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2026-03-13 Minutes Of The Academic Senate, University Of Dayton. Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

Approved minutes of a meeting of the Academic Senate of the University of Dayton.

Doc 2026-08 Proposal To Rename The Department Of Religious Studies To The Department Of Theology And Religious Studies, University Of Dayton. Department Of Religious Studies

Senate Documents

This proposal outlines the initiative to rename the University of Dayton’s Department of Religious Studies to the Department of Theology and Religious Studies to better reflect the modern academic and public distinction between the two fields. While "religious studies" is now widely understood as a secular, third-person analysis of religion, "theology" refers to the insider study of a faith tradition, which directly aligns with the department's faculty expertise and its explicitly theological MA and PhD programs. Because prospective students and local faith communities increasingly associate the term "religious studies" with purely secular education, the department has faced enrollment losses from …

Doc 2026-11 Aerospace Engineering Co-Major Proposal, University Of Dayton. School Of Engineering

Senate Documents

On the undergraduate side, the University of Dayton has historically offered bachelor's degrees in core, foundational engineering fields, such as chemical, civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. Students can gain additional technical expertise through obtaining a minor or concentration in a number of specializations, but both the minors and concentrations offer limited coursework and are restricted to what students can fit into their major degree curriculum. Many students have expressed the desire for a more rigorous option, but do not have the time in their schedules for a dual major.

Therefore, when UD simultaneously reduced the number of credits for their …

The Emotional Construction Of Religious Experience: Senitmentalism And Moral Motivations, Yvonne Candelario

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper addresses the growing prevalence of reported religious experiences across diverse religious and spiritual traditions, alongside the persistent absence of such reports among many adherents within the same communities. This asymmetry poses a challenge for both supernaturalist and reductively skeptical accounts of religious experience. I develop a naturalistic constructivist framework to explain why some individuals choose to interpret and report some human experiences as religious experiences or report having religious experiences at all, while others do not. Drawing on a post-modern revision of moral theory, an account of constructive sentimentalism, I argue that religious experience is shaped by socially …

Primordial Recognition And The Structure Of Human Cognition: Toward A Quranic Epistemology, Jana El-Boustani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reconstructs a Qur’anic epistemological architecture grounded in narrative rather than abstract system-building. It argues that the Qur’an articulates a unified account of human cognition in which intelligibility is grounded in divine instruction, recognition is affirmed through primordial testimony, and knowledge is exercised within finite yet accountable faculties.

Through close analysis of the story of Adam in Surat al-Baqarah, the primordial covenant in Surat al-Aʿrāf, and the verse of the Amanah in Surat al-Aḥzāb, the study demonstrates that the Qur’an presents human knowing as structured, oriented, and morally conditioned. Revelation functions not as the introduction of wholly new knowledge, …

Walking The Ancient Path: Theology Course Prepares Students For Camino De Santiago, Elisabeth Watson

College of Arts and Sciences Newsroom

UD's annual Camino de Santiago program includes a spring course to prepare students for the physical and spiritual trek across Spain.

The Genuine Nature Of Worship In The Scriptures: Bowing Before God As An Act Of Submission, Michael Jones

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The various translations of the Scriptures use the word worship over 250 times in both the Old and New Testaments. Unfortunately, many Christians and even scholars do not understand the meaning of worship and the purpose for doing it. It is pivotal, however, for Christians to understand the meaning and purpose for worship when directed toward God so they may live in obedience to him. The thesis of this dissertation will be that although Christians presume that worship means to praise God, the Scriptures teach that worship means to bow before God as an act of submission as he establishes …

Paul’S Use Of Μυστηριον In His Epistles To New Testament Churches, Daniel G. Hutchins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The world in which the apostle Paul ministered was not one where the religious landscape was blank and there was no competition for worldviews. Indeed, the cultural forces of Judaism, Hellenism, and Roman imperialism produced an environment where numerous religious belief systems were present including Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism, Greco–Roman mystery religions, and imperial worship. Paul found himself preaching a message that had to stand on its own merits in an environment that had been religiously conditioned for centuries. Typical of their parent culture, competing religious systems of Paul’s day took different views of Christianity. For Judaism, Christianity represented a …

Comfort Beyond Grief: The Influence Of Brazilian Spiritism On Grief, Maria Luiza D. Reynaud

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the transformative influence of Brazilian Spiritism on the experience of grief, utilizing a qualitative framework of autoethnography and ethnography. The research begins with the author’s personal account of transitioning from paralyzing existential anxiety and a childhood fear of hell and death to a state of spiritual peace fostered by the study of the Spiritist Doctrine. Historically perceived as an unbearable mystery, Spiritism posits life as a continuous continuum where the immortal soul merely sheds the physical body like a cocoon to return to its true home.

Rooted in the 19th-century codification by Allan Kardec, the doctrine is …

Announcing 2026 Marian Fellowships, Henry Handley

Marian Library Blog Archive

Alaina Keller, David Sievers and Madison Felman-Pantagotacos named fellows.

