Being True to the Mission: UIW to Host Annual Bernadette O’Conner Lecture on Catholic Intellectual Traditions

On Monday, Feb. 10, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS) will proudly present UIW’s annual Bernadette O’Conner Lecture on Catholic Intellectual Traditions (CIT) at 5 p.m. in the Luella Bennack Music Center Seddon Recital Hall. The lecture was founded in 2017 with the intent to engage some facet of the CIT, most broadly understood as the dynamic and mutually illuminating conversation between the Catholic faith and human culture.

O’Conner, whom the lecture is named in honor of, served the UIW community previously as dean of CHASS and professor of Philosophy. Her vast knowledge of CIT and her career dedicated to encouraging community members to appreciate the resources the CIT has to offer inspired CHASS to dedicate this yearly event in her honor.

"I am so grateful to the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences for creating this lecture series,” expressed O’Conner. “A Catholic college or university cannot be true to its mission if it does not promote dialogue between all the academic disciplines and its living faith. This lecture series helps create that dialogue, and I'm grateful to my colleagues in CHASS for giving my name to it."

This year, UIW is excited to welcome guest speaker Dr. Karen Eifler, who will present on “Spiritual Struggles and Closeness to God During the College Experience.”

Karen Eifler is the executive director of Collegium, an organization that helps faculty at Catholic colleges understand and advance Catholic higher education. She was formerly professor of Education at the University of Portland where she also directed the Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life and American Culture.

Eifler has contributed articles to the Journal of Teacher Education and Educational Forum among others and authored A Month of Mondays: Spiritual Lessons from Catholic Classrooms, a book that draws on her extensive teaching experience to reflect on the connection between teaching and spirituality. She also edited Becoming Beholders: Cultivating Sacramental Imagination and Actions in College Classrooms, a collection of faculty essays on the sacramental vision of Catholic higher education.

The lecture is open and free to all attendees and will be followed by an informal reception with light refreshments.