As higher education grapples with the challenges of rapid technological change — from shortened attention spans to increasing reliance on artificial intelligence — teachers and university leaders are searching for solutions. In the latest issue of Instaurare Magazine, Christendom College looks to the educational vision of St. John Henry Newman, proposing an approach that is at once deeply traditional and strikingly relevant for today’s world.
We are living in an age of unparalleled access to knowledge. Most people carry with them the entry to millions of websites, videos, and sources that can, with a simple search or push of a button, provide them with truly endless sources of information. Beyond that, in the past five years alone, there has been unprecedented growth in AI technology, not only able to answer questions, but proving more every day that it is capable of far more. What does this technological boom mean for education? What society is seeing is a strange countereffect to this extreme technological success, which is that education is suffering greatly.
Our society has been fast discovering over the past few decades that allowing technology to take the lead in education has had adverse effects on attention, learning retention, and engagement in the classroom. It has been found to be a cold, impersonal, detached way to learn, and the rising generations are suffering from it. What society is seeing is that modern universities are projecting lessons to halls filled with hundreds of students, but the students are not learning. They are not prepared for the workforce, for life; they are not being formed as whole persons.
Both the problem and solution are layered and nuanced, and Christendom College is tackling the problem head-on by responding with an educational approach that resonates with St. John Henry Newman’s famous declaration of “Cor ad cor loquitur“, or “heart speaking unto heart.” Upon becoming cardinal in 1879, Newman (pictured left) chose the phrase to promulgate his belief that personal influence and authentic human connection are the most effective and lasting approaches to education. As time proves again and again, students thrive in a personalized approach, where the faculty members are approached as mentors to the students, as opposed to unreachable figures.
Dr. Andrew Whitmore meets with a student in office hours.
As College President George A. Harne, Ph.D., states: “At Christendom, because of our mission and our size, faculty are able to live out Newman’s understanding of true education—heart speaking to heart. In practice, this involves faculty seeing students as whole persons, not simply as numbers or as grades.”
This approach requires an enormous amount of effort by the faculty, one they have taken on and embraced in Christ. It involves not only a concentrated effort to build connection with their students on a large scale, but also on an individual scale, being present in the small moments.
This story comes from the latest issue of Instaurare Magazine, the official magazine of Christendom College. Read more from Instaurare here!
“It means that when faculty meet with students during office hours, walk across campus, or share a meal, that they enter a communion of persons, sharing not only in banter about everyday events but also in the more serious dimensions of human life,” Harne says.
Faculty and college staff undertook a concentrated effort to combat the impersonal nature of university education, starting two years ago, when various groups met with the goal of restructuring how they would get more integrated and involved in campus life, born out of a desire to cultivate better relationships with the student body. As a result, there has been an increased effort in creating more spaces on campus where both students and faculty can be present. Examples of this include new patio spaces outside the Sacred Grounds Coffee Shop, a beautiful courtyard on both sides of the St. Lawrence Commons, and a sand volleyball court in front of St. Kilian’s Café. Faculty also increased their office hours and their time spent on campus, with many of them attending the students’ sports games, events, and performances.
“Christendom College takes very seriously the student-professor relationship,” says Academic Dean Dr. Andrew Whitmore. “Our newly revamped advising system is structured around more contact hours between students and their advisors, as well as ensuring that students have consistent advisors, so that the advisor relationship can develop into a mentoring relationship. In addition, faculty are frequently happy to lead Advanced Studies projects, lunchtime academic groups, and student life clubs as further ways to help form students in a mentoring relationship. Of course, office hours are also always a time when faculty look forward to discussing course content as well as students’ other interests in the field.”
College Chaplain Fr. Marcus Pollard engages in conversation with students on the new patio outside St. Lawrence Commons.
This approach enables success, providing greater opportunities for students outside of the classroom. Professors have taken initiative to lead their own events, providing incredible enrichment and opportunities for students through events such as the newly launched Friday Colloquium talks, individualized Advanced Studies, and the very popular Thomistic Tuesdays luncheons, where students enjoy a meal together while dissecting a section of the Summa with faculty.
