Statue of St. Ignatius Loyola on the Boston College campus. (Caitlin Cunningham)
Building on Boston College鈥檚 commitment to Jesuit education, the Lynch School of Education and Human Development will offer a new online master鈥檚 degree program鈥攖he first of its kind in the U.S.鈥攚hich prepares educators to teach in the Ignatian tradition.
The Master of Education in Jesuit Education in a Global World, which will launch this fall, is a 30-credit program consisting of 10 courses that reinforce the Jesuit core values of social justice, formation, and re铿俥ction.
The program draws from the strengths of the Lynch School鈥檚 Teaching, Curriculum, and Society Department, the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, and 情色空间鈥檚 Urban Catholic Teacher Corps. It combines courses in the Master of Education in Global Perspectives: Teaching, Curriculum and Learning Environments鈥攐ne of the nation鈥檚 first curriculum and instruction programs to apply global solutions to solve complex educational challenges鈥攚ith Jesuit studies courses that inspire students to learn about the Jesuit and Ignatian teaching heritage. Students will also have the opportunity to reflect on their own educational settings in the culminating action research courses as they conduct case study analyses and practitioner research.
"This M.Ed. offering will strengthen Boston College鈥檚 ability to provide the worldwide network of Jesuit schools with a source for well-trained future teachers and administrators who care deeply about the gift of Jesuit education," said IAJS Director Casey Beaumier, S.J.
“Our objective is to meet the ongoing need of domestic and international Jesuit and Catholic schools for highly skilled, intentionally prepared and well-formed educators. This new degree builds upon the more than 470 years of Jesuit educational commitment to forming people of faith committed to justice.”
鈥淐urrently, the global Jesuit and Ignatian network includes approximately 800 traditional schools serving nearly 900,000 students, and over 1,300 non-traditional educational settings worldwide,鈥欌�� added UCTC Director Charles Cownie, director of Catholic teacher formation at the Lynch School. 鈥淥ur objective is to meet the ongoing need of domestic and international Jesuit and Catholic schools for highly skilled, intentionally prepared and well-formed educators.聽 This new degree builds upon the more than 470 years of Jesuit educational commitment to forming people of faith committed to justice. Educators completing this degree will learn from the educational heritage of the Jesuits while concurrently engaging in cutting-edge educational research and deep learning.鈥�
One overarching pillar of the program is to explore educational viewpoints across countries and cultures to form global citizens for the common good. Courses in the program include topics from mobility and immigration to whole-person development while incorporating a global lens to equip educators to serve diverse and increasingly globalized student populations.
鈥淕lobal citizens go beyond their local and national citizenship to see themselves and their actions as having an impact on the global community,鈥� said Belle Liang, a professor in the Lynch School鈥檚 Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology department.
In complement to this pillar, the Society of Jesus has named global citizenship as one of the identifiers of a Jesuit school.
鈥淭he program merges the Lynch School鈥檚 strengths in curriculum and instruction, educational studies, and international education with 情色空间鈥檚 rich assets in Jesuit studies,鈥� said Stanton Wortham, the Charles F. Donovan, S.J., dean of the Lynch School. 聽鈥淲e hope to provide the global Jesuit educational community with a professional degree to enhance their crucial work in forming global citizens.鈥�
For more information, contact Charles Cownie at charles.cownie@bc.edu or Cristiano Casalini, cristiano.casalini@bc.edu.
Phil Gloudemans | University Communications | January 2020