A Charism Is a Nice Thing to Have: Catholic Culture Within the Student
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of St. Thomas, Minnesota University of St. Thomas, Minnesota UST Research Online Education Doctoral Dissertations in Leadership School of Education Spring 2015 A Charism is a Nice Thing to Have: Catholic Culture within the Student Affairs Division at a Catholic University Lacking a Founding Order Josh Hengemuhle University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.stthomas.edu/caps_ed_lead_docdiss Part of the Educational Leadership Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, Higher Education Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Other Education Commons, and the Student Counseling and Personnel Services Commons Recommended Citation Hengemuhle, Josh, "A Charism is a Nice Thing to Have: Catholic Culture within the Student Affairs Division at a Catholic University Lacking a Founding Order" (2015). Education Doctoral Dissertations in Leadership. 66. https://ir.stthomas.edu/caps_ed_lead_docdiss/66 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Education at UST Research Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Education Doctoral Dissertations in Leadership by an authorized administrator of UST Research Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Charism is a Nice Thing to Have: Catholic Culture within the Student Affairs Division at a Catholic University Lacking a Founding Order A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS By Josh A. Hengemuhle IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION 2015 ii UNIVERERSITY OF ST. THOMAS, MINNESOTA A Charism is a Nice Thing to Have: Catholic Culture within the Student Affairs Division at a Catholic University Lacking a Founding Order We certify that we have read this dissertation and approve it as adequate in scope and quality. We have found that it is complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the final examining committee have been made: Dissertation Committee __________________________________________ Kathleen M. Boyle, Ph. D., Committee Chair __________________________________________ Sandra M. Estanek, Ph. D., Committee Member __________________________________________ Thomas L. Fish, Ed. D., Committee Member iii ABSTRACT Student affairs practitioners working in Catholic colleges and universities face the challenge of balancing of two competing value systems: that of the Catholic identity and mission of the institution coming from the Catholic Church, and the values of the student affairs profession. At institutions founded by a specific religious order, the charism of that order can play an instrumental role in a student affairs practitioner’s understanding of that Catholic culture and can aid in that balancing act (Sanders, 2010). These charisms ground religious congregations, providing them, and the individuals working at their institutions, with “distinctive ‘flavors’ or cultures, and act as reference points and as guiding forces for their ministries” (Sanders, 2010, p. 4). However, at an institution not founded by an order, student affairs professionals do not have such a guide present within the culture of the institution (Galligan-Stierle & Casale, 2010). Given the focus on charism in the limited literature on student affairs within Catholic higher education (Estanek, 2002), student affairs practitioners at these institutions are left without professional guidance. This study examines the particular case of St. Isidore University, a diocesan Catholic university. Using case study analysis I determine the nature of the Catholic culture within the student affairs division. I go further to apply grounded theory methodology to analyze how that culture came to be. Finally, I provide recommendations for future practice. iv This dissertation is dedicated to my children. Daddy’s done with school. Now it’s your turn. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has been ten years in the making. I have not been writing it for that long, but ten years of my experience have influenced me coming to this topic and this program as the direction of my work. As one can imagine, in ten years of work, there are a number of people to thank. I will miss many of them. I will begin by thanking my mother, Arlys. From early in my life she made a commitment that I attend Catholic schools, making it a priority. That is not an easy thing for a single mother to do. Combining that education with the foundation of the faith she raised me in, I have become who I am today. My gratitude goes to Dr. Timothy Seaworth of the University of Mary, who when I told I wanted to enter student affairs as a profession, went