PDF version - Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
PDF version - Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
PDF version - Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>Saint</strong> Teresa Leadership<br />
<strong>Saint</strong> Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women<br />
Margaret Winters, M.A., Director<br />
The <strong>Saint</strong> Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women is an all-female community within the<br />
broader co-educational <strong>Saint</strong> Mary’s community. The students in the institute are committed to a living<br />
and learning environment that prioritizes service activities and the nurturing and development <strong>of</strong><br />
each woman’s leadership potential. Embracing Franciscan, Teresan and Lasallian values, the institute<br />
encourages women to grow intellectually, socially, spiritually and culturally; and celebrates personal<br />
integrity, excellence and service.<br />
The mission <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Saint</strong> Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women is In the tradition <strong>of</strong><br />
courageous women throughout history, the <strong>Saint</strong> Teresa Institute fosters, within an academic setting, a<br />
spiritual, social, and cultural environment through which the leadership potential <strong>of</strong> women is nurtured<br />
in a community that celebrates personal integrity, excellence, joy, and service.<br />
The institute is comprised <strong>of</strong> three core components:<br />
• The women live together in community;<br />
• The women take select courses together in women’s focused classrooms, and complete a six-credit<br />
leadership and service curriculum; and<br />
• The women participate in a variety <strong>of</strong> co-curricular activities, including life-skills workshops,<br />
leadership seminars, service learning, mentoring, and other on- and <strong>of</strong>f-campus opportunities aimed<br />
at opening their minds to new ideas, people, and experiences.<br />
Program Goals<br />
• Provide a joyful, diverse and supportive community <strong>of</strong> women that fosters self-confidence and a<br />
holistic approach to personal growth;<br />
• Provide experiences that awaken and foster the development <strong>of</strong> self-awareness, creativity, and the<br />
skills essential to developing one’s leadership potential and commitment to service;<br />
• Build awareness and instill an appreciation for the Teresan, Franciscan and Lasallian values that make<br />
up the identity <strong>of</strong> the institute;<br />
• Develop the intellectual habits necessary for responsible self-direction and a commitment to<br />
excellence in fully utilizing one’s gifts and abilities; and<br />
• Cultivate habits for personal well-being and lifelong balance in pursuit <strong>of</strong> career, family, and<br />
community service.<br />
Students in the institute are required to complete six elective credits <strong>of</strong> coursework as members <strong>of</strong><br />
the institute. In addition to these credits, students in the institute, when possible, take their general<br />
education courses in women’s-focused courses. These are sections <strong>of</strong> the Lasallian Core Traditions (LCT)<br />
courses where the pr<strong>of</strong>essor has agreed to <strong>of</strong>fer the course with a women’s focus or perspective as one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the key approaches to the subject matter. While these courses do not preclude men, they are meant<br />
to consciously incorporate a woman’s focus on the subject matter. Precisely how a woman’s focus is<br />
incorporated into the course is up to the individual instructor. Each <strong>of</strong> the women’s-focused sections in<br />
the Lasallian Core Traditions (LCT140, LCT225, LCT375, and LCT475) maintains the goals and objectives<br />
as established by the faculty in the Lasallian Core Traditions Program with the added goal and outcome:<br />
• Women’s focus goal: Students understand and learn by consciously employing a women’s<br />
perspective on the subject matter <strong>of</strong> the course; and<br />
• Outcome: Students should be able to articulate in writing and orally in class discussions how the<br />
subject matter might be understood and experienced differently for women.<br />
Class discussion, papers, presentations, and examinations are used to assess student application and<br />
comprehension <strong>of</strong> a women’s perspective on the subject matter.<br />
181 181