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| From the Director |
Fall 2005 Issue |
 Warm greetings from Millsaps College, where the Faith & Work Initiative has matured into a signature program for the College and a wonderful resource for the surrounding community. Those of us who dreamed up the Initiative five years ago continue to be amazed at how deeply the program is resonating with students, as well as how generously it is received by off-campus constituencies.
Thanks to your support, increasing numbers of our nation’s best and brightest college students are preparing themselves not merely for a job or career, but for lives of long-term meaning and service to others. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of classes, athletics, clubs, and part-time jobs, and in the face of the mounting pressures of a fast-paced and constantly-changing global economy, these young people are pausing to reflect on vocation (voice, call). As this newsletter recounts, they are taking the time to discover their own distinctive voice as individuals, citizens, and people of faith; and they are asking themselves how their voice might respond to the call of the world around them.
I am so proud of the journey these students are on. I bet you will be, too.
Warmly,
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| Contents |
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Up Close & Personal: Brad Corban |
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Lilly Internship Program
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Serving in the Tropics |
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Professing the Professions |
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Students Enhance Learning While Serving Others |
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Focus on Faculty |
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Consider a Life of Leadership and Service |
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Students Win Fellowship |
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California, Here We Come |
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Special Events |
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Delta Delivery |
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A Fond Farewell |
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| Up Close & Personal: Brad Corban, Student |
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The Faith & Work Initiative has had a lot to do with my Millsaps experience, and I tend to refer to it often when describing my activities to friends, family, and any random person who begins the conversation with questions like, "What do you study at Millsaps?" and "Where will you go afterwards?" If we actually get into a mildly meaningful discussion, the Faith & Work Initiative (F&W from here on) usually comes up. F&W has been my primary source of spiritual growth and ethical reflection here at Millsaps. My participation in the Meaning of Work class, the C.A.L.L.S. (Considering a Life of Leadership and Service) group, the Lilly Internship program, and the Immersion Experiences has really shaped who I am today and what kind of life I plan to lead in the future. Read More...
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| Serving in the Tropics |
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The Department of Modern Languages has had a program in Costa Rica since 1994. This year, as part of the Faith & Work Initiative, Dr. Kahn decided to offer a special course in service-learning as an addition to the usual offerings of this already excellent program. Fourteen Millsaps students traveled there with Dr. Robert Kahn, the Program Director, in order for them to become immersed in Hispanic culture and improve their proficiency in the language. To accomplish this mission, all of the students lived with a local family while in San José and traveled throughout the country on weekends. For the service-learning course, nine students went to an orphanage and a home for the elderly for several hours twice a week, kept a journal to improve their written skills, discussed their experiences over lunch once a week, spoke with their host families about what they were doing, and researched the topic at local libraries and bookstores as well as on the internet. “Not only did the students help the less fortunate”, Dr Kahn noted, “but they also improved their aural/oral and written Spanish as well as augmented their cultural awareness.” Read More...
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| Students Enhance Learning While Serving Others |
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Dr. Laura Franey, Dr. Kamilla Bahbahani, Dr. Loye Ashton, and Dr. Elise Smith are four Millsaps professors who incorporated a Faith & Work Initiative Service Learning component into their spring classes. Over sixty students participated in spring semester Service Learning classes, which are designed to help students connect the life of the mind with socially responsive habits of the heart. Read More...
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| Consider a Life of Leadership and Service |
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The C.A.L.L.S. (Considering a Life of Leadership and Service) program of the Faith & Work Initiative is an effort to meet the needs of students for whom calling may mean leadership in a spiritual community. The program began in the spring of 2002 and has been growing steadily. Initially, the program was focused narrowly on the needs of students who felt called to Christian ministry, and the resulting group was strong but small. In the fall of 2005, the Initiative made efforts to open the program to all students who are interested in spiritual growth, theological conversation, or discernment of God’s call. Read More...
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| California, Here We Come |
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Where do you look when you are hoping to find your vocation? Why not San Francisco? Thirty students and staff members from Millsaps College traveled to San Francisco recently in hopes of learning more about themselves through service to others. The trip was sponsored by the Faith & Work Initiative and the Chaplain’s Office. Read More...
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| Delta Delivery |
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Delta Delivery in 2005 was a poignant time of service and sharing with a group of seasoned students and a dearly loved chaplain who was nearing retirement. The Faith & Work Initiative co-sponsored the trip again with the Campus Ministry Team and Campus Link. The trip offers an important means of connection with the lives of people in our state who live quite differently from the average Millsaps student, but who are most often proud to call the Mississippi Delta home. Read More...
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| Lilly Internship Program |
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Kudos to our Lilly Internship mentors for providing students with amazing opportunities for vocational exploration.
The Lilly Internship program is entering its ninth semester and continues to attract excellent students and outstanding Mentors. Twenty-three students were enrolled as Interns or Fellows in the 2004-2005 academic year. Fellows are a select group of students who complete two internships and an ethics course and provide leadership in guiding Interns and facilitating conversations about vocation on campus. Read More...
