the family as existing in a much larger story as ordained by God.

In the twenty-seventh episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Katia Passerini, the President of Gonzaga University. Passerini begins by drawing upon her expertise as an information system management scholar, thinking through academe’s successes and failures to date in relation to online learning. While such opportunities came with greater access for populations previously underserved by higher education, Passerini contends one challenge is those efforts were not personalized to the point that students had access to immersive experiences that often allow for deep learning or personal formation. The rapidly accelerating presence of AI may allow for greater personalization. However, Passerini cautions rapidly accelerating forms of technology such as AI may also come with accelerating costs for the foreseeable future. Passerini then shifts to discuss her own calling to education and educational leadership, beginning with her student years in Rome and DC, appointments she accepted at in the Tri-State region at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, St. John’s University, Seton Hall University, and now her appointment as the president of Gonzaga University. When considering that current appointment, Passerini shares what she sees as jewels in terms of Gonzaga’s Jesuit charisms, relationship with the Catholic Church, and commitment to global engagement and service. Passerini concludes by exploring her hopes for relations shared by Church-related colleges and universities and the Church, noting, in particular, inspiration she draws from the practices embedded in Pope Francis’s commitment to synodality and the habits of discussion and common discernment.

In the twenty-sixth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Joshua August Daily, Professor of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship Program Director at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Daily begins by offering insights concerning how he builds rapport with patients and their family members. That rapport offers Daily with insights into the spiritual commitments held by patients and family members. Daily notes that doing so allows him to serve patients as whole persons and, in turn, be of greater service to them at the intersection of their hopes and fears. Daily then shifts to discussing his own calling to medicine and eventually how that calling came to include pediatric cardiology as well as serving as a physician educator. In addition to the technical competence Daily sought to master through his medical education, he returned to school to earn a graduate degree in education when he discerned he would also serve as a physician educator. Daily acknowledges service as a physician and as a physician educator means long hours that are also spent under stressful conditions. While he is grateful for the ways that the profession has sought to address those challenges, he also fears that many young physicians (especially young physicians who are also evangelical Christians) are avoiding certain specialties in favor of greater work-life relations. While understandable, Daily contends that tendency also leaves those specialties bereft of a Christian perspective. Daily closes by detailing the virtues he believes physician educators need to seek to cultivate in their students, the vices they need to teach their students to confront, and the ways the Church can invest at higher levels in the years to come in the formation of future physicians.

In the twenty-fifth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Laban Ayiro, the Vice Chancellor of Daystar University. Ayiro begins by exploring the exponential growth the Church is experiencing in sub-Saharan Africa and, in particular, in east African nations such as Kenya. As a frequent visitor to Europe and North America, Ayiro compares the spiritual climate of those two regions of the world with Kenya, the ways in which Christian commitments prove more fundamental to the identity of Kenyans, and thus why Christian discipleship is viewed as more compelling. He also details how the growth in Christianity has fueled the growth of universities such as Daystar, growth which Ayiro hopes he and his colleagues are meeting with a truly Christ-centered education. Ayiro then shifts to talk about how his own education in Canada, South Africa, Kenya, and the United States proved formative, gave him an expansive view of the world, and provided him with connections he draws upon when seeking to advance the efforts of his colleagues and students. Although the conditions Ayiro experienced prior to this appointment at Daystar were painful, he believes God was working through those conditions in order to lead him to Daystar and, upon arrival, have a vision for the university’s future. Ayiro shares that vision, one in which he has sought to meet considerable growth with incremental increases in academic quality as guided by the university’s Christian mission. He then closes by talking about the symbiotic relationship he believes the Church and Christian universities such as Daystar must share, recognizing they are dependent upon one another in several ways as they strive to meet the needs of the world in Christ’s name.

In the twenty-fourth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Mary H. Van Brunt, President of Spring Hill College. Van Brunt opens by discussing how Spring Hill’s long and distinguished history intersects with the history of Jesuit Catholic higher education and the history of higher education in the South. A significant component of that relationship is the natural beauty of the campus which garners both regional and national attention. Another component of that relationship includes the ways Spring Hill’s Jesuit charisms led it to be the first college in Alabama to make the transition to co-education and racial integration. Van Brunt then shifts to sharing how her own story as an economist and Catholic layperson led her from industry to academe and eventually from the classroom to administration. Although Van Brunt spent the majority of her career in the Philadelphia area, she knew while visiting the Spring Hill campus that she and her husband had found a home in Mobile should she be appointed Spring Hill’s president. That appeal began with the way the Jesuit charisms inform the patterns of life and educational aspirations that define Spring Hill. Another part of that appeal was offered by Spring Hill’s faculty, staff, and students through whom those aspirations are given life. Spring Hill’s low student-faculty ratio and the Jesuit charism of cura personalis created space for Van Brunt to believe her own understanding of the academic vocation was one she shared in common with her colleagues. Van Brunt then closes by discussing how Spring Hill is giving even greater attention to fostering relationships with the region’s archbishop and the parishes the university strives to serve when welcoming their sons and daughters into an educational community focused on preparing the next generation of lay and ecclesial leaders.

In the twenty-third episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Terence C. Halliday, Convener of the Global Faculty Initiative and Research Professor Emeritus at the American Bar Foundation. Halliday begins by discussing the opportunities that led to the creation of the Global Faculty Initiative (GFI), its mission, and the ways its members advance the relationship shared by theology and the academic disciplines within research universities around the world. In particular, Halliday emphasizes the ways the GFI Method links leading scholars working at a distance in conversations about questions transcending disciplinary boundaries. The end result of those efforts come in the form of a book (such as the one the GFI and Nicholas Wolterstorff recently published on justice). Halliday also emphasizes that just as important as how such a book may impact future conversations are the conversations and relationships that emerge when people invested in the practice of the Christian faith lend their expertise to conversations defined by penetrating and respectful dialogue. Halliday then goes on to discuss his own formation as a scholar, beginning as an undergraduate student at New Zealand’s Massey University, as a master’s student at the University of Toronto, and as a doctoral student at the University of Chicago. Halliday is trained as a sociologist but lends that training to research efforts led by the American Bar Foundation and projects broadly focused on the formation of and support for attorneys practicing law around the world. While not initially anticipated, the focus of those efforts in recent years led Halliday to focus on understanding the rapidly evolving landscape of the practice of law in China. Halliday then closes by discussing the intellectual and moral virtues he believes scholars across the disciplines need to cultivate, the theological virtues those scholars need to pray to receive, and the vices they need to be prepared to confront. In the end, Halliday views efforts he is leading with the GFI as efforts to foster a spirit of integrity that comes when scholars are encouraged and supported in their efforts to appreciate how the lives they lead on Sundays permeate the ways they exercise their calling to the academic vocation.

