Past Symposia
2011 Symposium - A Pedagogy for Royalty
September 15-17, New Saint Andrews College
"A Pedagogy for Royalty: Educating the Next Generation in the Paideia of the King of Kings"
[Download Brochure]
This Symposium focused on appropriate pedagogy for whole person education in Reformed higher education. The Symposium began with presentations by Dr Peter Leithart and Dr Roy Atwood of New Saint Andrews. This was followed by a series of panels and workshops which explored specific issues of pedagogy as there relate to the different areas of the curriculum. The goal of the Symposium was to challenge us to consider fresh approaches to teaching and intellectual formation.
The Symposium was attended by over twenty people from nine of the ten member campuses, including: presidents, provosts, VPAs, deans and faculty members.
2010 Symposium - Spiritual Formation in the Trenches
November 5-6, 2010, Redeemer University College
[Download Brochure]
The first ARCU Symposium focused on various issues related to spiritual formation in Reformed higher education. The first half of the symposium, led by Dr. James K. A. Smith (philosophy, Calvin College), discussed foundational themes from his Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview and Cultural Formation (Baker, 2009) for the purpose of concretely embodying these themes on the Reformed Christian campus. The second half of the symposium explored more specific issues related to spiritual formation on our campuses. The goal of this symposium was to correlate the daily “in the trenches” work of spiritual formation on our campuses with foundational themes in Reformed philosophy and theology.
The Symposium was attended by over seventy people from the ten member campuses, including: presidents, provosts, VPAs, VP Student Services, campus pastors/chaplains, deans of students, student life staff, professors, student leaders and others who have an interest in holistic spiritual formation on the Reformed university campus.
Future Symposia
Themes or topics are proposed by the host institution at least one year in advance for discussion and approval by the membership. The following topics have been suggested but is not meant to be exhaustive of possible themes.
- Reformed insights on curricular structure and/or administrative structure.
- Issues related to the person (e.g. attitudes, knowledge, faith)
- Worldview or perspectival matters
- Topics dealing with community practices
- Issues related to pedagogy
- Topics with a disciplinary focus
- Matters related to research and scholarship
- An international or global focus