February 2024, Vol. 10, No. 1

How Can Fraternal Organizational Values Serve as a Crucial Factor in Character Development? Critical Conversations #36

Ashley Tull, Texas Christian University

IIn "Recall and Recognition of Fraternal Values and Person–Organization Fit for Members of Men’s College Social Fraternities" (Journal of College & Character, vol. 24, no. 34, November 2023), Ashley Tull and co-authors examine the recall and recognition of espoused values of undergraduate fraternity members and measures of person–organization fit. Read his responses to questions posed by JCC editors about their research.   Read More.

On a Voyage Through the PhD Experience

Crafting Experiments: Embracing Uncertainty in the PhD Journey

Abby Wilfer, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Vic Massaglia, University of Minnesota School of Public Health

To pursue a doctorate is to set sail on uncharted—and often turbulent—waters. As we journey together, each moment is a new discovery, a transformative experience, and, indeed, an experiment. With this article, we draw from John Krumboltz's landmark theory of Planned Happenstance and Herminia Ibarra's concept of "identity experiments" to guide our fellow PhD students on an exciting voyage of skill building and identity development. Read more.
New Spaces & Roles for Student Affairs Educators

Building Students’ Skills or Souls? Student Affairs Educators Can Foster Both

Michael J. Stebleton, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Is the purpose of higher education to build students’ souls, or to build their skills? Is one area of development more important than the other? These are the questions I (Stebleton) posed to 18 undergraduate honors students across multiple majors and colleges in a recent fall semester seminar. The title of the class was: What is College For? Examining the Purpose and Value of American Higher Education. Read more.

Critical Religious Studies in Higher Education

Antisemitism and DEI: Two Ways of Looking at the Current Crisis in HIgher Education

 Jenny Small, Brandeis University

This is the most difficult post that I will write for Connexions. The last time I wrote myself, instead of inviting a guest columnist, was during summer 2023. The world changed for me and so many others on October 7, beginning with the horrifying Hamas terrorist attack in Israel and continuing through the fallout in both Israel and Gaza of the ongoing hostage situation, war, and humanitarian crisis. That fallout was paralleled in many places around the world by antisemitic and Islamophobic violence and rhetoric, including on many American college campuses.    Read more.

Lessons in Moral Development Learned From a Sabbatical Adventure

What Would It Look Like if Higher Education and Student Affairs Made the Climate Crisis a Priority?;

Peter Mather, Ohio University

It was spring 2023. The line was long, and the excitement was rippling through the crowd. Hundreds of young people were anxiously awaiting an acclaimed university guest perform her craft. It was among the largest audiences I’ve seen in my nearly 20 years at the university. No, the artist wasn’t Taylor Swift; it was Robin Wall Kimmerer, an environmental scientist, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and the author of the highly acclaimed book, Braiding Sweetgrass. Dr. Kimmerer’s book is a revered text among environmentalists.. Read more.

Fostering Moral Development

A Blog’s Epilogue

Alan Acosta, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

This blog post is bittersweet. After over three years of thought pieces, I have decided to end this Connexions blog, which has been a personal and professional joy for me over the last several years. I want to thank NASPA and the editors of the Journal of College and Character, particularly my friend Pam Crosby, for allowing me the time and space to jot down my thinking about the intersections of postsecondary education, ethical decision making, and moral development. Their support has been invaluable and appreciated, and I am honored to have them as not just colleagues but also as friends..Read more.

Engaging Civic Religious Pluralism: A Series of Articles

 Reflection: Interfaith Is the Means, Not Necessarily the End

Harmeet Kaur Kamboj, Interfaith America

In January, just before observing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I accompanied a group of college student leaders to Interfaith America and Hebrew College’s second annual tour of interfaith civic life in Washington, D.C. The Building Interfaith Leadership Initiative (BILI) Launchpad Fellowship first convened these undergraduates last August in Chicago, where 21 young people and their on-campus mentors began building the community they would carry with them during the 23-24 academic year. Upon arriving to our nation’s capital, these students immediately immersed themselves in the diversity of work done at the federal and local levels to support communities of faith seeking to strengthen our multi-ethnic, multi-faith democracy. The program staff’s hope during this experience was to underscore a simple truth: Interfaith is the means, not necessarily the end. Read more.

Off the Beaten Path

Why the Cryptocurrency Community Needs to Understand Character

Colm Fitzgerald, University College Dublin 

One of the significant initiatives that changed the fortunes of the insurance industry was the introduction of financial regulation by people of appropriate character. One element of this was the creation of the actuarial profession where an appointed actuary was given appropriate power to set financial reserves for an insurance company in the public interest that protected its long-term solvency. While many think of actuaries as being good at math, their primary reason for existence is an ethical one. The Royal Character of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries states that an actuary has to put the public interest first (IFoA, 2024). Read more.