About SVHE
Our Leadership
2009-2010
Officers
President: Cathy Bao Bean—author of The Chopsticks-Fork Principle, A Memoir and Manual and co-author with Dongdong Chen of The Chopsticks-Fork Principle, A Bilingual Reader; previously a philosophy teacher, presently an aerobics instructor.
Vice President: Janet Ray Edwards—Senior Academic Adviser, Division of Education Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities, (emeritus); educator: middle school through graduate level teaching and administration; Ph.D. Harvard University GSAS, English and American Languages and Letters.
Secretary: David Hoekema— Academic Dean and Professor of Political Philosophy, Aesthetics and African Philosophy at Calvin College; former Exec. Director of the American Philosophical Assoc
Treasurer: Amy Lampazzi —Ph.D. in mathematics from Rice University; former instructor in flight controllers and propulsion systems on the space shuttle at NASA's Johnson Space Center, University of Houston at Clear Lake, and several middle and high schools.
Board of Directors
Eric Bain-Selbo—Associate Professor and head of Dept. of Religion and Philosophy at Western Kentucky University; Ph.D. University of Chicago.
Amy Berger—Associate Professor, Dept. of Environmental Science (Geology), Heidelberg University.
Walter Blass—retired Director-Strategic Planning at AT&T headquarters, Guilford College Board of Trustees; Visiting "Best Professor of the Year" at Grenoble Graduate School of Business in France.
Allen Dunn—Editor of Soundings, An Interdisciplinary Journal; professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of TN.
Janet Edwards—[see above]
David Hoekema—[see above]
Nancy Jones—board member of Global Health Action (Atlanta GA), North Carolina Wesleyan College and on Preparation for Ministry Committee of Presbytery of New Hope; B.A. from Duke University; mother of three “SVHE Brats.”
Cynthia Magistro—Professor of Psychology, Seton Hill University and approved Supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.
Allison Moore—Episcopal priest and rector of The Church of the Good Shepherd in Fort Lee, NJ; author of Clergy Moms: A Survival Guide to Balancing Family and Congregation; Ph.D. in Christian Social Ethics from Boston University; member of SVHE since 1982 because “It's the community of friends who nurture, challenge, and help sustain my spiritual and intellectual life.”
Daniel Sack—administrator at the University of Chicago Divinity School; author of Whitebread Protestants: Food and Religion in American Culture and Moral Re-Armament: The Reinventions of an American Religious Movement; ordained minister in the United Church of Christ; a Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton University.
David Tabb Stewart—Assistant Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Religions at California State University, Long Beach and director of the Summer Workshops in College Teaching (SWCT) for SVHE; formerly on faculty of Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, and Southwestern University; Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
Amy White—Journalist, former Outreach Coordinator, Center on Religion & the Professions at University of Missouri.
Associates
Christine Feldman—Visiting Lecturer in Media Studies, University of New Hampshire; Ph.D. in Communications at University of Pittsburgh, Fulbright scholar.
Committees
Program chaired by Eric Bain-Selbo and Amy Berger.
Development chaired by David Hoekema.
Projects chaired by David Tabb Stewart.
Communication chaired by Allen Dunn.
Membership chaired by Janet Edwards.
Nominating chaired by Nancy Jones.
Finance chaired by Amy Lampazzi.
2008-2009
Officers
President: Allen Dunn [see above]
Vice President: Janet Edwards [see above]
Secretary: Eric Bain Selbo—[see above]
Treasurer: Dick Harter—Partner, Bingham, Dana & Gould LLP.
Board of Directors
Jerry G. Berberet—Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College at Carroll College; former Executive Director, Associated New American Colleges.
Amy Berger [see above]
Walter Blass [see above]
David Hoekema [see above]
Hal Jackson -
Nancy Jones [see above]
Amy Lampazzi [see above]
Cynthia Magistro [see above]
Dan Sack [see above]
Dave Tabb Stewart [see above]
Staff
Executive Director: Marvin A. Kaiser—Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Portland State University; formerly Director of the Center for Rural Initiatives and the Community Service Program at Kansas State University
Associate Executive Director: Robert A. Spivey— Senior Associate and Ombudsman for The Florida State University Foundation; former President of Randolph Macon Woman’s College and the VA Foundation for Independent Colleges.
Associate Executive Director: George Karnezis—largely retired college teacher currently writing fiction and continuing study of rhetoric, composition, hermeneutics, and the perilous state of humanistic college-level teaching. Other occupations: bulimic reader and weekend farmer.
Business Manager: Pam Montgomery—former financial officer of the Archdiocese of Portland; B.A. in Performing Arts from University of Portland.
Administrative Assistant: Renee Devereux—formerly in software sales & international marketing.
With gratitude, we acknowledge the invaluable leadership of our former presidents:
Pat Barnes-McConnell—Director of Bean/Cowpea CRSP, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.
Joel Cunningham—President, Vice Chancellor and Professor of Mathematics of Sewanee: The University of the South; former President of Susquehanna University; chair of Appalachian College Assoc.
David Hoekema—[see above]
James T. Laney—former U.S. Ambassador to Korea, President of Emory University, and Dean of Candler School of Theology.
John Maguire—President Emeritus of Claremont University Consortium & Graduate University; Director/Senior Fellow, Institute for Democratic Renewal/Project Change, Claremont, CA; President Emeritus, College at Old Westbury, State University of New York.
