Formative education
As a Jesuit, Catholic university and a leader in the liberal arts, Boston College views formative education as central to our mission of educating students who will use their gifts in the service of others. BC’s distinctive culture of formation is foundational to and animates the University’s approach to education, particularly its goals to integrate intellectual excellence, religious commitment, and service to wider society, and to remain faithful to its educational and religious heritage.
Formative education is distinctive at BC because the academic, residential life, experiential learning, volunteer, and campus ministry experiences of our students are integrated holistically to help them to flourish in their search for understanding, and in their quest for a meaningful and purposeful existence.
BC believes that liberal arts education, participation in research and scholarship that advances the common good, and service to the local, national, and global community help students to be freer and human, and to become generous and engaged members of society.
In 2017, BC outlined in its strategic plan its commitment to enhance formation among students, faculty, and staff to further the University’s mission and strengthen its institutional culture. To implement the plan, BC committed to:
• Strengthen programs to increase engagement among faculty and staff with BC’s mission and heritage
• Advance the University’s culture of care and welcome
• Create “neighborhoods” that bring together more members of the BC community for conversation and learning
• Establish formation programs specifically designed for graduate and professional students
• Sustain and promote BC’s Jesuit heritage
BC’s Center for Student Formation helps undergraduates integrate their intellectual, social, and spiritual lives. Rooted in the Jesuit tradition, student formation includes mentorship programs, retreats, leadership opportunities, and service experiences that encourage students to engage in self-reflection and identify their deepest desires. The center works with faculty and staff from the entire University to engage students in creative programming and conversation about how they can be their most authentic selves.
BC’s Department of Formative Education (DFE), launched in 2022 within the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, is devoted to the interdisciplinary exploration of questions both perennial and pressing: How do we educate whole persons for meaningful lives? How do we cultivate community? How do we nurture vision and values? At DFE, faculty conduct groundbreaking research on the cultivation of character, the expansion of imagination, and realization of purpose. The Lynch School now offers a Ph.D. program, a M.A. in Learning Education, and a B.A. in Transformative Educational Studies.
Undergraduate Academic Programs (4 of 8)
- Cornerstone: A program offering unique courses to first-year students encouraging them to reflect on their lives and interests while becoming familiar with their faculty advisors
- Perspectives: A four-year, interdisciplinary program that encourages students to consider coherent answers to enduring questions such as Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?
- Portico: A Carroll School of Management program that builds bridges between business education and the liberal arts by asking first-year students to view management through an ethical and multi-disciplinary lens
- Pulse: A service-learning program that educates students about social injustice by combining service placements with classroom discussions of classic and contemporary works of philosophy and theology
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The Center for Student Formation (CSF) annually produces four programs —
- Ascend: First-year women have an opportunity to meet new peers, engage in meaningful conversations about life at BC, and connect with junior and senior female mentors
- Freshman League: A mentorship program for first-year BC men
- Halftime: An invitation to stop and think about majors and future career fit with one’s true self and passions
- Stride: Specifically designed to help sophomores feel established at BC
Since its inception, CSF has collaborated with a wide range of university partners to develop distinctive formational programs, spanning 24 campus-wide collaborations that include:
- Ella Baker Mentoring Program: a partnership with student leaders for day-long, off-campus program where faculty and staff of color shared their experiences with students, and laid the foundation for longer-term mentoring relationships
- Scrubs: a weekend retreat for the sophomore class of the Connell School of Nursing designed to build community among the nursing students and to help students make connections with each other, faculty, and young alumni
- The Experience of Pilgrimage: A 3-credit Philosophy course while walking Spain’s Camino de Santiago, a centuries old pilgrimage route, to provide an intellectual immersion experience for 10 students seeking time and space to wrestle with big questions about themselves and their world
- Spectrum: A retreat for LGBTQ students to create a space to discuss their experiences with their identity
Research: True North, a decision-making tool developed by Lynch School Professor Belle Liang, guides students through a systematic discernment process using evidence-based best practices in youth motivation and formative education to help students investigate and discover personal pathways to finding “purpose,” that goes well beyond the narrow definitions of societal success that frequently emphasizes personal fame and fortune as the definitive measure of achievement.
