Where Are We? Learning Our Place in Midtown

Dr. Daniel Smith, Associate Professor of Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Course Description

About Where Are We? Learning our Place in Midtown

Where are we? This course invites students to explore the space we inhabit, here in Midtown Saint Louis. What, and who, was here before us? From the Missouria people to the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood, we will explore and reflect on the past, present, and future of this place where we together learn, work, and share community. 

Professor’s Perspective

In February 2016, Dr. Willie James Jennings gave the 20th De Lubac lecture here at SLU. His remarks challenged the audience to “learn the history of their space.” What was in this space fifty years earlier, one hundred years earlier, five hundred years earlier? This call to a theological, historical, sociological exploration of our place captured my imagination. 

Ever since, I have been eager to find a way to answer this challenge. So I was delighted to convene an Ignite Seminar designed to explore these fascinating questions with a group of first-year students. Where are we? What was here before us? Why do we know so little of that story? How do our own stories shape how we approach this larger story? How does the Jesuit, Catholic tradition shape this quest to learn our place? And how does the history of this place influence its present, and future?"

Daniel L. Smith, Ph.D.

Launch SlideshowSlide 1: Students listen as they look on toward the front of the presentation

Student’s Perspective

Before I started at SLU, I kind of expected everything to be instrumental. All classes would be designed to meet a goal, fill a requirement, teach a specific thing. But my Ignite seminar was different. Learning Our Place in Midtown was more about learning for the sake of learning, exploring as a way of learning. At the same time, the class was uniquely about St. Louis and SLU. It wasn’t a class you could take anywhere; it was very specific and that was important to me.

I enjoyed this class so much because it was designed with passion. Dr. Smith brought his own excitement about the topic to us, and asked us to bring our own ideas into our discussion of our place in Midtown Saint Louis. To me, this is the unique character of the Ignite Seminar. Because the professor is putting so much of their own interests into the class, they’re far more passionate about the topic and also more open. 

Our class was a great place to explore. Dr. Smith designed a solid syllabus, but we were invited to explore topics in ways that interested us. Our class was discussion based, and I made friends in this class who I never would have met otherwise because we don’t share a major, or even a college or school within SLU. And our final project was broad and open: you could work on just about anything as long as it related to the larger vision of the seminar.  

My advice to future SLU students: Take a class you know nothing about. I had no idea what my Ignite Seminar was about when I showed up for class, and I had a wonderful experience. Every student should have that experience.  You never know what you’re going to actually care about until you get here."