In the twenty-second episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Amy Peeler, the Kenneth T. Wessner Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. Peeler opens by sharing how she coordinates the roles which she is called to fill—roles which include serving as a spouse, a parent, a scholar, and a priest. She acknowledges that while being organized is critical, she also offers that being part of supportive communities proves paramount. With that end in mind, she expresses her gratitude to the ways her spouse, Lance, Wheaton College, and St. Mark’s Church all value, nurture, and encourage her calling. Peeler explores the origins of her calling to study the New Testament then also expanded into service as a constructive theologian and parish priest. A critical component in that expansive formation, according to Peeler, is her lifelong love for studying the Epistle to the Hebrews. She contends she may not presently have any additional questions she seeks to pose to the Epistle to the Hebrews. The lessons she learned from those previous studies—lessons concerning the nature of God, how to think about how God interacts with humanity, and, in turn, how to do theology—are lessons she believes informed her more recent efforts including books such as Women and the Gender of God and Ordinary Time: Seasons of Growth. As a scholar and priest, Peeler then closes by offering her unique reflections concerning how the university and the Church can grow in their service to one another—service Peeler most immediately sees in the lifelong spiritual growth for which she hopes and prays for the students she serves at Wheaton.

In the twenty-first episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Karin Öberg, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University. Öberg begins by discussing the contributions astrochemistry makes to the cultivation of awe. She explores how the cultivation of awe can occur when one gazes at the night sky, looks through a telescope, or reviews data designed to replicate the chemical processes occurring in space. Öberg discusses the contributions her parents made to her emerging interest in science, the impact the time she spent as an undergraduate at Caltech had on her interest in chemistry, and, in particular, the impact her graduate advisor, Ewine van Dishoeck, had on her vocation as an astrochemist during the time Öberg spent as a graduate student at Leiden University. Öberg shares details concerning contributions she and her colleagues at Harvard seek to make to astrochemistry and, in particular, to perceptions of the conditions that are believed to be needed in relation to the formation of planets. The pursuit of those perceptions, Öberg explains, foster awe within her and deepens her appreciation for the relationship science and religion share. Öberg then closes by discussing the contributions astronomers and the Church can make to one another along with the virtues that make such contributions by astronomers possible.

In the twentieth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Farr Curlin, the Josiah Trent Professor of Medical Humanities in the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, & History of Medicine and Co-Director of the Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative at Duke University. Curlin opens by discussing whether a distinctively Christian way of practicing medicine exists. While he believes one does exist, he contends the answer to such a question does not simply depend upon whether a physician is a Christian but how one who is a Christian understands the good or purpose of her or his vocation. In contrast to mounting views of physicians as service providers, Curlin lobbies for physicians to view themselves as healers. Curlin goes on to discuss his own formation as a physician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the University of Chicago. Discontent with how he was coming to view his own vocation led Curlin to discern how to re-form those views, inevitably also leading him to create comparable opportunities for other physicians. He then discusses the discernment process that led him to Duke University, the joint appointment he shares between the divinity and medical schools, his practice in palliative care, and the commitments that led him to write (with Christopher Tollefsen) The Way of Medicine. Curlin closes by exploring the virtues physicians who view themselves as healers need to cultivate as well as the virtues they need to be prepared to confront.

In the nineteenth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University’s Elizabeth Futral. Futral begins by detailing the myriads of ways individuals new to opera come to find the artform compelling. Some people are initially drawn to the music. Some people are drawn to the costumes. Some people are drawn to the storyline. Some people are even able to appreciate all of these dimensions of opera and more during their first encounter. Futral then shifts to discussing the experiences which allowed her to appreciate the potential she had as a vocal performer during her undergraduate years at Samford University, her graduate years at Indiana University, and as an apprentice at Lyric Opera Chicago. Along the way, mentors such as Eleanor Ousley at Samford, Virginia Zeani at Indiana, and Ardis Krainik with Lyric Opera provided Futral with the guidance and counsel she would need to sustain a vocation as a coloratura soprano. That career took Futral to perform in the world’s leading opera houses in roles in history’s most widely recognized operas as well as some of the most recent operatic compositions. While performing as a soloist, Futral would often lead master classes, experiences she came to appreciate and led her to understand that her calling would eventually include preparing the next generation of vocal performers at an institutional home she has now come to appreciate at Peabody. Futral then concludes by discussing ways the Church proved supportive of the performing arts, quiet ways that support continues, and ways it may increase in the years to come.

In the eighteenth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with James J. Choi, Professor of Finance at Yale University and a TIAA Institute Fellow. Choi opens by reflecting upon the current state of retirement savings practices, ones which data indicate accomplish their intended purposes, ones which fail to do so, and ones which offer mixed results. While sliding scales of greater employer contributions designed to incentivize employee contributions are amongst the most common, data indicates employees on the higher ends of pay scales take the greatest advantage. What options are thus also needed to support the retirement efforts of employees who cannot afford to forgo immediate access to five, six, or seven percent of their income? Choi then discusses how he became interested in economics and, in particular, personal finance. Although he found himself exhausted by school at the end of his undergraduate years, he returned to Harvard University for graduate school and encountered mentors who helped shape his vocation and provide him with the tools and temperament needed to succeed in academia. That career in academia has now led Choi to serve for approximately 20 years at Yale University’s School of Management where he found a community which he appreciates and to which he believes he contributes. In order for economists to make valued contributions, he argues humility is a critical virtue. He believes he and his colleagues continuously need to realize that while their work may be of value, their methods may not be able to answer as many questions as they may initially believe. Choi closes by exploring ways economists and the Church can be of greater service to one another, joining forces, for example, in efforts such as poverty alleviation.

