| Hello Alumni, Parents, Students, and Friends of CC,
I hope this newsletter finds you flourishing even as temperatures drop and the busyness of the season rises. Here in Mueller, the Commons have been full of students studying, eating, doing puzzles, working together, and (of course) napping.
This time of year is often one of reflection. On a college campus, students and faculty alike are busy turning in final work (papers or grades), ready for a break, and excited for new classes and new experiences in January. For Christians, Advent is a season of anticipation and remembrance of Christ’s birth. For all, the end of the year (whenever that is marked) signals a time of reflection, of hope, of transition to something new. The cycle of renewal is central to human communities, and I hope that you are renewed this season.
As I think about the year that past and the year to come, I am especially honored to be able to steward this amazing community as Dean. I am deeply humbled to follow in the footsteps of giants as I fondly remember the size of Dean Meyer’s hand when I shook it as a prospective student. I look forward to continuing to help cultivate the habits of close reading and thoughtful discussion about the things that matter most in the world; habits that are much needed today.
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| CC in Pictures: The 2023 First-Year Production
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Top left: Clad in western wear, Kayla Bass ’27 warms up her saxophone. Top right: The cast of Howdy...Pardner? pose in Shady Springs. Bottom left: Bri McFerson ’27 appears as a ghostly narrator after a climactic tussle at the town bank. Bottom right: Emma Clark ’27 and Elizabeth Lieb ’27 rehearse a first-year production staple — the bar scene!
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CC AuthorsIn this winter edition of The Spillikin, we want to highlight authorship in our community. This fall we had several significant publications to celebrate in Mueller and in our broader alumni community.
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Faculty Authors
This fall Desire and the Ascetic Ideal: Buddhism and Hinduism in the Works of T.S. Eliot by Edward Upton, associate professor of humanities, hit the shelves. Many of you have probably taken seminars on T.S. Eliot and/or modernism and literature from Professor Upton. In this important contribution to our understanding of the influence of Buddhist and Hindu thought on T.S. Eliot, Professor Upton demonstrates critical insight into Eliot’s poetry by reading it through in dialogue with Eliot’s unpublished graduate school notebooks. “The Hindu words ‘Shantih shantih shantih’ provide the closing of The Waste Land, perhaps the most famous poem of the twentieth century. This is just one example among many of T.S. Eliot’s immersion in Sanskrit and Indian philosophy and of how this fascination strongly influenced his work.”
Scholarship is an important part of the life of faculty and students in CC. Other significant publications by CC faculty in 2023 include the following by Associate Professor of Humanities and Ethics Matthew Puffer:
- “The Image of God in the City of God” in Augustine and Ethics, edited by Sean Hannan and Kim Paffenroth. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
- A chapter on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's doctrine of creation, originally published in 2019, was revised for a 2023 paperback edition: “Creation” in The Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, edited by Michael Mawson and Philip Ziegler. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
As well as these from Associate Professor of Humanities and Theology Julien Smith:
- “Paul, Generosity, and Ecological Flourishing.” In Ecoflourishing and Virtue: Christian Perspectives Across the Disciplines. Edited by Steven Bouma-Prediger and Nathan P. Carson. New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology, and Biblical Studies. London: Routledge, 2023.
- “Perfection in the Two Ways Tradition: Aspirational or Attainable?” Pages 361-388 in Longing for Perfection in Late Antiquity. Edited by Johan Leemans, Geert Roskam, and Peter van Deun. Ancient Philosophy and Religion. Leiden: Brill, 2023.
- “Unity in Christ: Virtue and the Reign of the Good King in Ephesians and Colossians.” Pages 283–300 in One God, One People: Oneness and Unity in Early Christianity. Edited by Stephen C. Barton and Andrew J. Byers. Resources for Biblical Studies 104. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2023.
- “How to Read Yourself Into Genesis.” Christianity Today (January 6, 2023).
Continuing her contributions to public-facing scholarship, Associate Professor of Humanities & Social Thought and Richard P. Baepler Distinguished Professor in the Humanities Slavica Jakelić published her first piece as a monthly columnist for the Croatian magazine Tocka/Zarez (Semicolon), “the magazine for dialogue and solidarity focusing on social, religious and political affairs.” Her first column was titled “On Silence and Culture Wars: Why Churches Don't Speak About the Human Rights of Workers.”
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Student Authors
Campus was abuzz with the launch of Eminence, the first novel by CC senior Danielle Kneusel ’24. We were beyond happy to celebrate with Danielle at her September 28 book launch on campus. Danielle signed copies and spoke about her journey as a full-time student and novelist.
Danielle describes Eminence as “Divergent meets Titanic,” a dystopian world in which a perfectionist society is organized around one of five “disciplines.” (You can find out your discipline by taking Danielle’s BuzzFeed quiz.) While the citizens of Atvas struggle to become the Sovereign of their chosen discipline, we hear that Danielle is already hard at work on the sequel!
Meanwhile, the latest edition of The Lighter featured a number of Christ College students. Valpo’s premier literary magazine dropped on December 8, so it’s still hot off the presses. Edited by CC senior Cori Laatsch ’24, the most recent issue features more than 120 pages of art and photography, prose and poetry. There are few joys quite like recognizing your students’ names in print.
One poem you won’t find in The Lighter could only be heard in the Mueller Commons (and on our social media livestream). Ruth Cook ’27 was this year’s Haiku Contest winner, earning her the traditional honor of lighting the Mueller hearth. Ruth’s poem captured the eternal struggle of every CC student:
Get words on paper
Conclusions drawn but not reached
The best way to live
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Alumni Authors
While word doesn’t always reach us, we are aware of several recent publications by alumni.
Jeff Smith ’80. Perpetual Scriptures in Nineteenth-Century America: Literary, Religious, and Political Quests for Textual Authority (Bloomsbury Publishing). Jeff is currently docent professor of English and American studies at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
John Linstrom ’10. To Leave for Our Own Country (Black Lawrence Press, April 2024). John also serves as series editor of The Liberty Hyde Bailey Library for Cornell University Press, which will publish The Nature-Study Idea and Related Writings in 2024. John is a Mellon Foundation postdoctoral fellow in climate and inequality at The Climate Museum in New York City, and holds a Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University and an MFA in creative writing and environment from Iowa State University.
Now an online publication, the latest issue of VALPO magazine also features a new book, The Beauty of Motherhood: Grace-Filled Devotions for the Early Years, co-authored by Christ College alumna Erin Dalpini ’08 Strybis in Alumni Ink.
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The Dean’s Fund – Thank You!
Last month for GivingTuesday, CC celebrated more than 250 students who have presented their work at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). For many CC students, NCUR is a first taste of academic work. Thanks to you, we raised more than $10,000, which will fully sponsor five students to attend this year’s conference in Long Beach, California. (We were also top of the leaderboard among Valpo’s colleges, not that we’re competitive!) As you plan your end-of-year giving, your continued support of the Dean’s Fund will allow us to send more students to NCUR, where they can share their research, connect with their peers, and see themselves not just as students but as scholars.
Keep Us Posted
If you have news you would like to share with the larger CC community or ideas for connecting with CC, current students, or alumni, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at christ.college@valpo.edu.
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| In Closing
I hope this season brings you together with family and friends, gives you time to rest, and provides occasion to reflect on the gifts we have been given. I, for one, am grateful for the gift of community in Mueller and beyond.
Happy renewals.
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Jennifer Prough '91, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor of Humanities and East Asian Studies
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