Compliments of the Dean, May '21
Compliments of the Dean, May '21
Compliments of the Dean, May 2021
The campus is awash in purple flora at this time of year, including this sweetly perfumed lilac bush by a door to Mueller Hall.  In the spirit of Walt Whitman, sprigs of lilacs to all the Christ College faculty, whom we celebrate in this final Compliments of the Dean for 2020-21. 
During the next academic year, Professor Gretchen Buggeln will be on sabbatical, working on her new book, Faith in Place: Vernacular Approaches to the Study of Religious Architecture.  Professor Buggeln was the Christ College nominee for Valparaiso University Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work for the academic year 2020-2021.
Professor Agnes Howard will be teaching full-time in CC next year as a sabbatical replacement for Prof. Buggeln.  Her fall senior seminar, called “Grow Up:  A History of Adulthood in the United States,” forms the basis for next year’s CC alumni reading group syllabus.  Join a reading group today at https://www.valpo.edu/christ-college/alumni-reading-groups/.
Christ College is adding a new Study Abroad seminar next year, taught by Professor Tal Howard, Duesenberg Chair of Christian Ethics and CC affiliate faculty.  Based in a monastery one hour north of Rome in picturesque Orvieto, Italy, the program involves trips to Rome, Florence, and Siena.  Taking place from Dec. 28 (2021) to Jan. 10 (2022), the course is called “What is a Good Life?  Moral Philosophy in Medieval and Renaissance Europe.”
The Graber/Stewart household (Professor Sam Graber and Assistant Dean Anna Stewart) succumbed to the pandemic pet lure and welcomed an Australian Cattle Dog named Freya to their household.  Freya is vigilant about squirrels in her yard and has encouraged her children to keep their things put away by her enthusiasm to try out new chew toy options!
Professor Slavica Jakelić has just completed her first year as the Richard P. Baepler Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, a four-year appointment honoring exceptional teachers focused on advancing interdisciplinary and integrative study of the humanities in accord with Valparaiso University’s mission. During the next academic year, she will be teaching a CC seminar in “Christianty & Nationalism,” cross-listed with History and Political Science, as part of her Baepler work. 
Before taking over as Interim Dean in July, Professor Jennifer Prough is currently finishing up the copy editing on her new book, Kyoto Revisited: Heritage Tourism in Contemporary Kyoto, forthcoming from the University of Hawai’i Press, a leading publisher in Asian Studies.  She was also the Christ College nominee for Teaching Excellent award this year.
Professor Matt Puffer heroically served as the First-Year Program Director during this unprecedented year of hybrid teaching, limited classroom spaces, and changing calendars and modalities.  A few less texts were read this year, and some “stop and breathe” breaks were built into the schedule to ease pandemic student stress.
Another Christ College book appeared this academic year: Professor Julien Smith’s Paul and the Good Life: Transformation and Citizenship in the Commonwealth of God (Baylor UP, 2020).  Discussing the perennial CC question, “What is the good life?” Prof. Smith examines Paul’s vision for the life of human flourishing under the reign of Jesus.  The book placed Paul’s letters in conversation with both ancient virtue ethics and kingship discourse.   
Professor Edward Upton took an unusual “stretch” sabbatical this year, with a two-course teaching reduction in the fall and a one-course reduction in the spring.  But, best of all, he was released from all committee assignments for the entire year.  He used this time to research and revise his manuscript, The Education of Desire: India and Asceticism in the Work of T.S. Eliot, which has been accepted by the University of Virginia Press.


















“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”
In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash’d palings,
Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
With many a pointed blossom rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love,
With every leaf a miracle—and from this bush in the dooryard,
With delicate-color’d blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
A sprig with its flower I break.
Walt Whitman
With compliments,


Susan VanZanten, Ph.D.
Dean, Christ College
Valparaiso University
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Christ College, The Honors College

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