In the seventeenth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor University. Jenkins begins by sharing his reflections on how the practice of history has changed over the course of his career. Religion, according to Jenkins, was rarely a matter of concern to historians when he was young. Over time, however, historians realized religion never ceased to exist, they simply ceased to discuss it. If historians were to represent the lives of the people they were studying, a treatment of them as whole persons necessitated their religious commitments be considered. While not seemingly revolutionary, the manner by which a growing number of historians now practice their craft could be described as such. Jenkins then goes on to discuss his own vocation as an historian, a calling he never really questioned since early adolescence and was greatly enhanced during his years as at the University of Cambridge’s Clare College. Jenkins began his professional career at Penn State University, rising to serve as the Edwin Earle Sparks Professor of Humanities. The appeal of working with scholars at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion compelled Jenkins to leave University Park for Waco where he claims he receives immeasurable support. In order for historians to honor the commitments of their vocation, Jenkins then cautions against the perils of presentism or the naïve assumption that one’s views are superior to the views of one’s predecessors. As an antidote, Jenkins lobbies for efforts to cultivate humility about what one knows and about the enduring significance of one’s work. Such a posture, Jenkins concludes, is also part of what will allow historians to be of greater service in years to come to the Church.

In the sixteenth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Melanie Humphreys, President of The King’s University. Humphreys begins by discussing the practices that allowed her to serve a tenure as president at King’s that is one of the longest in Canada and over twice as long as the average American college or university president. Clarity of calling and a willingness to serve prove to be what she attributes most to a person’s ability to persist in such a role. However, she also stresses the importance of taking time away from the office whether doing so is a daily diversion such as a conversation with a friend or an extended vacation. Humphreys talks about how her own discernment concerning leadership began while she was in college and serving in residence life at Trinity Western University. She received support from a host of mentors, but she also encourages individuals walking comparable paths to embrace opportunities which involve some risk. Such risk was demanded of Humphreys when she served at LCC International University and then when she was called to serve as president of King’s (a campus and a larger community in which she initially knew no one). That risk allowed Humphreys to discern something special existed at King’s and that she could make a valued contribution as the community’s leader. In partnership with a lead donor who wished to remain anonymous, one such contribution is the recently opened 40,000 square foot Center for Excellence in the Sciences. Humphreys concludes by exploring the ways the Christian Reformed Church has served as a valued educational partner with King’s as the university also seeks to meet the educational needs of individuals from other Christian traditions.

In the fifteenth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Oliver O’Donovan, Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh. O’Donovan opens by discussing his involvement with the recently formed Global Faculty Initiative—an effort seeking to “integrate faith and scholarship for academics already heavily burdened with the demands of work and the whole of life.” While O’Donovan participates in a number of the group’s efforts, he took the lead on contributing the theology brief, “Sovereignty of Love,” to the project related to the applicability of a proper theological understanding of love across a wide array of disciplines. O’Donovan then shifts to discussing his own formation as a theologian and the impact of a myriad of teachers as different in temperament as Oxford’s Henry Chadwick and Princeton’s Paul Ramsey. O’Donovan began his career at the University of Oxford’s Wycliffe Hall, crossed the Atlantic to serve at the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College, and then re-crossed the Atlantic when appointed Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology and Canon of Christ Church at Oxford. After a long return tenure at Oxford, O’Donovan explains why he believed he needed a change that led him to serve on the faculty at the University of Edinburgh for the final formal years of his career. O’Donovan then offers insights concerning the theological logic that arcs across his numerous books including his three-volume Ethics as Theology project as well as his recently published Gifford Lectures. He then concludes by discussing how the spirit of distrust that has driven a wedge between theologians and the clergy needs to be rectified and that doing so would be of great benefit to both the university and the Church.

In the fourteenth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Laurie M. Joyner, President of St. Norbert College. Joyner opens by exploring the charisms that define the Norbertine religious order and, in turn, St. Norbert College, stressing, in particular, the manner in which communio pervades the campus. As the only Norbertine college in the world, St. Norbert embraces a unique responsibility to the order, the Church, and to the students who make their way to its De Pere, Wisconsin campus for an education. Joyner discusses her own vocational formation as an educator and educational leader, beginning with a calling she received while an undergraduate at Loyola University New Orleans to serve as a sociologist. As a doctoral student at Tulane University, she explored the economic equality which she encountered in New Orleans, returning to Loyola as a faculty member and administrator who continued with that research, seeking ways it informed service to individuals in need in the city. Joyner shares how she came to discern administrative service was part of her calling and the mentors who nurtured that calling through the encouragement and feedback they offered her. Joyner then closes by discussing her appointment as president of St. Norbert, the challenges facing residential liberal arts colleges (even highly regarded ones such as St. Norbert), the hope she sees in the future, and the partnerships and relationships she sought to establish with members of the St. Norbert community, the local community, and the Church.

In the thirteenth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Mark Bosco, S.J., the Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University. Bosco begins by discussing his research interests residing at the intersection of theology, literature, and the cultivation of a well-ordered imagination. Those interests led him to explore the life of Graham Greene and Flannery O’Connor. While most of Bosco’s scholarship comes in the form of books and articles, his 2019 documentary, Flannery, received the Library of Congress’s inaugural Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. Bosco then discusses how those interests emerged, how they contributed to his calling to the Society of Jesus, and how they informed his service at Loyola University Chicago and now at Georgetown University. At Loyola, Bosco taught in the theology department and led a center dedicated to the Catholic intellectual heritage. At Georgetown, he was called to lead the division that helps cultivate the university’s Jesuit mission while also providing pastoral care for all members of the community. Georgetown’s academic programs and location in Washington, DC attract students and faculty members from around the world and from a myriad of religious backgrounds. At Georgetown, Bosco contends those backgrounds become a strength, operating in a culture informed by Jesuit charisms such as cura personalis (or care for the whole person) while also appreciating those backgrounds and the ways they interact with one another. Bosco then concludes by detailing how universities such as Georgetown serve as locales in which the Church can do its thinking while also preparing the next generation of lay and clerical leaders.