to his shelf and pulled down a copy of Estanek’s (2002) Understanding Student Affairs in Catholic Colleges and Universities. The idea that doing this work within Catholic higher education was an area on which to focus entered my mind then and has stuck with me since. I want to thank the numerous people who have had to experience me in class over these years: my master’s classmates, my doctoral cohort, and occasional others along the way. Each of you are a part of this in some way, whether it be for putting up with me as “the Catholic education guy” in class, or simply helping me engage in any number of topics and subjects outside of my focus. Thank you for learning with me. Thank you to my committee members. Due to your involvement and the high standards of quality to which you held me, my pride in my work increased. Specifically to my chair Dr. Kate Boyle, who has served both as a mentor and a friend since I began working in student affairs and studying. Your commitment to and support of me has been an essential part of my development and (hopefully) success. But most importantly, my greatest gratitude goes to my wife, Tricia. She has been my partner through these ten years and has born the burden of me being a student vi for over eight of them. Her patience is astounding, her support unwavering, and her love uplifting. Yes, she and our children may have had an impact on this taking as long as it did to complete, but it would never have been done without her. I cannot begin to thank her enough for her love and support. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vii Chapter One: Introduction and Warrant for Study 1 Historical Context – Catholic Higher Education 2 Founding Orders and their Charisms 4 Catholic Institutions with Order Affiliation 5 Historical Context – the Student Affairs Profession 6 Institutional Mission and Culture 7 Professional Development 8 Relevance 9 Research Question 10 Glossary of Terms 11 Reflexive Statement 14 Overview of the Chapters 16 Chapter Two: Review of Relevant Literature 18 Catholic Culture within Higher Education 18 Early Purposes of Catholic Higher Education 19 Transition to the Twentieth Century 20 Loss of Religious 22 Ex Corde Ecclesiae 23 Student Affairs at Catholic Institutions 25 Value Congruence 25 Tensions 27 Balancing personal and institutional values 29 Professional Association 31 Principles of Good Practice 32 Professional Competencies 34 Importance of Mission 35 Theoretical Foundations 35 Organizations as Culture 36 Connection to charism 37 Person/organization fit 38 Leadership within culture 41 viii Socialization 42 Lincoln’s discourse, myth, ritual, and taxonomy 45 Tribalism 47 Chapter Summary 50 Chapter Three: Methodology 51 Design and Rationale 52 Data Collection 55 Site Selection 55 Participants 57 Interviews 60 Additional Data Collection 61 Participant observation. 61 Background interviews 62 Environmental observation 63 Document analysis 64 Data Storage 65 Data Analysis 65 Validity, Generalizability, Reliability and Ethics 66 Validity, Generalizability and Reliability 66 Confidentiality and Ethics 69 Chapter Summary 71 Chapter Four: Findings and Analysis of the Formations and Perceptions of the Catholic Identity at SIU 72 Background 72 The Charism of SIU 73 Helping and Service 74 Dignity 77 Justice and Peace 81 Local Community 82 The Development and Continuation of SIU’s Charism 84 Formal Structures 85 The search process 86 Supervision structures 90 Articulation 92 Diffusion 94 Formal Trainings 95 Questions and issues 98 Discourse, Myth and Ritual 100 ix Discourse 100 Not JUST Catholic 102 “Big ‘C’ – little ‘c’” 104 Restrictions 106 Myth 107 Fr. Ted 107 Professed religious 109 Namesake saint 110 “Isidorian” 111 Ritual 113 Personal Commitment 114 Individual staff value congruence 117 Student driven 119 Lack of Influence 121 Chapter Summary 122 Chapter Five: Summary, Implications, and Recommendations 124 Research Review 125 Name It 126 Assessment 127 Consistency 128 Positivity 129 Universal 131 Use It 132 Intentionality 132 Competency 133 Responsibility 136 Future Research 137 Chapter Summary 138 References 140 Appendices Appendix A: Participant Email 147 Appendix B: Interview Protocol 149 Appendix C: Participant Consent Form 150 Appendix D: Transcriber Confidentiality Agreement 152 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND WARRANT FOR STUDY The 208 institutions of higher education in the United States that identify themselves as Catholic educate over 900,000 students (Estanek, Herdlein, & Harris, 2011). These students experience their education within the context of institutional missions guided and directed by the Catholic identity of the institution. At institutions