J. Alfred Martin, Jr.—former professor at Union Theological Seminary.
John Nason—former President of Swarthmore College.
Virginia B. Smith—former Acting President of Mills College; President emerita of Vassar College; Director of the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE); President of the Board of the Educational Testing Service.
Robert A. Spivey[see above]
Jon Wiant— Senior Visiting Fellow with the Intelligence and Security Academy, and a consultant with the Institute for Excellence in Public Leadership; Adjunct Professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University; decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal from Porter Good of the CIA, and the Career Achievement Award from Secretary Colin Powell; and commands an army of more than 6000 toy soldiers.
Soundings, An Interdisciplinary Journal editors:
- Sallie McFague TeSelle
- Ralph Norman
- Allen Dunn
Our Mission
Our Mission
The Society for Values in Higher Education is a fellowship of teachers and others who care deeply about ethical issues—such as integrity, diversity, social justice and civic responsibility—facing higher education and the wider society. We believe that such values call for study, reflection, discussion, and action. We pursue these activities through publications, projects, regional gatherings, and an annual national meeting.
The Goals of the Society
- To draw on many cultural and spiritual traditions in order to reflect critically on contemporary values-based issues facing higher education;
- To promote a rich diversity of perspectives while, at the same time, affirming a supportive organizational integrity within SVHE and all educational institutions;
- To create openings in the walls that separate persons from one another (e.g. political affiliations, religion, professions, disciplines, race, gender, class, age) and that separate the members of the academy from the larger society;
- To encourage interdisciplinary inquiry that integrates practical and intellectual perspectives; and
- To challenge ourselves, our families, and higher education in general to develop whole persons who are prepared to play a constructive role in a rapidly changing world.
Our History
Our commitment to higher education “without sectarian or ideological bias,” has never changed though our name has:
- The National Council of Schools of Religion (1922-1924)
- The National Council on Religion (1924-1962)
- Society for Religion in Higher Education (1962-1973)
- Society for Values in Higher Education (SVHE) (1973-present)
In 1921, Charles Foster Kent, Yale University’s Woolsey Professor of Biblical Literature, visited six large secular and state universities. Returning with some dismay, he proposed to prominent friends the need for more and better-trained teachers of religion. Out of his concern, the National Council of Schools of Religion was incorporated in 1922 and granted, the following year, nine fellowships for graduate study in religion.
In 1923, the group of Fellows (re)incorporated under the name of The National Council on Religion with the objective of promoting inquiry into values in higher education. Their goals were “to initiate and support projects and the collection of data bearing upon” the resources that higher educational institutions can direct toward such values inquiry, “to act as a facilitating agency in the enlistment, selection, and professional growth of teachers and other leaders in colleges and universities.”
In 1924, twenty-two more fellowships [a.k.a. “Kent Fellowships”] were awarded to a group which included three women. Thus, from the beginning, both genders have been recognized and diversity has been a means to, as well as a goal, the fellowship.
In 1934, at a time of national economic depression, the Board of Directors’ minutes read “The Council has survived, has kept its morale, and dares to have plans for the future….We have had to discover what our place is in the life of our times….We are a fellowship that believes in the values of holding together, in a process of fruitful exchange of beliefs and convictions among persons of widely diverse viewpoints and backgrounds…We attach great value to understanding and to mind meeting mind…We are trying to develop and foster the growth of teachers who are intellectually and technically equipped and productive in their own fields, who have paid the price of hard work and discipline and who are expert in the guidance of youth.”
In 1948, activities and office space were located in New Haven, funded largely by the town’s Edward W. Hazen Foundation. In the years since, Society offices have been located at or near various universities, including Columbia University, Yale University, Georgetown University and, presently, Portland State University.
In 1962, Kent Fellows and Danforth Fellows merged. Substantial funding from the Danforth Foundation continued until 1976. Since then memberships to SVHE has been automatically offered to recipients of Kent Fellowship, Danforth Graduate Fellowship, Danforth Graduate Fellowship for Women, E. Harris Harbison Awards for Distinguished Teaching, and Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
In 1968, Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal (http://web.utk.edu/~sounding) first appeared. Its stated purpose is “to encourage scholars to challenge the fragmentation of modern intellectual life… It aims to publish essays that open disciplines to each other, and looks for readers who sense in such openings some prospect for greater coherence and amplitude in public discourse.”
In recent years, Foundations including:
and the National Endowment for the Humanities have recognized Society work with grants and project subsidies to support the following projects, among others:
- Studies of the Nature of General Education—Issues, Resources, and Guidelines for Reform
- Institutional Renewal through the Improvement of Teaching (PIRIT)
- Good Practice in General Education
- Ethical Issues in the Management of Public and Private Institutions
- Nurturing Black and Hispanic Students
- Values and Decision-Making in Higher Education
- Renewing Liberal Arts Colleges
- The Search for Values Consensus in America
- The Ethical Crisis in Higher Education
- Various national institutes to explore topics such as:
- Death and Human Experience
- Teaching the Humanities to “New” Students”
- Accountability in the Professions
- Technology and Values
- The Scope and Limits of Law
- For more details of Our History from 1930-2010
About Us
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Society for Values in Higher Education
c\o Portland State University
