Eleven new Fairfield Dolan faculty members met during the academic year to explore Ignatian pedagogy and to discuss what it means to be a Jesuit business school.
The Dolan Ignatian Fellows Program was a contemplative program that brought faculty together where we dove deeper into the values of contemporary Jesuit practices in academia and beyond.
— Assistant Profess of Finance Nomalia Manna, PhD
Last month, 11 new Charles F. Dolan School of Business faculty members were the first to complete the Dolan Ignatian Fellows program. The faculty cohort met regularly to discuss what it means to be a Jesuit business school and to review in detail the Inspirational Paradigm for Jesuit Business Education. The Inspirational Paradigm is an initiative to promote innovative and engaging curricular course materials that inspire the idealism of business students and integrate the social justice and responsibility values of Jesuit social teaching into learning experiences.
“The Fellowship has created the space for new Dolan faculty where we can learn about the Ignatian perspective on how to teach business coursework,” said assistant professor of management Stanislav Vavilov, PhD.
While going through the fellowship, Dr. Vavilov was simultaneously co-authoring a research paper titled “Teaching Dark Side of Entrepreneurship Theories at Jesuit Business Schools: An Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm-Based Perspective.”
“The IPP (Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm) provided a framework for me to think about how to teach entrepreneurship in Jesuit business schools and how to address dark side theories associated with entrepreneurship including psychological, well-being, and social problems that tend to accompany entrepreneurship. The IPP allows educators to provide students with tools to overcome these problems, as future entrepreneurs and as individuals who walk alongside other entrepreneurs.”
Assistant professor of finance Nomalia Manna, PhD, who joined Dr. Vavilov as part of the inaugural cohort said, “The Dolan Ignatian Fellows Program was a contemplative program that brought faculty together where we dove deeper into the values of contemporary Jesuit practices in academia and beyond. This program also created a sense of belonging for me as I come from a different cultural background but with very similar beliefs and values.”
Fellowship co-leaders Joan Lee, CPA, professor of accounting, and Rev. Gregory Konz, special assistant to the dean, will welcome a new cohort starting in the fall.