In the twelfth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Warren F. Rogers, the David Blanchard Chair in Physics at Indiana Wesleyan University. Rogers opens by exploring the relationship shared by his passions for music and physics. He details how those twin passions and the relationships they share—especially as they converge in the physics of sound—made him a better physicist and a better musician. Rogers then shares how those passions were cultivated during his years at Harvey Mudd College where, thanks to its participation in the consortium known as the Claremont Colleges, Rogers was able to major in physics and minor in music at Scripps College. While in graduate school at the University of Rochester, Rogers became a Christian, encountering a faith that sustains his life and a belief system that allows him to ask philosophical and theological questions about his vocation as a nuclear experimental physicist and his avocation as a musician. For most of his career, Rogers served on the faculties of two undergraduate serving Christian colleges and universities in Westmont College and Indiana Wesleyan University. Through partnerships he established with colleagues at Michigan State University and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Rogers found ways to work alongside undergraduate students, seeking to cultivate their interests, while also giving them opportunities to conduct research with students and faculty from around the world. Rogers then closes by discussing the need for scientists and the Church to forge new paths for collaboration as they cultivate an even deeper appreciation for the created order.

In the eleventh episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Rev. Thomas Davenport, O.P., Professore Incaricato di Filosofia at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. Davenport begins by discussing the relationship he is striving to foster between physics and philosophy—a disconnect that is the result of the reductionistic disciplinary and sub-disciplinary silos in which those disciplines (and most disciplines) exist. Davenport contends, however, that a properly ordered relationship between physics and philosophy allows those disciplines to grapple with questions that otherwise escape them. Davenport then shares the details of his own calling to theoretical particle physics, a journey which saw him pursue graduate work at Stanford University while also introducing him to campus ministers who were members of the Order of Preachers or the Dominicans. Those relationships fostered his calling to the priesthood and, in time, a commitment to explore the ways in which the study of philosophy and physics could prove mutually beneficial. Davenport closes by sharing how his commitment to the academic vocation resides at the intersection of this mutually beneficial relationship and how the cultivation of an underappreciated virtue of studiositas proves necessary.

In the tenth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Rusty Towell, Professor of Physics and Director of NEXT Lab at Abilene Christian University. Towell opens by discussing the challenges nuclear energy experienced over the course of the last 80 years. Some of those challenges are scientific but many of those challenges are political as nuclear accelerators have experienced a trend toward decommissioning for approximately 50 years. With the idea for a molten salt reactor, Towell and his colleagues at Abilene Christian University hope to reverse that trend with the larger goal of providing clean, safe, and abundant energy. Towell then shares the details of his own introduction to nuclear energy, his experiences as a graduate student, and the lessons he learned as a faculty member who invested the first 20 years of his career conducting research oriented toward discovery. After being confronted with the question concerning how that research was contributing to the betterment of the world—especially the betterment of communities where consistent access to sufficient energy was a challenge—Towell and his colleagues invested in a dream now known as NEXT Lab. Whether the growing number of students serving at NEXT Lab invest professionally in nuclear energy, part of what Towell enjoys most is the way those students—students from 10 different academic backgrounds—find ways to contribute. Towell then closes by championing the ways scientists and the Church can partner in addressing some of the world’s greatest needs.

In the ninth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Ian Hutchinson, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hutchinson opens by introducing the legacy of the tokamak in the history of nuclear science. Initially developed by the Soviets, the tokamak offered considerable optimism concerning nuclear fusion. That optimism compelled the Soviets to invite scientists from other nations to observe and learn from the progress they made. Comparable advances were then made in Australia where, after completing his undergraduate work in physics, Hutchinson then spent several years as a doctoral student. Thanks to efforts made in labs such as the one he led at MIT and at France’s ITER, the opportunity to harness the power of fusion as a means of energy production is within reach. Hutchinson then discusses how his faith has informed his vocation as a scholar, service he offered through lectures he gave for the Veritas Forum, and two of his books concerning the relationship shared by science and faith. Hutchinson closes by discussing the critical role truth-seeking plays in guiding the life of universities and shaping the academic vocation. Although he emphasizes that role has been compromised by several forces in recent years, he remains convinced that efforts such as the Global Faculty Initiative will offer a course correction by drawing scholars across the disciplines into charitable and collaborative relationships.

In the eighth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd C. Ream talks with Robert K. Vischer, President of the University of St. Thomas. Vischer opens by exploring how encouraging and resourcing his colleagues to live in a larger story became one of the commitments defining his service as a university president. Too often, educators lower their gaze, pursuing efforts of little interest or benefit to anyone but themselves. In the end, efforts exercised within such story yield little to no joy and thus only accelerate the desire to repeat the cycle. In contrast, the Gospel yields a story in which educators step into roles on behalf of their students and their disciplines in ways that yield abiding joy. Vischer then discusses how his calling as an attorney evolved into a calling to serve as a legal educator and scholar. At St. Thomas, he began as a faculty member but eventually served as dean of the law school and now as the president. As president, one of the efforts Vischer highlights is the Claritas Initiative, a program that seeks to draw upon the transcendentals of truth, goodness, and beauty as a means of orienting members of the St. Thomas community to live in a larger story. Vischer then closes by discussing other ways St. Thomas seeks to form educators to embrace the largest possible expressions afforded by the Catholic intellectual tradition.

In the sixth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Debra A. Schwinn, President of Palm Beach Atlantic University. Schwinn opens by discussing the current state of medical education. As a physician scientist who served in several different capacities over the course of her career, Schwinn encourages the next generation of physicians to persist in their calling with hope and dexterity. With those ends in mind, she explains that the Christian liberal arts are amongst the best ways to cultivate such qualities. Schwinn then transitions to her own calling, initially as a concert violinist but eventually to chemistry and to anesthesiology. Such a commitment led her to serve in larger ways as someone called to exercise administrative insights, culminating as dean of the school of medicine at the University of Iowa. When the time came to make a transition, Schwinn found herself called to serve as president of Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA). While her tenure began during Covid, Schwinn soon found that the rapid growth West Palm Beach was experiencing was also creating opportunities for PBA students in the form of internships, PBA’s Workship program, and PBA’s new business school. Such rapid growth, however, has also meant PBA leaders need to think in disciplined yet creative ways about how they continue to foster the university’s relationship with the Church.

