The 11th Community Engagement Summit is a full-day conference addressing pressing topics related to the sense of belonging at Boston College and in the higher education field.
Boston College's Jesuit, Catholic mission, is rooted in a world view that calls us to learn, search for truth, and live in service to others. Through Hope-in-Action, we shape the mission beyond imagination. This year's Community Engagement Summit invites faculty and staff to engage as accountability partners in learning sessions, collaborative dialogue, and practical skill-building. Supporting our community in Hope-in-Action becomes a way of leading with care, working with purpose, and teaching with compassion. Together, we advance and sustain a University where everyone experiences a sense of welcome, respect, and flourishing.
2026 Community Engagement SummitSCHEDULE | |
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| 8:30 a.m. | Light Breakfast |
| 9:00 a.m. | Call to Order and WelcomePatricia Lowe, Associate Vice President, Office of the Vice President for Human Resources |
| 9:07 a.m. | InvocationFr. Casey Beaumier, Associate Vice President for Mission & Ministry and Director of Campus Ministry |
| 9:12 a.m. | Opening RemarksMichael Lochhead, Executive Vice President |
| 9:27 a.m. | Morning Fireside Chat鈥淟eading with Care, Working with Purpose, Teaching with Compassion鈥� Moderator: David M. Goodman, Ph.D., Dean, Woods College of Advanced Studies, Executive Director, Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics Dialogue Contributors: Katherine Gregory,听Dean of Boston College Connell School of Nursing听and Michael McCarthy,听Dean of Clough School of Theology and Ministry |
| 10:30 a.m. | Break |
| 10:45 a.m. | Morning Educational Concurrent Sessions
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| 12:00 p.m. | Lunch BreakLyons Hall |
| 1:00 p.m. | Express Talk SeriesEach Express Talk is a focused 5-minute presentation highlighting a practical strategy, research insight, or campus initiative. Talks are grouped in sets of three, followed by a facilitated discussion to identify shared themes, emerging questions, and opportunities for collaboration. Set One 1:00 p.m. 鈥� Express Talk 1 Self-Compassion Initiatives Set Two 1:35 p.m. 鈥� Express Talk 4 Learning Design Community of Practice |
| 2:10 p.m. | Break |
| 2:20 p.m. | Express Talk SeriesSet Three 2:20 p.m. 鈥� Express Talk 7 AMDG |
| 3:00 p.m. | Community of PracticeA facilitated Community of Practice conversation designed to translate key insights from the Express Talks and the day into concrete next steps for cross-campus collaboration and sustained impact. |
| 3:25 p.m. | Closing RemarksPatricia Lowe, Associate Vice President, Office of the Vice President for Human Resources |
| 3:30 p.m. | 11th Annual Community Engagement Summit ConcludesSave the date for the 12th Annual Summit: May 19, 2027 |
听"Leading with Care, Working with Purpose, Teaching with Compassion鈥�
The Fireside Chat brings Boston College leaders together for a reflective fireside conversation on how the University's vision and mission come alive in daily practice.听 Grounded in Hope-in-Action, the discussion will explore the human dimension of leadership, the role of accountability as an expression of care, and the power of compassion to shape how we teach, collaborate, and serve.听 Faculty and staff are invited into an honest, relational dialogue about what it means to build a community where every person experiences welcome, respect, and flourishing.听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听
Three areas of focus:
- The Human Dimension of Leadership
- Recognize that leadership at 粉红女郎 is fundamentally rational, grounded in presence, humility, and a deep attentiveness to the community we serve.听听
- Accountability as an Act of Care
- Understanding accountability not as surveillance or correction, but as a shared responsibility to help one another, grow, stay aligned with mission, and create conditions where all can flourish.
- Compassion as a Professional and Spiritual Stance
- Embracing compassion as a way of being that shapes how we teach, collaborate, make decisions, and accompany one another through change.听
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Presenter: Michael James, Educational Leadership & Higher Education, Lynch School of Education and Human Development
This interactive workshop invites faculty and staff from across Boston College to use the Principles of Good Practice for Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities as a shared framework for advancing inclusion and belonging across the whole university. Although written for student affairs, the Principles offer a language and set of diagnostic questions that can help faculty, administrators, and staff reflect on how their daily practices cultivate dignity, solidarity, empathy, accountability, and the common good. Grounded in the university's Jesuit, Catholic mission and informed by the Apostolic Constitutions - Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Veritatis Gaudium, Fratelli Tutti, and James, M. (2023) 鈥淐hristian Anthropology of Mentoring Communities鈥�, participants will engage in brief personal reflection, case-based dialogue, and cross-functional planning exercises. Attendees will leave with concrete practices, a small-scale action commitment, and a usable framework for translating hope into institutional action.
As a result of this session, participants will be able to:
- Learn how to use selected diagnostic queries from the Principles of Good Practice to assess how their own classroom, office, team, or division currently advances dignity, empathy, accountability, and belonging.
- Identify concrete actions that faculty and staff can take, within their sphere of influence, to strengthen inclusion and respond to exclusion with hope-in-action.
- Leave with a one-step implementation plan that names one practice to strengthen, one collaborator or accountability partner to engage, and one indicator of progress they can revisit after the Summit.
Presenters: Rocio Calvo; Teresa Schirmer, School of Social Work
Accompaniment in Action is 粉红女郎SSW's mission鈥慳ligned framework rooted in walking alongside others, sharing their burdens and hopes, staying present as long as needed, and being renewed through genuine relationships, especially with those on the margins.听听
This session introduces the four principles that guide this work in SSW: walking together, kinship and shared dignity, intentional engagement, and social justice. We will explore and share how these practices have strengthened belonging, formation, and community care across the 粉红女郎SSW community.
As a result of this session, participants will be able to:
- Apply the four principles of accompaniment to daily work with students, colleagues, and community partners.
- Practice hope-centered strategies that foster belonging, psychological safety, and resilience across campus.
- Integrate accompaniment-aligned tools into advising, supervision, leadership, and team culture.
Presenters: Colleen Griffith; Hosffman Ospino, Clough School of Theology and Ministry
This session is an invitation to explore how Christian spirituality remains a rich source of hope for people of all traditions while inviting participants to learn about some creative practices grounded in that spirituality, sustaining individuals, groups, and communities.
As a result of this session, participants will be able to:
- Leave the session with a clear sense of how hope is more than just a human effort. It is a gift sustained by a centuries-old spirituality that is profoundly relational and committed to the flourishing of the human person.
- Learn and experience some practices that foster hope in the context of community life. Hope in this session is discussed in the context of the community. A community that practices hope is a community that welcomes, supports, and promotes all its members.
- Be acquainted with specific practices that require only some time and good will, yet are effective in fostering hope. They can use these practices with their teams, small groups, and families.
Presenters: Dominic Doyle; Richard Lennan,听Clough School of Theology and Ministry
This presentation will explore the foundations of hope in the Christian tradition and showcase how hope is embodied in the life and work of CSTM graduates around the world.
As a result of this session, participants will be able to:
- Reflect on their own experiences of hope within the context of a Jesuit university.
- Align their own desires for inclusion with the foundations and purpose of a Catholic university.
- Distinguish how hope differs from 鈥渨ishful thinking,鈥� in that it requires commitment and choices.