All Catholic colleges and universities share in the Catholic Church's rich history of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). This article explores two key research questions that focus on that grounding in today's world: First, how strongly is CST woven into the institutional fabric of those institutions; second, is that done implicitly or explicitly? We…

Catholic higher education aims to educate students about the Catholic Social Tradition, yet few resources exist to articulate specific learning goals and assess such learning. This article presents the process used by a multi-university team to validate a rubric intended to strengthen curricular and co-curricular student learning about the…

The University of St. Joseph, a Mercy institution, was founded during the Great Depression to provide women a gateway to higher education for careers in fields that would serve the well-being of society. Recently, the institution has undergone changes to modernize its organizational structure. Consistent with its commitment to educate people of…

While the success of Catholic school education is well documented, significant challenges currently threaten the Church's educational apostolate. Faced with increasing deficits, dwindling enrollments, low salaries, and aged facilities, Catholic schools across the country are studying governance models that will ensure the long-term sustainability…

The powerful and complex mandates arising from reports such as "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health" and "Health Professionals for a New Century: Transforming Education to Strengthen Health Systems in an Interdependent World" challenge colleges and universities to reconsider how they deliver nursing…

This article describes the processes and procedures the University of Saint Joseph used to conduct a systematic assessment of mission-related student-learning outcomes found in the General Education curriculum, and thus assess how well the institution was fulfilling its Mercy mission. The assessment showed student learning strengths and gaps and…