In the fifth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Wayne D. Lewis, Jr., President of Houghton University. Lewis begins by discussing the levels of attention presidents in the United States need to exert in relation to decisions being made in Washington, DC as well in their respective state capitals. By doing so, presidents can, when needed, serve as informed lobbyists on behalf of their institutions. Lewis, however, also cautions presidents not to allow those levels of attention to dictate the highest allegiances exercised by their institutions. In contrast, the relationship their institutions share with the Church as reflected in their missions must dictate such allegiances. Lewis then describes how his calling to education originally began with a calling to serve in the criminal justice system. Prior to his appointment as President of Houghton University, that process included service teaching high school, teaching collegiate undergrads and grad students, serving as the chief education officer for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and as the dean for a college of education. As Houghton’s president, Lewis discusses the process he utilized when developing the institution’s current strategic plan and his appreciation for the thoughtfulness his predecessor and the board exercised when approving the short strategic plan that was in place during the first two years of his tenure. Lewis then closes by echoing themes he noted at the beginning of his conversation, particularly themes concerning the relationships Church-related universities share with the Church and, in this instance, how those relationships impact the academic vocation as exercised on campuses.

In the fourth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with John Milbank, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Politics, and Ethics at the University of Nottingham. Milbank opens by offering his assessment of the current state of theology, the way it is practiced in the academy, the way it is practiced in the Church, and the way it orders and influences life this side of eternity. While Milbank notes he witnessed considerable progress over the course of his life in the ability of theologians to rightly understand their calling, he also acknowledges institutional support for that calling has declined. Even if only for their own selfish institutional benefits, Milbank contends the academy and the Church need to work together to cultivate historically orthodox Christian discourse. Absent such an effort, both will (and perhaps already are) finding themselves grappling with the consequences. Milbank then turns to his own formation as a theologian, the ways history, philosophy, and theology all worked together, and how he came to lead (along with Catherine Pickstock and Graham Ward) what is known as Radical Orthodoxy. Its presence is most evident in the thirteen titles comprising the book series published by Routledge. For over a quarter century, however, that movement has also redrawn the relationships theology shares with an ever-increasing range of academic disciplines and professional practices. Milbank then closes by sharing how he understands the commitments that define the theologian’s vocation and ways such a calling can hopefully be of greater service to both the academy and the Church in years to come.

In the third episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Carlos Eire, the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University. Eire begins by recounting how reading Thomas Á Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ transformed his life. As a boy in Havana, Cuba, Eire and his brother were sent ahead of his parents to the United States. When they left, they could take a limited number of clothes and one book. The book which his parents gave him was The Imitation of Christ. At age fourteen, the message of dying unto oneself that Eire found in that book transformed how he came to understand himself and his relationship with the world around him. That process then became the basis for his two-volume memoir, Waiting for Snow in Havana and Learning to Die in Miami. Eire then discusses how the role that transformation played in his discernment over a calling to history and, in particular to Reformation history. His first book was a study of Protestant iconoclasm but, most recently Eire focused on what became of the critically acclaimed They Flew. Drawing upon the wisdom accumulated over the decades he committed to the craft of history, Eire concludes by noting the virtues he finds most critical to cultivate as well as the vices he finds most critical to confront. While humility is the amongst the virtues Eire believes is most fundamental to pursuing truth, pride, not surprisingly, is a vice he cautions often plagues academe.

In the second episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Kevin J. Brown, President of Asbury University. Brown opens by discussing how proximity as an educator is a critical component of engaging and forming the moral sensibilities of students. Such an understanding also proves beneficial when mending the divide often separating generations. Part of what fosters that divide is the search on which younger generations are embarking to ground their faith in something authentic, something “less than” the accoutrements often associated with faith communities populated by previous generations. “Less than” then translates into more in terms of engagement and discipleship. As a member of Generation X, Brown then discusses the process by which he came to see business as central to his vocation and, in particular, how he came to see more at stake in business than mere financial transactions. That process led him to pursue additional graduate study in Scotland where he learned to integrate theology and business. Those lessons also helped Brown view education as a series of spaces in which students are formed toward holding and exercising rightly order their loves. Brown describes his rapid rise to Asbury’s presidency and the shift in vocational responsibilities he experienced, responsibilities that were on national and international display in 2023 during the Second Great Revival. While he and his colleagues sought to make sure the core educational functions of the university’s mission continued to be exercised, they also sought ways that lessons offered by the revival could etch themselves into the institution’s ongoing culture. Brown then closes by discussing the value of Church-related colleges and universities, and the ways the relationship with the Church proves critical now and in years to come.

In the first episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Colleen M. Hanycz, President of Xavier University. Hanycz begins by discussing the opportunities that often go unappreciated or even unseen amidst the challenges presently defining the climate in higher education. While financial models remain a concern over which leaders must be vigilant, Hanycz contends that Jesuit colleges and universities such as Xavier as well as many other Church-related universities have an advantage when cultivating brave spaces for conversation and debate. Challenging matters should not be pushed aside but, when met with disciplined and charitable communication, opportunities for growth can take hold and flourish in such environments. Hanycz then discusses her background as a legal scholar and the discernment process that led her to serve as the president of an Ursuline institution in Brescia University College, a Christian Brothers institution in La Salle University, and now a Jesuit institution in Xavier. That background and her service as the first lay president at two of those three institutions afforded Hanycz with wisdom she shares with other individuals who may also consider appointments as the first lay presidents. Hanycz then closes by discussing her understanding of the academic vocation and the ways Xavier introduces its educators to the charisms defining the Jesuit expression of the academic vocation.

In the fiftieth and final episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., President of St. John’s University. Shanley begins by discussing the origins of St. John’s University. As the population of immigrants coming to New York City surged in the late 1800s, Shanley notes Bishop John Loughlin turned to the Vincentians to provide these new citizens with educational opportunities. While the nations of origin changed over the decades, Shanley contends that the university’s commitment to the education of the city’s newest residents remains the same. As a result, St. John’s stands today as one of the most ethnically diverse student bodies, many of whom are also the first in their families to attend college. Shanley then discusses his own education as an undergraduate at Providence College where, toward the end of his time as a student, he discerned a calling to serve as a priest and as a member of the Dominican order. After completing his education in theology and philosophy, Shanley returned to Providence as a faculty member until being surprised one day when he was appointed president. Within months of completing his tenure as Providence’s longest-standing president, Shanley then accepted an appointment to serve as president of St. John’s. Shanley talks at length about what he has learned as a Dominican who is now called to lead a Vincentian university. Due to the changing nature of the landscape of higher education in the United States, Shanley discusses how St. John’s has revised its most recent strategic plan. The one constant, however, is the commitment St. John’s makes to supporting its diverse array of students, many of whom also keep a myriad of family and work commitments. Shanley then closes by assessing the landscape in which the Church and Church-related universities find themselves and the need to speak with a unified voice.

