Phillips Theological Seminary : 2003 Seminar
Project Report
Phillips Theological Seminary
{excerpt}
When invited to participate in the fifth round of the Lexington Seminar in 2003, the administration and faculty of Phillips Theological Seminary received the invitation as both a privilege and a challenge. Honored to join other Protestant seminaries who were engaging in the work of the Seminar, we saw our participation as an opportunity to respond institutionally to a critical insight noted by Mac Warford when he served as an ATS consultant to the faculty. Warford, in his report, had praised both the Seminary for its strong institutional commitment to teaching excellence as well as the gifts of individual faculty members. At the same time, however, he wondered whether it would be possible to formalize, strengthen, and make explicit the rich level of conversation about teaching and learning that was happening on a largely informal basis. While praising the faculty’s individual gifts, Warford asked whether the faculty could work better as a team.
Warford’s invitation to PTS to participate in the 2003 round of the Lexington Seminar provided a wonderful opportunity to begin a process of formalizing at an institutional level faculty, administrative, and board discussions about critical issues in teaching and learning as mentioned in the final version of our grant application. Such discussions had begun among the faculty with the elaboration of departmental goals, and, through annual faculty/board of trustees retreats, had expanded and deepened the conversations between board, administration, and faculty. Along the way, we have been introduced in a rather powerful way to a continual process of institutional reflection that Peter Senge has called The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (New York: Currency Doubleday, 1994).
I. Issue and Context
After agreeing to pursue the grant, Dean Pittman led a discussion in the Faculty Senate concerning the nature and purpose of the Lexington Seminar. Two themes immediately surfaced: increasing diversity in the classroom and helping students develop skills of critical thinking/reflection. With discussion, the latter topic galvanized the faculty’s interest as a project for the Lexington Seminar. The Dean asked Joseph Bessler-Northcutt to draft a proposal. The initial draft generated solid conversations, comments, and critiques over the course of several faculty meetings and after several re-workings became the text of our grant application...
{ Read The Full Report by Downloading the Word Doc Below }
Document Downloads:
Phillips Theological Seminary
{excerpt}
When invited to participate in the fifth round of the Lexington Seminar in 2003, the administration and faculty of Phillips Theological Seminary received the invitation as both a privilege and a challenge. Honored to join other Protestant seminaries who were engaging in the work of the Seminar, we saw our participation as an opportunity to respond institutionally to a critical insight noted by Mac Warford when he served as an ATS consultant to the faculty. Warford, in his report, had praised both the Seminary for its strong institutional commitment to teaching excellence as well as the gifts of individual faculty members. At the same time, however, he wondered whether it would be possible to formalize, strengthen, and make explicit the rich level of conversation about teaching and learning that was happening on a largely informal basis. While praising the faculty’s individual gifts, Warford asked whether the faculty could work better as a team.
Warford’s invitation to PTS to participate in the 2003 round of the Lexington Seminar provided a wonderful opportunity to begin a process of formalizing at an institutional level faculty, administrative, and board discussions about critical issues in teaching and learning as mentioned in the final version of our grant application. Such discussions had begun among the faculty with the elaboration of departmental goals, and, through annual faculty/board of trustees retreats, had expanded and deepened the conversations between board, administration, and faculty. Along the way, we have been introduced in a rather powerful way to a continual process of institutional reflection that Peter Senge has called The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (New York: Currency Doubleday, 1994).
I. Issue and Context
After agreeing to pursue the grant, Dean Pittman led a discussion in the Faculty Senate concerning the nature and purpose of the Lexington Seminar. Two themes immediately surfaced: increasing diversity in the classroom and helping students develop skills of critical thinking/reflection. With discussion, the latter topic galvanized the faculty’s interest as a project for the Lexington Seminar. The Dean asked Joseph Bessler-Northcutt to draft a proposal. The initial draft generated solid conversations, comments, and critiques over the course of several faculty meetings and after several re-workings became the text of our grant application...
{ Read The Full Report by Downloading the Word Doc Below }
Document Downloads: