Speaker to Explore Role of Interreligious Dialogue at a Catholic University
01/26/2018
The “Conversations for the Decade Ahead” speakers series continues this month with a presentation from James L. Heft, S.M., the founding president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies (IACS) at the University of Southern California.
A Marianist priest and historian, Heft will discuss “The Enlightenment and Catholicism: The Challenges of Interreligious Dialogue” at 3 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 31, in the Pere Marquette Gallery, DuBourg Hall. The presentation is open to all members of the SLU community.
Heft spent nearly three decades at the University of Dayton in Ohio, serving as chair of the theology department for six years, provost for eight years and then chancellor for 10 years.
He left Dayton in 2006 to found the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies (IACS) at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he now serves as Alton Brooks Professor of Religion and president of the institute.
Heft conceived of the institute as a way to preserve and advance the theological, philosophic and artistic contributions that Catholics and the Catholic Church have made to the today’s world.
A widely published author, Heft has written and edited 11 books and written more than 150 articles and book chapters. The author of Catholic High Schools: Facing the New Realities (Oxford, 2011), Heft is currently working his latest tome, The Current State of Catholic Colleges and Universities in the United States.
Heft has spoken at institutions across the country about Catholic higher education and related issues. In 2013, Boston College invited him to present "The Challenges of Leading a Catholic University" as part of the school’s 150th anniversary celebration.
In 2011, Heft was honored with the Theodore Hesburgh Award for long and distinguished service to Catholic higher education. He also received the Michael Guerra Award in 2014, for significant service to Catholic education from the National Catholic Education Association.
For more information about Heft’s presentation or the ongoing speakers series, contact Doug Williams, Professor of Law and Co-Leader of the Operational Excellence Program, at doug.williams@slu.edu or 314-977-5793.
About “Conversations for the Decade Ahead
One of the Transforming SLU initiatives, the speakers series features national experts in higher education, and is designed to engage faculty, staff and students in a year of community-wide conversations about the rapidly changing environment of academia. The “Conversations for the Decade Ahead” web page includes materials from previous presentations and a growing library of articles about higher education.