In the forty-ninth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Vicent D. Rougeau, President of the College of the Holy Cross. Rougeau opens by discussing the importance of being a member of a family with longstanding roots in Louisiana. In his grandparents, Rougeau found examples of people who sought to establish a Catholic parish in their own community. In his parents, Rougeau found examples of people invested in the campaign for civil rights across the South. While Rougeau initially believed he was called to serve as a diplomat, he chose to follow in his father’s footsteps and enroll in law school at Harvard University. Rougeau then explains that his willingness to listen to the wisdom of others led him to value his gifts as a legal educator in contrast to as a partner in a firm. As a legal educator, Rougeau began his career teaching on the faculty at his father’s undergraduate alma mater, Loyola University Chicago, where he encountered an environment in which he could integrate his professional self and spiritual self, leading to a lifelong interest in Catholic social teaching. Rougeau explains that administrative appointments he went on to accept at other law schools (an associate dean at the University of Notre Dame and dean at Boston College) helped him appreciate the role law schools play within research universities but also how he was called to interact with other senior administrators. When Holy Cross asked him to consider an appointment as president, Rougeau contends he found a truly unique place in Catholic higher education where he could serve—a solely undergraduate liberal arts university informed by the Jesuit charisms he had come to cherish. Part of how he seeks to serve that community is through nurturing momentum for the Aspire strategic plan, an effort that seeks to ground each one of those qualities of the Holy Cross community in a unique understanding of excellence. Before closing, Rougeau reflects on what defines the academic vocation and the crucial role a Catholic and Jesuit understanding of hope plays in animating it.

In the forty-eighth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Greg Elzinga, President of Calvin University. Elzinga begins by sharing his views on arguments that philanthropy as presently exercised in the West finds its origins in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Those origins then find their expression in the Reformed theological tradition animating the Calvin University community and Elzinga’s own commitment to philanthropy. Elzinga explains that various institutions to which philanthropy is important—including churches, colleges and universities, hospitals, and social service agencies—need to explore new ways of expressing their missions to members of younger generations. Confidence in institutions has understandably declined in recent decades due to abuses of power and financial mismanagement to name only two. Elzinga believes leaders can regain that confidence, however, by focusing anew on the importance of institutional mission and exercises of principled leadership. Elzinga goes on to explain his own commitment to Calvin University’s mission, how his understanding of philanthropy developed, and his aspirations for the university in the years to come. Elzinga then closes by discussing how Calvin’s widely recognized understanding of the academic vocation developed over the decades, how entities such as the de Vries Institute for Global Faculty Development, the Center for Faith and Writing, and the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship continue to advance it, and the ways in which such an understanding is also dependent upon vibrant relations with the Church.

In the forty-seventh episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Sandra Cassady, President of Rockhurst University. Cassady opens by discussing the state of programs in the health sciences, where schools are meeting student and societal needs, and where growth in those areas continues. Church-related colleges and universities, according to Cassady, share a special investment in these programs. Pedagogically, these programs express an investment in whole person education. Societally, they strive to honor the dignity of people created in God’s image by caring for the whole person. Cassady then discusses her own formation as a faculty member and administrator of programs in the health sciences during her years of service at St. Ambrose University. Cassady began as a physical therapist but then also embraced a calling to prepare the next generation of physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurses, etc. She then left St. Ambrose when accepting an appointment as President of Rockhurst University. As Cassady explains, part of that process involved exploring the commitments of a diocesan university such as St. Ambrose and a Jesuit university such as Rockhurst. In addition to its mission, part of what Cassady found appealing was Rockhurst’s commitment to expand its health sciences offerings in ways that benefit the university’s neighbors in Kansas City. Cassady then concludes by drawing upon her experience as a faculty member and administrator to share how she understands the characteristics and qualities of the academic vocation and the relationship it shares with the Church.

In the forty-sixth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Robert B. Sloan, President of Houston Christian University. Sloan opens by discussing the importance of a community having a vision for its existence, how such a vision is cultivated, and how such a vision shapes and frames strategic planning processes. For a Church-related college or university, Sloan also explains the critical role theology and theological articulation play in the vision for an institution’s existence and the strategic planning processes it experiences. Sloan then shifts to discuss his own vocational discernment which includes service as a pastor, a professor, and an educational leader. While each profession comes with its own commitments, Sloan found over the course of his career that they have complimented one another well, bringing mutually reinforcing sensibilities to bear in the service he offers. He also details how he found expressions for his vocation as an interim pastor, a professor, a seminary dean, and a university president over the course of his career. Sloan then concludes by offering details concerning the relationship the Church and the university are called to share and how the health of that relationship impacts the health of the academic vocation as expressed on a university campus.

In the forty-fifth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Monsignor James P. Shea, President of the University of Mary. Shea begins by offering a few details concerning the history of the University of Mary, focusing on the role the Benedictine Sisters of the Annunciation played in the university’s founding and in the cultivation of the university’s distinct charisms. While the Sisters may not recognize many physical features defining today’s campus, Shea contends they would see a continuity in mission to form leaders in the service of truth. Such a commitment, Shea believes, reflects the best of the Benedictine charisms that animated the efforts offered by the Sisters as well as the efforts offered by today’s students, staff, and faculty. Shea discusses his own vocational formation as a diocesan priest, his education in Washington, DC and in Rome, and the confirmation of that calling that Shea experiences when he steps into the classroom. Shea thus understands that his commitment to serving as the university’s president is an expression of commitment to his colleagues and students, offering a vision for the campus and making sure resources are aligned with that vision. Two tangible expressions of that commitment that Shea has stewarded during his tenure as president include the publication of The Vocation of the Catholic University Professor and the development and implementation of Vision 2030. Shea then closes by discussing the virtues that define the academic vocation as well as the vices that can undercut the dignity of such an expression of service.

