Grants Strengthen Stonehill's Commitment to Catholic Education

Fittingly for a school founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, Stonehill received a trinity of grants supporting faculty’s ongoing commitment to shaping the whole person. 

Professor of Education Karen Anderson secured a Teacher-Scholar Grant from the Educating Character Initiative at Wake Forest University’s Program for Leadership and Character. The goal of her project, one of only seven proposals funded nationwide, was to strengthen the understanding, integration and education of character at undergraduate schools. 

“As a Catholic institution, character education is undoubtedly a central aim of the College and, thus, integrated across all aspects of the Stonehill experience,” Anderson says. 

“This grant allowed us to design and implement a metric to systematically capture our current strengths and areas for improvement in relation to student learning outcomes.” 

Alongside Rev. Kevin P. Spicer, C.S.C. ’87, dean of the May School of Arts & Sciences, and Peter Ubertaccio, vice president for academic affairs, Anderson also led another initiative supported by a Catalyst Grant from Collegium, an organization advancing Catholic education in innovative ways. 

Through the creation of interdisciplinary teams called Teaching Circles, the project examined themes central to Stonehill’s newly revised General Education program, now known as the Skyhawk Core Curriculum, in the hopes of enhancing students’ intellectual and moral development. Last summer, Assistant Professor of Accounting Solange Lopes and Associate Professor of Chemistry Daniel Rogers, along with Anderson, represented Stonehill at a week-long Collegium-sponsored colloquy that explored faith and intellectual life at Catholic colleges and universities. 

An additional Collegium Catalyst Grant was awarded to Professor of Chemistry Marilena Hall. She will participate in a panel discussion at King’s College in Pennsylvania. Alongside faculty from five other schools, she will share ideas for supporting transformational missions at faith-based institutions. 

“The panel will examine a deeper and more contemporary understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition and how it can be applied to the life of each Collegium member college,” Hall says.