Travis Gagen, Ph.D., assistant professor of health sciences in the Department of Human Services and Rehabilitation Studies, will represent Assumption at the Collegium’s 2019 Summer Colloquy on Faith and Intellectual Life at Saint John’s University in Minnesota in June.
For the past 10 years, Assumption has nominated several of its faculty to engage in this event. The Collegium’s goal is to foster a discussion on spiritual and intellectual life among representatives from Catholic-sponsored institutions of higher learning within their own institution while having different senses of vocation. During this weeklong event, Prof. Gagen and his colleagues from across the nation will guide participants in lectures, group discussions, and reflections, as well as other opportunities to discuss faith and intellectual life.
“Accepting the nomination provides me an opportunity to critically appraise my role as a STEM faculty member at a Catholic institution of higher education,” said Prof. Gagen. “As Catholic institutions across America move toward programs in the STEM fields, it is important to preserve schools of thought in the humanities while drawing connections to postmodernist epistemology. If we, as faculty, can move away from the notion that these are contradictory schools of thought, we can provide a unique interscholastic identity for our students and institution.”
According to Prof. Gagen, the Colloquy is “a retreat for faculty to discuss the issues, aims, and changing needs of Catholic higher education with the intent that faculty will continue to facilitate further discussion and practice of the Colloquy experience at their respective institutions.”