In the forty-fourth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Eric F. Spina, President of the University of Dayton. Spina begins by sharing details concerning how he and his colleagues are reinvesting in the city of Dayton, including the development of a business incubator and a multiuse community. He goes on to articulate how such investments not only make wise sense for the recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and students, but more importantly how such efforts express the Catholic and Marianist commitments to the common good. Spina then discusses his own formation as an educator and the influence offered by his parents, teachers and coaches at Buffalo’s Canisius High School, and his graduate advisor at Princeton University. Spina originally had no interests in an administrative career as he was vocationally content to serve his students and his discipline as an engineer during his 28-year career at Syracuse University. The decisions he made to serve as a department chair, a dean, and provost were a result of leadership he became persuaded he could offer. While Spina also initially had no interest in pursuing service as the president at Dayton, he became compelled by the possibility due to the university’s mission and meeting the people who seek to bring that mission to life each day. He then offers details concerning the conclusion of Dayton’s current campaign as well as his aspirations for the university in the years to come. Spina concludes by explaining how he understands the qualities and characteristics that inform the academic vocation as expressed at Dayton.

In the forty-third episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Suzanne Allison Davis, President of Greenville University. Davis opens by discussing the roles presidents play in strategic planning processes—offering observations that stretch back to preparing a community to engage in such a planning effort to keeping constituents focused on the details once a plan is well underway. Davis then shares that while she never planned to serve in higher education, she believes her graduate degrees in business and law serve Greenville well as she seeks to provide direction for how a Christian, liberal arts institution can navigate the challenges facing higher education today. Part of Davis’s commitment to Greenville stems from her days as a student and the ways that Greenville professors and coaches walked alongside her during a tragic season in her family’s life. While Davis depends upon large batteries of data to make decisions, her own undergraduate experience reminds her that each datapoint reflects a particular student and his or her experience at Greenville. While data-informed decisions are important, she contends relationships prove critical. Davis then concludes by discussing the qualities that define the academic vocation as exercised at Greenville and the ways those qualities foster relationships that prove transformative for students who call Greenville home.

In the forty-second episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with L. Gregory Jones, President of Belmont University. Jones opens by sharing the importance of what he has come to reference as traditioned innovation. In the recent past, the Church understood part of its calling as the creation of institutional responses to social challenges. In the United States alone, the Church once established hospitals, schools, and homes to care for children found without families. While the Church has largely now abdicated such efforts to the state, Jones draws upon the core commitments of Wesleyan theology to argue the Church needs to reimagine what institutions can advance human flourishing today. Jones then discusses how he wrestled with a call to the ministry, the mentors who nurtured that calling, and how his calling eventually led him from full-time faculty service to full-time administrative service. While higher education will likely need to envision itself operating in previously unseen contexts, Jones contends Belmont is well-positioned to partner with the Church to foster expressions of hope. As an example of those expressions, Jones points to Belmont’s recent decision to launch a school of medicine. He then closes by discussing how he and his colleagues at Belmont are seeking to shape the next generation of educators to imagine what roles they can play in aiding human flourishing.

In the forty-first episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Philip J. Schubert, President of Abilene Christian University. Reflecting upon his personal experience at Abilene Christian University (ACU) , Schubert opens by exploring the role satirist publications play on college campuses. When the president is the focus, Schubert discusses how such efforts can allow leaders to seem more approachable. He shares how boundaries concerning such forms of humor can be cultivated as well as how satirist publications can help communities differentiate the trivial from the critical. Schubert then shifts to unpacking his calling as an accountant, the variety of previous roles he filled at ACU, and how his underlying rationale for his service as president is focused on creating an environment in which students can flourish in their own ways as he did when an undergraduate. Schubert closes by discussing the relationship ACU shares with the Churches of Christ (or Restoration movement) and how that relationship animates the academic vocation that educators at ACU exercise.

In the fortieth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Cheryl A. McConnell, President of Saint Joseph’s University. McConnell begins by discussing how ethical leadership emerged for her as an area of interest and eventually even became an area of expertise. Part of that emergence has to do with her background as a practitioner and as a scholar in accounting, a discipline which often asks for moral decisions to be made for which no preset battery of answers exist. As a result, moral formation must continue incrementally as one grows as a leader in the profession, allowing for ethical decision making to be reflexive or habitual. McConnell discusses the transition she made from serving as an accounting practitioner to an accounting scholar and how that process of discernment was set into motion when the firm for which she worked asked her to lead training seminars for junior colleagues. The transition she made from being a dean to a provost and now to a president was rooted in a discernment process that existed at the intersection of an institution’s leadership needs and the intrinsic joy she derived from the work. The one limitation McConnell shares that she set was that her willingness to serve where needed was limited to Jesuit colleges and universities due to her abiding belief in the missions of those institutions and the charisms that animate them. As provost and then as president of Saint Joseph’s University, McConnell explores how she and her colleagues fostered relationships with institutions in Philadelphia that would allow the university to expand its service in the health sciences. She then closes by discussing how the Jesuit institutions in Philadelphia work together to provide orientation for new board members along with ongoing formation.

In the thirty-ninth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Charles W. Pollard, President of John Brown University. Pollard opens by sharing how his vocation was shaped by the study of law and the study of English. Each practice of study allowed Pollard to cultivate his gifts in ways that made it possible for him to navigate the created order while also being of service to others. He then explores how mentors such as his father, fellow students, and teachers contributed to his vocational formation. Pollard shares how those seemingly disparate forms of vocational formation converged through service he offered on various organizational boards and now for over two decades has offered as president of John Brown University. As a president, Pollard discusses how he views himself as a scholar-practitioner who, despite the demands for his time, still regularly co-teaches a course. He also discusses how he views philanthropy as a practice of storytelling and board service as the cultivation of fiduciary community. Pollard then closes by sharing how the university and the Church can be of even greater service to one another in the years to come.

In the thirty-eighth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Robert D. Kelly, President of the University of Portland. Drawing upon his experience as a curricular and co-curricular educator, Kelly begins by discussing the state of community on college campuses and the ways that declines in its perception are linked to increases in students experiencing psychological duress. Drawn from the charisms of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Kelly goes on to describe how they seek to foster community at the University of Portland as defined by the concept of “residentiality” and an environment in which all community members are seen, known, and loved. Kelly then discusses how the charisms that animated the universities he attended impacted his education and vocational discernment process that led him from residence life to a university president. Kelly discusses his appreciation for the sense of community he found at the University Portland when he arrived and how he has sought to enhance it as president. He then closes the conversation by discussing the ways that institutions such as the University of Portland contribute to the Church’s efforts to fulfill its mission in the world.

