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“There is no way to extract my Christian faith from my interaction with students. Does this mean I proselytize? No, but students do know where I stand and I have no intention of hiding my faith. However, I am obligated, by ethical standards and by God, to treat all of my students with compassion and understanding, regardless of religious/spiritual background.” – Jason Poole, Texas A&M University, Feb 07 “Spirituality could enter advising in several ways: (a) assisting students with spiritual issues [content]; (b) having one's advisement informed by and/or grounded in spiritual perspectives [training]; (c) fostering spirituality as a context for academic decisions [process]. Each of these stretch the limits of the adviser in ways we tend not to be stretched or guided as individuals let alone professionals. Each raises profound and troubling ethical issues – not to mention problems with diverse definitions of 'spiritual.' For many years I have grappled with similar issues in the context of spirituality and communication – a tangled thicket full of disparate world views, emotions and personal choices. The topic of spirituality and advising will likely prove to be similar.” – David Tukey, West Chester University, Feb 07 “Spirituality does not have to be necessarily tied with religion, but it is certainly tied with God, supernatural being, etc. Ritual is defined as religion in action. Then one must ask the question, are all rituals related to religious worship? I personally would like to see religion out of secular education.” – Kannan P. Nambiar, George Mason University, Feb 07 “Fundamentally, I don't think spirituality need be imprisoned in solely a religious connotation. We can use other 'messy' words like attitude, feeling, emotion. After all we are 'feeling man' as well as Homo Sapiens, 'thinking man.' Since we are really talking about individual human beings, advising is a part of academic life which, in turn, is a part of life in general. I think often there is a mysterious chemistry in a classroom and in 'good' advising, as there is in any human relationship, something inexplicable and indescribable between student and professor/teacher/adviser/mentor that defies analysis and quantification, something that transcends information and intellect. I think there is a transcendant importance of character and trust that create bonding strands that span the chasm between individuals in an embracing web. The good teacher and adviser is seen by the student not as someone who knows the ropes or can cut red tape, but as a transcendant person who can be trusted to be caring and fair. 'That's the one I like. He notices me; he makes the time for me; he has a faith in me; he cares about me; he can be trusted to do the right thing.' It has an appeal that has something to do with authenticity, character, personality. It has something to do with 'who that person is' not what that person knows or does. That person's symbol in the students' minds and hearts is a smiley '!', not a frowny '?'.” – Louis Schmier, Valdosta State University, Feb 09 The Mentor is published by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies Available online at www.psu.edu/dus/mentor/ Privacy and Legal Statements | Copyright | © The Pennsylvania State University | All rights reserved | |
