Saint Teresa Institute

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Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women

The Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women is an all-female community within the broader coeducational Saint Mary’s community. The students in the institute are committed to a living and learning environment that prioritizes service activities and the nurturing and development of each woman’s leadership potential. Embracing Franciscan, Teresan and Lasallian values, the institute encourages women to grow intellectually, socially, spiritually and culturally; and celebrates personal integrity, excellence and service.

The mission of the Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women is the tradition of courageous women throughout history. The Saint Teresa Institute fosters, within an academic setting, a spiritual, social and cultural environment through which the leadership potential of women is nurtured in a community that celebrates personal integrity, excellence, joy and service.

The institute is comprised of three core components:

• The women live together in community;
• The women take select courses together in women’s focused classrooms, and complete a 6-credit leadership and service curriculum; and
• The women participate in a variety of co-curricular activities, including life-skills workshops, leadership seminars, service learning, mentoring, and other on- and off-campus opportunities aimed at opening their minds to new ideas, people, and experiences.

Program Goals

• Provide a joyful, diverse and supportive community of women that fosters self-confidence and a holistic approach to personal growth;
• Provide experiences that awaken and foster the development of self-awareness, creativity, and the skills essential to developing one’s leadership potential and commitment to service;
• Build awareness and instill an appreciation for the Teresan, Franciscan and Lasallian values that make up the identity of the institute;
• Develop the intellectual habits necessary for responsible self-direction and a commitment to excellence in fully utilizing one’s gifts and abilities; and
• Cultivate habits for personal well-being and lifelong balance in pursuit of career, family and community service.

Students in the institute are required to complete 6 elective credits of coursework as members of the institute. In addition to these credits, students in the institute, when possible, take their general education courses in women’s -focused courses. These are sections of the Lasallian Core Traditions (LCT) courses where the professor has agreed to offer the course with a women’s-focus or perspective as one of the key approaches to the subject matter. While these courses do not preclude men, they are meant to consciously incorporate a woman’s focus on the subject matter. Precisely how a woman’s focus is incorporated into the course is up to the individual instructor. Each of the women’s-focused sections in the Lasallian Core Traditions (LCT140 , LCT225 , LCT375 , and LCT475 ) maintains the goals and objectives as established by the faculty in the Lasallian Core Traditions Program with this added goal and outcome:

• Women’s focus goal: Students understand and learn by consciously employing a women’s perspective on the subject matter of the course; and
• Outcome: Students should be able to articulate in writing and orally in class discussions how the subject matter might be understood and experienced differently for women.

Class discussion, papers, presentations and examinations are used to assess student application and comprehension of a women’s perspective on the subject matter.

Women in the Lasallian Honors Program who complete general education requirements in the Lasallian Honors Program meet the requirements for the institute.

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