The faculty each took to heart this call to be a mentor rather than an impersonal instructor. This personalized approach to the students also led to the faculty examining the core curriculum to see if the students could be better served through improvements made to the required courses. The result of this discernment process led to the reduction of the core course load by three courses.
“While the form of the curriculum has been refined, its substance remains unchanged in the most essential respects,” Harne says. “Philosophy, theology, history, literature, and the study of classical and modern languages continue to form the bedrock of our students’ education. Some content has been thoughtfully consolidated to avoid repetition, and certain courses have been revised or retired to make space for deeper engagement within and across disciplines.”
This new core will be put into effect in the fall of 2026, and the faculty will continue with their commitment to making the Christendom educational experience the best it can be. By reducing the redundancies within classes and cultivating greater depth within the curriculum, students can better balance their workload, enjoy a more integrated core, and better retain the principles that make up the heart of Christendom’s academics.
The results of this personalized approach to education speak for themselves. Christendom alumni enjoy success in a wide variety of fields, with 99.2% of the class of 2024 having employment within six months of graduation, as opposed to the national average of 66%.
Dr. Alex Taylor helps a senior student with a paper.
Beyond just career success, each of the faculty strives to be seen as something beyond an instructor, but a role model as well. This personal approach does not stop at friendly conversation but rather shapes every aspect of the role that faculty fill at Christendom.
“Because we are a Catholic college, faculty are able to offer spiritual support as well as intellectual guidance,” Harne says. “And both within and beyond the classroom, faculty and students share a common journey toward an ever-growing engagement with reality in the pursuit of wisdom. Faculty and students travel toward wisdom together. In these ways, Newman’s vision lives at Christendom.”
Student Body Vice President Felicity Schmidt echoes the sentiment through her own experience, reflecting on her nearly four years at Christendom.
“Since coming to Christendom, I have experienced the warmth of the faculty and staff more times than I can count,” she says. “Christendom is so much more than a college: it is a vibrant community full of staff who deeply care about the students. There are countless opportunities to get to know the faculty and staff, and they find ways to connect with the students every day.”
Schmidt is no stranger to a busy schedule, kept very busy with the Student Activity Council, schoolwork, and a hundred other responsibilities. Despite this, she feels continuously supported by the faculty on campus, knowing she can go to them for help whenever needed.
Dr. Aileen Foeckler teaching a natural sciences course.
“Every day, I walk past faculty and staff on campus, and they greet me by name with a smile. Interactions like these are small but powerful: I know that I am part of a community that genuinely cares. Everyone here takes the time to get to know us as individuals, wants us to succeed, and uplifts and encourages us daily,” she says.
Senior Benjamin Tutwiler agrees. He reflects that the student body has benefited greatly from the faculty being present in their campus life, and how the shared conversations and interests have helped the students feel welcome in going to the professors for both academic assistance as well as just to approach them in day-to-day conversations and activities.
“My experience with Christendom professors is that they are not dry academics that one thinks of in ‘higher education,’ but vibrant people who are truly alive. In our community, there are so many opportunities to encounter the faculty as people,” he says. “One professor joined us in a beach volleyball game one day after classes, another shares his love of obscure chess variants with students over lunch, and all of them will share a conversation about any topic, academic or personal, and truly care about the people with whom they converse. The faculty are examples that academics do not make a person dry and dull, but richer and more complete.”
Dr. John Cuddeback has lunch with students in the Commons, sharing his wisdom and encouraging their questions.
Even beyond graduation, alumni will still state the faculty to have had lasting influences in their lives, reflecting that they are true role models of character, integrity, and virtue. This attitude is one that is truly unique in today’s culture. In a world of fast-paced, impersonal, search-engine-driven learning, students can feel lost, overwhelmed, and unengaged. Christendom’s faculty is taking a stand, defending an education of care, of mentorship, and of heart speaking to heart.
“The faculty and staff are an integral aspect of Christendom,” Schmidt says, “and I am truly blessed to be a part of such an impactful community.”
Written by Lianna Youngman
Read more from Instaurare Magazine here.