2022-23 Catalyst Grants Awarded

Congratulations and thanks to those who wrote and submitted proposals for projects that truly extend the work of Collegium.

After stalwart patience on the part of campus grant-writers to accommodate the final transition of Collegium operations from College of the Holy Cross to University of Portland, the advisory board is pleased to announce that the 2022/23 Catalyst Grants were awarded to the following teams at the board meeting in late October.

  • St. Edward’s University (Austin, TX): History and Impact of Holy Cross Woman in Texas Project; Dr. Mity Myhr, an historian, is the lead on this project , which will include a team of students and faculty from History and Religious Studies to explore the legacy of a group of founding sisters who were so busy doing heroic work in education and health care that they didn’t take time to tell their own stories.
  • King’s College (Wilkes-Barre, PA): Catholic Higher Education and Catholic Social Thought; Philosopher Dr. Bernard Prusak will lead a team that is not only inter-disciplinary, but inter-institutional, to offer a deep dive into the forthcoming Catholic Higher Education & Catholic Social Thought (Paulist, 2023) in a weeklong seminar for faculty and administrators seeking to allow those bodies of knowledge to inform crucial institutional decisions.
  • Iona University/Manhattan College (New Rochelle, Manhattan, NY) Enduring Legacy, Future Vision: Celebrating Pope Francis’ 10th Anniversary; led by Drs. Elena Procario-Foley, Christina Carlson, and Kevin Ahern, this intergenerational conference in March 2023 will convene to ponder the future of the church and the hopes of the people of God for an inclusive and participatory church that contributes to a more just, peaceful world.
  • Loyola University Maryland (Baltimore, MD): Onboarding Faculty and Administrators in Catholic, Jesuit Pedagogy; Dr. Lynne Elkes and Fr. Timothy Brown SJ will craft a standardized introduction for all new hires. The permanent truth that a majority of new faculty in Catholic higher education are not Catholic makes this initiative, which seeks to illuminate what is valuable and unique about Catholic education portable to many contexts.

As a condition of receiving these grants, which ranged from $3500-$5000, the teams agreed to provide accessible written and video insights about lessons learned to the Collegium universe, helping to ignite and further the aims of Collegium on member campuses. The next call for proposals will be in spring 2023, with an application deadline of September 15, 2023.