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SJU awarded Lilly grant to identify ways to increase men’s involvement
November 4, 2007
Saint John’s University has been awarded a $599,900 grant from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. to identify ways to increase men’s involvement in volunteering, leadership training and vocational decision-making activities.
The grant runs from Jan. 1, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2009. Gar Kellom, vice president for student development at SJU and executive director of the Center for Men’s Leadership and Service at SJU, will serve as the project director.
There has been a growing concern nationally that men who attend liberal arts colleges are less involved than women in internships, study abroad, volunteering and other experiential learning activities. Fewer men than women are also participating in Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation (PTEV), an initiative of Lilly Endowment Inc. A total of 88 colleges and universities have the PTEV programs, including Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph.
Although there are research projects underway that explore why this is happening, this project is designed to contribute to the larger issue by focusing specifically on the gender balance of PTEV programs, and successful ways to improve it.
“This may be the first time a major foundation has decided to focus on the issue of men’s involvement,” Kellom said. “This will no doubt contribute to our understanding of what works and why.”
Saint John’s will convene teams from 14 colleges and universities to experiment with pilot projects to identify the best ways to increase college men’s involvement. The schools are Davidson, Morehouse, Georgetown, Hastings, Wabash, Hope, Saint Norbert and Luther colleges, and Saint John’s, Duke, Wake Forest and Furman universities. Two colleges have yet to be named.
The Saint John’s pilot project is a service and study trip in July and August, 2008, to India, Nepal and Tibet. More information about that trip can be found on the SJU Men's Center Web site.
High school programs, seminary leaders, experts from a broad range of disciplines and all PTEV programs will also be invited to two national conferences to be hosted by the Men’s Center at SJU, where “think tanks” will develop conceptual models to better understand what is happening with men (and boys) in vocational exploration activities and what will increase their involvement.
The first of those two conferences will be the fifth annual Conference on the College Male Feb. 15-16, 2008, at Saint John’s. It is the largest college men’s conference in the country.
“We are looking for the best ways to help college men get in touch with who they are as men and what their hearts are telling them to do with their lives,” Kellom said. He believes such a joint effort may also generate ideas that apply to other areas of college men’s involvement, such as health prevention.
Magazine articles, conference presentations and at least two books will disseminate the findings to a broad national audience working with youth, college students and church congregations.
Saint John’s is uniquely positioned to tackle this project as one of four remaining men’s colleges in the country. It will also provide an opportunity for two other men’s colleges (Wabash in Crawfordsville, Ind., and Morehouse in Atlanta) to articulate what works in a single sex environment and why.
The goal is to “achieve significant improvement in the gender participation programs and perhaps to get it to the point where it at least is even with the gender balance of the school,” Kellom said.
The Center for Men’s Leadership and Service seeks to create a safe and respectful environment for students to share their stories and discern who they are. It is a place for women and men to explore the masculine condition, foster personal and spiritual growth and raise awareness of the consequences of gender roles.