...it is interesting to ponder how Jesuit, Catholic liberal arts education will intersect with the future of higher education. There has been a striking decline in the value of a college degree in U.S. public opinion polls. The liberal arts are being threatened and, in some cases, completely abandoned as part of cost-cutting measures. Americans are wondering what the actual advantage of a liberal arts education is. In this issue, we explore the historical, contemporary, and future value of Jesuit, Catholic liberal arts education from multiple perspectives.
Learn more about University President Fr. William P. Leahy, S.J.
Order Michael T. Rizzi's Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States: A History (Catholic University of America Press, 2022).
Explore the map of Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S.
Learn more about Boston College's history through a brief history of BC, or read the books The Heights: An Illustrated History of Boston College, 1863–2013 (Linden Lane Press, 2014) and Ever to Excel: A History of Boston College (Jesuit Sources, 2021).
Photo Caption | With the completion of Gasson Hall in 1913 (center), Boston College moved from its first home in Boston’s South End (top right) to its current campus in Chestnut Hill. By 1946 (left), four buildings had been completed on the new campus. However, it was on Harrison Ave in the South End where BC’s tradition of excellence in Jesuit education began and many achievements were made, such as this library bookplate awarded to the student Patrick Callanan in 1873 and signed by Robert Fulton, S.J., Boston College’s first dean and the only person to have served twice as BC’s president.
Photo Credits | Gasson Hall (center), Courtesy of Clifton Church, Boston College, 1918; Church of the Immaculate Conception (top right), Courtesy of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Boston College, c. 1860; Reservoir (left), Boston College campus aerial view, 1946; Library bookplate (bottom right), Courtesy of Gary Wayne Gilbert, Boston College.
Watch Fr. Michael Himes's full homily from Fenway Park celebrating the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of Boston College.
Learn about Boston College's Core Curriculum.
Learn more about Boston College's Justice and the Common Good Living Learning Community.
Learn about Boston College's Perspectives Program and Complex Problems and Enduring Questions Courses.
Explore Boston College's Retreat Programs.
Let’s Hear From You: Take our survey, "The Value of Your College Education."
Read the full text of Christopher A. Snyder's "A Liberal Education in Name Only" (Inside Higher Ed, 2023).
Learn more about Boston College's Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies.
Photo Caption | Pictured here is the handwritten manuscript entitled "Various Rules for the Direction of the Teachers of B.C.," penned by Robert Fulton, S.J., BC’s first dean. Accompanying this manuscript is a copy of the 1850 edition of the Ratio Studiorum (Plan of Studies), which provided the common curriculum and academic structure that united all Jesuit colleges.
Photo Credit | Ratio Studiorum and Fulton’s Rules, Courtesy of Gary Wayne Gilbert, Boston College.
Learn about Boston College's Catalyst Program.
Discover Boston College's opportunities for service work through the Volunteer & Service Learning Center and Campus Ministry's Service Immersion programs.
Read about the life and leadership of Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., (1928–2016) 29th Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
Learn more about Fr. Kolvenbach's influence and thought regarding Jesuit education:
—Fr. Kolvenbach's speech from "Assembly '89," the 1989 gathering celebrating 200 years of Jesuit education in the United States
—"Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education," Fr. Kolvenbach's October, 2000, contribution to The Santa Clara Lectures.
Explore Professor Thomas Groome's What Makes Education Catholic: Spiritual Foundations (Orbis, 2021).
Watch the full lecture on The Catholic Intellectual Tradition and the Jesuit, Catholic University by Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., given on January 30, 2024.
Learn more about the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.
Learn more about Boston College's PULSE Program and the Center for Teaching Excellence.
Learn more about John L. Mahoney.
Explore the Boston College Career Center's support and resources for BC students and BC student outcomes.
Learn about Boston College Admissions.
Explore Boston College's Center for Student Formation.
Gather tools to "find God in all things" by learning about the Examen.
Read Christopher Higgin's original article with citations.
Explore Christopher Higgins's book, Undeclared: A Philosophy of Formative Higher Education (The MIT Press, 2024).
Learn more about Formative Education at the Boston College Lynch School of Education and Human Development.
Learn more about Boston College's Division of Student Affairs.
Learn more about Boston College's Clough School of Theology and Ministry.
Explore courses and more online resources open to all interested with Clough School of Theology and Ministry's Crossroads.
Find more information on the Boston College McMullen Museum of Art.
Learn more about Boston College's Companions Program.
Explore Steve Pemberton's books and movie: A Chance in the World (Nelson Books, 2012; film, 2019), and The Lighthouse Effect (Zondervan Books, 2021).
Liberal Arts for All | Learn more about Boston College's Prison Education Program.
Human-Centered Engineering and the Core | Learn more about Boston College's Human-Centered Engineering Program.
Explore Boston College's first two-year residential program, Messina College.