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| Professing the Professions |
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Local Professionals Share Their Stories
In January, the Faith & Work Initiative changed the format for our “Professing the Professions” program from a panel discussion to an intimate dinner with two professionals and a limited number of students. The format change was designed to give students a more intimate window onto a profession of potential interest to them. Instead of a panel of four or five professionals from the same field who make rather formal remarks to a large group of students, the new format features just two professionals who have dinner or dessert with about a dozen students, sharing the story of how they found (or are still searching for) their vocation and then responding to student questions about a range of issues. This format has been very successful at giving students access to information, insights, and personal experiences that may help them in their own process of vocational discernment. It has also exposed them to some of the sharpest, friendliest people in Jackson. We have enjoyed waiting lists for each event, as well as fabulous evaluations from participants. For each event, one or two Faith & Work Initiative student leaders, known as Lilly Fellows, helped host the evening. Read More...
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| Focus on Faculty |
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Two Faith & Work Programs Engage Faculty
While the main focus of the Faith & Work Initiative is students, we are fully aware that the Millsaps faculty is a key to reaching students and to institutionalizing the goals of the Initiative. Two programs in particular are aimed at faculty.
The Art of Teaching program encourages faculty to examine their own call to teaching. Each month, a different topic and faculty facilitator is featured. The facilitator makes a brief presentation and then engages his/her faculty peers in discussion of the topic. This series has become a hallmark of faculty development at Millsaps. A full one-third of the Millsaps College faculty participates on a regular basis, with another 25-30% participating one or two times per year. Participating faculty consistently express appreciation for this non-competitive forum for discussing matters of import, testing out new ideas, and reflecting on their own passion for teaching. They also regularly note its importance for engaging faculty from across the College with each other as they share a meal together and develop cross-departmental relationships. Thanks to the Art of Teaching program, Millsaps faculty have meaningful opportunities to engage their colleagues on matters of import such as technology in the classroom, grade inflation, creating a balanced work life, and dealing with the increasing emotional fragility of today’s student. Read More...
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| Students Win Fellowship |
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Two students from Millsaps College have been awarded nationally competitive fellowships through the Fund for Theological Education.
Andrea Dewey (United Methodist from Paducah, Kentucky) and Drew Harmon (Presbyterian from Baton Rouge, Louisiana) received Undergraduate Fellowships in 2005. These fellowships were awarded through the Fund's Partnership for Excellence program, which is aimed at “identifying, inspiring, and supporting persons of excellent gifts and diverse backgrounds for careers in the church and related institutions". Read More...
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| Special Events |
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New Methodist Bishop Introduces Herself to Millsaps
In November, Millsaps welcomed Bishop Hope Ward, the newly elected head of the Mississippi United Methodist Church, at a luncheon sponsored by the Faith & Work Initiative. Bishop Ward is the first woman to lead a mainline religious denomination in our state. She also serves as the Vice Chair of the Millsaps College Board of Trustees. The Leggett Special Events Center was the site of the luncheon presentation, which brought together a large group of Millsaps students, faculty, alumni, and friends to greet Bishop Ward and hear her vision for how the Church and the College can fruitfully relate to each other. Read More...
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Standing Room Only
On February 24, Claudia Stevens, gifted artist and performer, brought her award- winning presentation of theatre-with-music to a packed Millsaps Recital Hall. Her portrayal of an elderly concentration camp musician (“Madame F”) who performed at Auschwitz was enthusiastically received by students and Millsaps friends alike. Madame F played piano and sang music which was actually performed by women inmates in concentration camps. She also reflected thoughtfully on the ethical dilemma posed by those who survived the horrors of concentration camps by using their art to entertain Holocaust perpetrators. Read More...
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Renowned Ethicist Reflects on Leadership in Today’s World
In March, the Faith & Work Initiative partnered with the Millsaps chapter of Phi Beta Kappa to bring Dr. William F. May, nationally renowned ethicist, to the College for a luncheon presentation. Dr. May’s area of considerable expertise is professional ethics. His talk, entitled "Professional Leadership in a Democracy: What It Takes Morally," explored classical leadership models as resources for the cultivation of virtues for moral leadership today. A large group of students, friends, and faculty benefited from the wisdom of this distinguished professor. Read More...
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| A Fond Farwell |
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Tom Fortner: First Person Reflections on the Faith & Work Initiative
Jackson will soon lose a prominent public defender and a good and decent public servant. While Tom Fortner was being interviewed for this publication, two strangers came up and introduced themselves to him, thanked him for his service, and wished him well. After twenty-five years as the Hinds County public defender, Tom has many friends and admirers, including a cadre of Millsaps students with whom he has shared his work and wisdom over the years. Read More...
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| Other Links |
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- To contact the Millsaps Faith & Work Initiative, click here.
- To visit the Faith & Work Initiative web site, click here.
- For information about Millsaps campus events, click here.
- To view current and past issues of the Millsaps Magazine, click here.
- Want to order Millsaps apparel or gifts? Visit the online bookstore or
call the bookstore at
601-974-1230.
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Faith & Work Initiative
1701 North State Street
Jackson, MS 39210-0001
601-974-1470
To subscribe to the Millsaps Faith & Work E-newsletter, email faithwork@millsaps.edu
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