Develop a mission driven classroom
The Catholic Studies Graduate Program’s Mission and Culture Study and Certificate provide Catholic school educators the principles to develop more mission-driven schools and classrooms.
The Mission and Culture Courses will help you:
Advance Excellence in Catholic Education
Apply your knowledge to address the modern challenges of Catholic education and develop concrete strategies for making your classroom and school more mission driven.
Engage the Catholic Tradition
Deepen your knowledge of Catholic approaches to education and learn how to ground your teaching in the unity of knowledge and the complementarity of faith and reason.
Cultivate Community
Build relationships with other area educators, and with staff from the Office for the Mission of Catholic Education in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, within the rich and supportive learning environment of our blended online courses.
Earn Graduate Credit
Continue your studies by applying the credit you earn in our Two-Course Study or Six-Certificate to a Master of Arts in Catholic Studies.
Opportunities for Catholic School Educators
Many educators start their graduate studies with our blended Two-Course Study which is offered in the summers. These two courses can stand alone or be a first step on the way towards the Mission and Culture graduate certificate. Both courses are designed to help teachers and administrators learn how to cultivate the Catholic identity and culture of their school.
The Certificate in Mission & Culture in Catholic Education offers educators a deep study of the Catholic tradition of reflection on education and helps educators bring the resources of that tradition into their schools and the lives of their students. The certificate allows educators to build on the Two-Course Study and go deeper into their study of Catholic identity and mission.
The heart of any culture, as well as its continuity, can be found in its educational tradition, the distillation for the next generation of its highest ideals and most important truths. For the West this began with the Greeks, who set in place, some five centuries before Christ, the main aspects of a tradition that lasted, with significant developments, up until very recent times.
This course will trace that tradition, using both primary and secondary source material, and will include: its origins in fifth- century BC Greece; its universalization during the Hellenistic period; its encounter with Christianity in the Patristic era; its Christian instantiation under the Carolingian Empire; the great Medieval educational synthesis and the rise of the University; the development of Renaissance humanism and the Ratio Studiorum of the Jesuits; Newman's classic expression of the tradition in The Idea of a University; and the great challenge to that tradition and change that has taken place during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
This course is an online blended course offered in the summers.
This course explores the history, philosophy, and theology of PreK-12 Catholic education in the United States over the past 100 years. The course aims to help students understand the challenges PreK-12 Catholic schools face with respect to their mission and culture. Students will be exposed to the philosophical and theological foundations upon which Catholic schools have been built, the changes within church and society that have affected Catholic PreK-12 education, and the future of Catholic PreK-12 education. Discussions and assignments will focus on creative solutions to mission and culture challenges facing Catholic schools today.
This course is an online blended course offered in the summers.
In addition to the Two-Course Study, certificate students select 4 elective Catholic Studies graduate courses.
Sample courses include:
Students finish their Graduate Certificate with a Capstone Project in which they take what they have learned and present a plan to implement a project in their school.
The heart of any culture, as well as its continuity, can be found in its educational tradition, the distillation for the next generation of its highest ideals and most important truths. For the West this began with the Greeks, who set in place, some five centuries before Christ, the main aspects of a tradition that lasted, with significant developments, up until very recent times.
This course will trace that tradition, using both primary and secondary source material, and will include: its origins in fifth- century BC Greece; its universalization during the Hellenistic period; its encounter with Christianity in the Patristic era; its Christian instantiation under the Carolingian Empire; the great Medieval educational synthesis and the rise of the University; the development of Renaissance humanism and the Ratio Studiorum of the Jesuits; Newman's classic expression of the tradition in The Idea of a University; and the great challenge to that tradition and change that has taken place during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
This course is an online blended course offered in the summers.
This course explores the history, philosophy, and theology of PreK-12 Catholic education in the United States over the past 100 years. The course aims to help students understand the challenges PreK-12 Catholic schools face with respect to their mission and culture. Students will be exposed to the philosophical and theological foundations upon which Catholic schools have been built, the changes within church and society that have affected Catholic PreK-12 education, and the future of Catholic PreK-12 education. Discussions and assignments will focus on creative solutions to mission and culture challenges facing Catholic schools today.
This course is an online blended course offered in the summers.
In addition to the Two-Course Study, certificate students select 4 elective Catholic Studies graduate courses.
Sample courses include:
Students finish their Graduate Certificate with a Capstone Project in which they take what they have learned and present a plan to implement a project in their school.
Thanks to the generosity of Catholic Studies donors, the department is happy to award all Catholic school educators in the Two-Course Study a 25% tuition scholarship (valued at $940).
The Cooperative Scholarship Program is available to primary and secondary schools. Educators at cooperating schools, upon admission as a degree-seeking student in the Catholic Studies Graduate Program, may be named by their school as a recipient of a Cooperative Scholarship. For this program, Catholic Studies covers one third of the tuition, the sponsoring school covers one third, and the student covers the remaining third. These scholarships are intended primarily for students in the summer program. Cooperative scholarships may be renewed annually, pending availability of funds.
Other scholarships for current primary and secondary lay educators who enroll as degree-seeking students are awarded on the basis of need. Those wishing to be considered for this scholarship must file a FAFSA with the University of St. Thomas.
For further information about all educator scholarship opportunities, please contact Catholic Studies Graduate Program Director, Dr. Erika Kidd.
The Heart of Culture: The Story of Catholic Education
Can understanding Newman help us pursue renewal in educational institutions? Dr. Naughton explains how.
“Catholic Studies was most influential in shaping my understanding of education, and more specifically, what a distinctly Catholic education looks like. It has well equipped me for teaching religion at a Catholic high school, as well as influenced in innumerable ways, my own views on how I seek to raise and educate my children.” – Kevin ‘10
“Catholic Studies has given me a vision in which to live and work (teach) by. It also fosters daily discussion on family life. My husband also took a few Catholic studies classes. We keep up with daily discussion and reading on some of the great minds we met while at Sitzmann Hall: Newman, More, Dante, Mauriac, Greene, the Catechism, O’Connor, Aquinas, Benedict XVI, John Paul, Shakespeare…” – Laura ‘12
“[Catholic Studies] was a wonderful, comprehensive program that artfully brought together all elements of the Catholic faith in a rigorous way. The quality of the professors was high, and the diversity of the student body was enriching. . . I learned a lot, grew in my faith, and feel qualified to serve in my current position as principal of a Catholic school.” – Alison ‘18
