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Carlow University's Catholic, Mercy Mission and Identity

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Carlow University's Catholic, Mercy Mission and Identity CARLOW UNIVERSITY’S CATHOLIC, MERCY MISSION AND IDENTITY: FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENT PERCEPTIONS by Michael T. Rizzi B.S. in Foreign Service, Georgetown University, 2003 M.A. in Political Science, University of Pittsburgh, 2005 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education University of Pittsburgh 2017 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF EDUCATION This dissertation was presented by Michael T. Rizzi It was defended on March 3, 2017 and approved by Dr. Michael Gunzenhauser, Associate Professor, School of Education Dr. Paul Nelson, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public & International Affairs Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Stewart Sutin, Clinical Professor, School of Education ii Copyright © by Michael T. Rizzi 2017 iii CARLOW UNIVERSITY’S CATHOLIC, MERCY MISSION AND IDENTITY: FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENT PERCEPTIONS Michael T. Rizzi, Ed.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2017 This study explores how current faculty, staff, and students at Carlow University (located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) conceptualize and experience their institution’s Catholic, Mercy mission and identity. Through the use of focus groups, it examines how current stakeholders perceive the University’s mission, define what it means to be a Catholic institution, and experience that unique identity from a “ground-level” perspective. Results suggest that the values and the heritage of Carlow’s founding religious order, the Sisters of Mercy, continue to influence the campus environment in both subtle and profound ways, even as the Sisters themselves occupy increasingly fewer positions in the University, and even as the campus community diversifies, embracing students, faculty, and staff of all religious backgrounds. The dissertation also provides a broad historical overview of Catholic higher education in the United States, including the modern challenges Catholic universities face as they express their religious identities in an era that that is demographically, socially, and legally very different from the one in which they were founded. It explores the conceptual challenges of studying Catholic identity in an institutional context, the difficulties of defining the role of the Catholic university, and the theoretical debates surrounding the goals, standards, and principles of contemporary Catholic higher education. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION........................................................................................................................... XII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... XIII 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 CHALLENGES FACING CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES TODAY ............... 2 1.1.1 Ownership and management changes ........................................................... 2 1.1.2 Dilution of clerical staff ................................................................................... 3 1.1.3 A changing market .......................................................................................... 4 1.1.4 Accreditation and government regulation .................................................... 5 1.1.5 Mission ambiguity............................................................................................ 5 1.1.6 Summary .......................................................................................................... 7 1.2 THE CASE STUDY: CARLOW UNIVERSITY .............................................. 7 1.2.1 Origins and history .......................................................................................... 8 1.2.2 Modern challenges ......................................................................................... 11 1.2.3 Modern initiatives .......................................................................................... 13 2.0 FRAMING THE INQUIRY ...................................................................................... 16 2.1 BACKGROUND QUESTIONS ........................................................................ 16 2.2 RESEARCH QUESTION: PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ............................. 17 2.3 RESEARCH CHALLENGES: MEASUREMENT ........................................ 18 v 2.4 SITUATING THE STUDY ............................................................................... 19 2.4.1 “Best practice” case studies .......................................................................... 19 2.4.2 Empirical/measurement/evaluation studies ................................................ 21 2.4.3 Where this study fits and what it contributes ............................................. 22 2.4.3.1 Filling a methodological gap .............................................................. 23 2.4.3.2 Filling a substantive gap ..................................................................... 24 3.0 THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL CONSTRUCTS ..................................... 26 3.1 DISTINGUISHABILITY AND INHERITABILITY ..................................... 27 3.2 CONCEPTUALIZING CATHOLIC IDENTITY LEGALLY ..................... 28 3.2.1 Key document: Ex Corde Ecclesiae .............................................................. 31 3.3 CONCEPTUALIZING CATHOLIC IDENTITY THEORETICALLY ...... 32 3.3.1 Key document: “Land O’Lakes Statement” ............................................... 33 3.3.2 Ex Corde in dialogue with “Land O’Lakes” on academic freedom .......... 35 3.4 A TYPOLOGY / EVOLUTION MODEL ....................................................... 39 3.4.1 Catholic university evolution – type one...................................................... 43 3.4.2 Catholic university evolution – type two ..................................................... 44 3.4.3 Catholic university evolution – type three ................................................... 45 3.4.4 A continuum, not a box ................................................................................. 47 3.4.5 Final note ........................................................................................................ 49 3.5 CHARISM .......................................................................................................... 50 3.5.1 Carlow’s charism ........................................................................................... 52 4.0 REVIEW OF LITERATURE – HISTORICAL ..................................................... 55 4.1 EUROPEAN ORIGINS AND CLASSIC TEXTS .......................................... 55 vi 4.2 BRIEF HISTORY OF CATHOLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN AMERICA …………………………………………………………………………………. 57 4.2.1 Early years...................................................................................................... 57 4.2.2 The nineteenth century ................................................................................. 59 4.2.2.1 Regional differences – the core territory .......................................... 59 4.2.2.2 Regional differences - the south ......................................................... 61 4.2.2.3 Regional differences - the west ........................................................... 62 4.2.2.4 Graduate and professional education ............................................... 64 4.2.3 Women’s education ....................................................................................... 65 4.2.4 Accreditation, standardization, and quality................................................ 67 4.2.4.1 Twentieth-century reforms ................................................................ 68 4.3 LESSONS FROM PROTESTANT HIGHER EDUCATION ....................... 70 5.0 REVIEW OF LITERATURE – THEMATIC ......................................................... 76 5.1 ACADEMICS AND TEACHING .................................................................... 79 5.1.1 Interdisciplinary inquiry ............................................................................... 79 5.1.2 Education for a purpose ................................................................................ 81 5.1.3 Informative about Catholicism..................................................................... 83 5.2 RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP ............................................................... 84 5.2.1 Ethical perspective ......................................................................................... 84 5.2.2 Service to the Church .................................................................................... 85 5.2.3 Interreligious dialogue .................................................................................. 87 5.3 STUDENT LIFE ................................................................................................ 88 5.3.1 Lived values .................................................................................................... 88 vii 5.3.2 Holistic personal formation .......................................................................... 89 5.3.3 Sacramental experience ................................................................................ 90 5.4 ADMINISTRATION ......................................................................................... 91 5.4.1 Professional development for employees ..................................................... 91 5.4.2 Communicating the mission ......................................................................... 93 5.4.3 Values-based decision making .....................................................................
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