 In the tradition of courageous women, the Saint Teresa Institute nurtures women’s leadership potential; encourages women to grow intellectually, socially, spiritually, and culturally; and celebrates personal integrity, excellence and service.
Students in the Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute live in a shared community in the heart of Saint Mary’s University. The Institute is a living and learning co-curricular program. The women gain many of the benefits of all women’s education while nested in the broader co-educational Saint Mary’s community. Select general education courses are offered in women’s focused classrooms, and the students in the Institute complete a six credit course series in leadership and service.
Admission into the Institute
Approximately 20 freshmen and sophomore women will be admitted to the Saint Teresa Institute class for Fall 2008. Students are invited to apply for the Institute by completing a brief application form. After review of the application, interviews are conducted with potential members. We may conduct these interviews by phone or in person.
Core Components
Institute women live intentionally. Some live together in community; all gather regularly. With the director’s guidance, they set and monitor personal and professional goals over their SMU career.
Institute women learn together. They take LCT and select courses together in women’s focused classrooms and complete a six credit leadership and service curriculum.
Institute women lead. They design and participate in a variety of co-curricular activities, including life-skills workshops, leadership seminars, service learning, mentoring, and other on- and off-campus opportunities aimed at opening their minds to new ideas, people, and experiences.
Academics
STI 115 - The Symbiosis of Teresan, Francsican & Lasallian Traditions
This course provides the broader context for the Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute students, and serves as the foundation for our study of leadership and service. As a complement to the Lasallian core traditions courses, this course brings together the study of Lasallian traditions with those of the Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Francis of Assisi. In order to respect and honor the legacy of the College of Saint Teresa, our namesake, this course provides a focused study of the Teresan values of loyalty, purity and truth and the Franciscan values of charism for the poor, simplicity, and stewardship of the earth, among others. There are no prerequisites for this course.
STI 215 - Leadership Theory & Practice
This course surveys the multitude of competing leadership theories and styles from a more academic perspective and method than that often applied in the pop-culture leadership material. This course will introduce students in the Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of what it means to be a leader. There are no prerequisites for this course.
STI 315 - Women in Leadership & Service
The purpose of this course is to provide a focused study of the role of women in our society today based on demographic, social, economic and other data. A broad overview of the history and state of women in our society will be presented. Student work will focus on research, writing and presenting on the role of women today and the future role of women in their particular field of study and areas of interest. There are no prerequisites for this course.
Contact:
Holly Richard, M.A. Director, Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women Saint Mary's University of Minnesota 700 Terrace Heights #1523 Winona, MN 55987-1399 507-457-6651 800-635-5987 ext. 6651 507-457-1633(Fax) hjrichar@smumn.edu |
