Friends Association of Higher Education Conference Explores “Education and the Abundant Life”

About 75 representatives of Quaker-associated colleges and practicing Quakers working in education attended the annual Friends Association of Higher Education conference, which Guilford hosted June 18-21.

The conference theme, “Education for the Abundant Life,” featured a variety of workshops, plenary discussions and presentations, as well as opportunities for worship. Featured speakers included Stanley Hauerwas, professor of theological ethics at the Divinity School at Duke University; George Fox University seminary professor Carole Spencer; and Max Carter, director of Friends Center at Guilford and coordinator of campus ministry.

Carter spoke about two historical area Quakers, Allen Jay and Mary Mendenhall Hobbs (for whom Guilford’s Hobbs Hall is named). Jay and Hobbs are what Carter called “Quaker bodhisattvas,” referring to the Buddhist concept of an enlightened person who chooses to lead others to enlightenment rather than enter Nirvana.

“Can we learn from these Friends and educators to find ways, ourselves, to live more fully in Quaker educational community?  To be, in our own ways, Quaker bodhisattvas?  What would that community look like?  What service might take us out of our ‘comfort zones’?  Perhaps Allen Jay and Mary Mendenhall Hobbs can offer hints at what Spirit might lead us into today.  The results, I believe, would lead not only to a more abundant life in the Quaker community and in our educational work, but in our own lives,” Carter said. (Read the full text of Carter’s remarks here.)

Gifts Discernment Coordinator Frank Massey and Mark Justad, director of the Center for Principled Problem Solving, led a session on two of Guilford’s unique leadership development programs. While the CPPS initiatives are targeted at the general student body, they are “consistent with Guilford’s heritage” and values, Justad said.

Students in the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program, a four-year commitment of academic courses, service learning and leadership training, often provide direction in mediating conflict on campus, Massey said. The program, established in the early 1990s, prepares Quaker students for taking active roles in their meetings and in Quaker organizations.

A number of Guilford faculty and staff attended and led conference sessions. Assistant Professor of Physics Don Smith, one of Guilford’s Quaker faculty members, led a session on motivating students to complete reading assignments. President Kent Chabotar led a panel discussion and held a forum on how the economy is affecting Quaker-associated colleges and universities.

“I go [to the FAHE conferences] as often as I can,” said Kate Hood ’76, the assistant to Guilford’s vice president of advancement, who led a session called “Information Technology and the Abundant Life at a Quaker College.” Hood is a Quaker herself. Two of her brothers also graduated from Guilford (Jim Hood ’79, a professor of English, and Trustee David Hood '84); another brother and her daughter went to Earlham College.

Even though Hood does not teach, “I still consider myself part of the educational community,” she says. “This conference enables me to put my faith and my concern for education together. And I just love the people who attend (the conference). They’re so grounded and so mindful of what they teach and how.”

Guilford previously hosted the FAHE conference in 2001. William Penn University in Iowa will host next year’s conference.

June 25, 2009