In the thirty-seventh episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Kimo Ah Yun, President of Marquette University. As a communication scholar, Ah Yun opens by discussing how he designs messages and leverages platforms in ways that reach various internal and external constituents, emphasizing the ways those efforts also had to change as he accepted appointments as a dean, provost, and president. He then discusses how he came to serve as a communication scholar, the teachers who invested in him, and the ways he seeks to invest in students. After serving on the faculty at Cal State Sacramento for twenty years, Ah Yun describes how the core of Marquette’s mission of service “for and with others” led him and his family to move to Milwaukee. That move then allowed Ah Yun to integrate the life he was leading at Church with the life he was leading at the university in ways that advanced Marquette’s mission as a Jesuit Catholic university. Ah Yun offers insights concerning the discernment process that also led him to accept appointments as Marquette’s provost and president while also offering advice for other laypersons considering appointments as presidents at Church-related colleges and universities with long histories of clerical leadership. Drawing from insights gained through long-standing service as a scholar, teacher, and educational leader, Ah Yun concludes by offering insights concerning his understanding of the academic vocation and how he seeks to draw upon Marquette’s mission as a means of helping all members of the community flourish.

In the thirty-sixth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Candice McQueen, President of Lipscomb University. With extensive service in both K-12 and higher education settings, McQueen starts by discussing the educational benefits that emerge when greater integration between grade levels or years in school occurs. Teachers can more readily engage students in terms of content and content complexity. Students can more readily appreciate the connections between their educational pursuits which ideally come to be understood as a seamless whole. McQueen then speaks about her own discernment to serve as an educator, how it started in a fifth-grade classroom, transitioned to teaching future teachers, and eventually included administrative service as a school dean and commissioner of the state of Tennessee’s Department of Education. McQueen discusses the discernment process that led her to accept the appointment as Lipscomb’s president, her aspirations for the university, and the relationship the university shares with the Churches of Christ or Restoration Movement. McQueen closes by discussing how that relationship influences her understanding of the academic vocation, the formation of educators who serve at Lipscomb, and the ways Lipscomb and the Churches of Christ can grow in service to one another in the years to come.

In the thirty-fifth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Jon S. Kulaga, President of Indiana Wesleyan University. Kulaga begins by discussing the details of his service during his college years as a campus radio DJ, highlighting which songs from the early 80s he would proudly play in his home today as well as songs from the early 80s he would not play in his own home today. He also talks about the communication skills he developed while serving as a campus radio DJ and how he began to think of that service as being part of the larger educational mission of the university. Kulaga then shares details concerning his calling to serve the Church and, as time passed, how that calling to serve the Church came to focus on leading Church-related universities. Over the course of his career, that leadership included roles in student affairs, academic affairs, advancement, and as a president. A common thread uniting those expressions of service is they took place at institutions that are part of the Wesleyan theological tradition. Reflecting on that experience, Kulaga details the commitments that define Church-related colleges and universities that are part of the Wesleyan theological tradition and, in particular, how those commitments find expression in curricular and co-curricular educational programs. Kulaga then closes the conversation about how those commitments also inform the academic vocation as well as how the Church and the university can work more closely together in the years to come.

In the thirty-fourth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Jonathan J. Sanford, Professor of Philosophy and President of the University of Dallas. Sanford opens by sharing about the University of Dallas’s history which includes support from the Archdiocese of Dallas as well as support from several religious orders. That combination of support converges at Dallas in a charism that fosters a unique academic culture as well as an array of opportunities for spiritual formation. For example, Sanford discuses how that charism is present in the two-year core curriculum which all Dallas students encounter as well as opportunities Dallas students have to experience Mass with the Dominicans at St. Albert the Great Priory and Novitiate and the Cistercians at Our Lady of Dallas Abbey. Sanford then discusses his own journey of vocational discernment that included his formation as a philosopher. Shortly after his appointment to the faculty at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Sanford was appointed chair of the philosophy department which fostered his commitment to serve as an educational leader. Sanford’s initial appointment as an educational leader at Dallas was as a dean but led to his appointment as provost and now as president. Regardless, Sanford continues to teach each semester, believing that doing so allows him to maintain an experientially grounded understanding of the educational experiences that define the Dallas community. Sanford then closes by detailing the commitments that define the academic vocation as exercised at Dallas as well as intellectual and moral virtues that make such an exercise possible.

In the thirty-third episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with J. Bradley Creed, President of Campbell University. Creed opens by discussing how events in 1979 within the Southern Baptist Convention set in motion a host of changes that would begin by impacting the six Southern Baptist seminaries and eventually, depending upon the state convention, impact historically Southern Baptist colleges and universities. Creed’s service to Baptist higher education took place in the wake of those events, including as a dean at Baylor University, provost at Samford University, and, for the last ten years, president of Campbell University. While Creed spent most of his time directly serving colleges and universities, he shares how the calling which he received was one that led him to have one foot in the academy and one foot in the Church. Such a vocational understanding proved helpful as Creed sought to nurture frameworks for Christian commitment at the institutions he directly served in the wake of rapid changes occurring in Southern Baptist life. Creed then closes by discussing how his understanding of the academic vocation emerged over the years and the ways Campbell seeks to foster an appreciation for the Christian academic vocation amongst educators who join their community.

In the thirty-second episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Anna Bonta Moreland, The Anne Quinn Welsh Chair, Director of the Honors Program, and Professor of Humanities at Villanova University. Moreland begins by expanding upon the details of the opening keynote address she offered at the 2024 Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities conference. In particular, Moreland argued that Jesuit colleges and universities (as with all Church-related colleges and universities) are the Church. While the Church and Church-related universities have their own missions and modes of operation, Church-related universities derive their identity from the Church and, in turn derive their missions and modes of operation from the Church. Moreland recounts the details of her formation as a graduate student in systematic theology at Boston College and how she understands the service she offers students at Villanova as a debt of gratitude. Another dimension of that gratitude is also expressed in books she authored which have their origins in classes she teaches. Moreland then closes by identifying the academic vocation as the love of the question even more than the answer—a love that demands a relentless commitment to honesty. Doing so, as Moreland describes, demands humility and a willingness to confront pride in whatever form it may take.