Exploring The Perceptions Of Religious Trauma Among Former Members Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints Who Identify As A Sexual Minority, Samuel Clemens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative study explored the perceived experiences of religious trauma among formerly active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) who identify as sexual minorities. Religious trauma, characterized by psychological, emotional, and social harm, arises from interactions with religious institutions and teachings. For sexual minorities within the LDS Church, strict adherence to heteronormative principles and rigid gender roles often results in identity suppression, emotional distress, and social isolation. Utilizing a generic qualitative inquiry approach, this study investigated how participants interpret their experiences of religious trauma and its perceived effects on their lives. Twelve participants aged 20–74 …

2026-03-06 Minutes Of The Executive Committee Of The Academic Senate Senate, University Of Dayton. Academic Senate. Executive Committee

ECAS Minutes

Approved minutes of a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate of the University of Dayton.

Fragments, Editors Of Fragments

Fragments

No abstract provided.

Fragments, Editors Of Fragments

Fragments

No abstract provided.

Preface For Challenging The Justifications Of Domination Through Religion: “We Were Planting Corn, And They Were Planting Crosses” (Part I)., Philip P. Arnold

Religion - All Scholarship

This preface critically interrogates the theological and ritual justifications of domination embedded within eurochristian frameworks, as imposed through colonial encounters from 1492 onward. Centering the epistemological clash between eurochristian and Indigenous worldviews, it contrasts a distant, property-centered metaphysics with Haudenosaunee understandings of sacrality rooted in a reciprocal relationship to the land. Drawing on citations from Indigenous leaders and scholars, the text addresses the ongoing impacts of doctrines like the Doctrine of Discovery and legal decisions such as Johnson v. M’Intosh. It highlights healing movements such as #Landback and #Lakeback as ceremonial acts of restoring right relationship with land, sovereignty, and …

Lourdes Through The Eyes Of A Communication Major, Brookelyn Rice

Marian Library Blog Archive

Brookelyn Rice '28 explains how a class visit to the Marian Library led to a McGrath Award.

Religious Higher Education Institutions In Ukraine: The Evolution Of The Problem And The Collision Of The "Secular–Religious" Dichotomy, Serhii Kostiuchkov, Vadym Slyusar, Lesya Chervona, Mykola Slyusar

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to institutional, legislative, philosophical and communicative analysis of the activities of religious higher education institutions in modern Ukraine, taking into account political, social, legal, religious and communicative contexts. The authors examine the demand for religious education in modern Ukraine, which demonstrates high internal dynamics and promising prospects for the development of the domestic religious educational space. It is emphasised that the functioning of religious higher education institutions in Ukraine is regulated by the principle of constitutional separation of education from religion, while at the same time basic legal norms create specific conditions for the functioning of …

Religious And Ethical Education In Bulgaria: The “Virtues And Religions” Concept Reviewed, Emiliya Dafkova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the concept proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science for the introduction of a compulsory school subject entitled Virtues and Religions in Bulgarian schools. It analyses the historical preconditions of the proposed reform, its philosophical underpinnings, and its principal pedagogical objectives, with particular emphasis on its secular and integrative character. The discussion addresses both the potential benefits of compulsory religious and moral education and the key risks and challenges associated with its practical implementation. The Bulgarian concept is further considered in the light of contemporary European educational models, outlining the conditions under which the subject may …

Postcolonial Ecocriticism And The Recovery Of Hope: Okri, Dangarembga, And The Spiritual, John C. Hawley

English

This essay stages a comparative ecocritical reading of African and transnational texts—Cajetan Iheka’s Naturalizing Africa, Ben Okri’s Every Leaf a Hallelujah, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s This Mournable Body, Greg Sarris’s Becoming Story, and Karen Armstrong’s Sacred Nature—to examine how narrative re-situates the human within more-than-human worlds. Drawing on Iheka’s “aesthetics of proximity,” postcolonial theory, and critical posthumanism, it contrasts Okri’s hopeful, child-centered fable of multispecies reciprocity with Dangarembga’s portrayal of “slow violence,” psychic dispossession, and eco-touristic commodification in neoliberal Zimbabwe. Indigenous and spiritual frameworks in Sarris and Armstrong further disclose ancient precedents for posthuman ethics, foregrounding humility, …

From Doctrine To Practice: Shūrā-Centred Islamic Ethics For Sustainable Ecological Solutions, Fatima Dhanani, Cecilee Glaus Jones

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

This paper examines how Islamic ethics, when translated into lived practice, generate both moral frameworks and scalable solutions to pressing ecological challenges. Focusing on shūrā, tawḥīd, khilāfa, and taʿaddudiyya, and drawing on case studies of Stewardship Canada and the Aga Khan University’s Carbon Management Tool, the authors show how Islamic values move beyond doctrinal abstraction to guide institutional decision-making, programme design, and community engagement. More than treating ethics as fixed theological propositions, they frame them as negotiated, context-sensitive processes that align with ecological resilience, distributive justice, and economic viability.

Grounded in shūrā …

Polygyny Between Sharia, Custom And State Law As A Persistent Dilemma In Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, Zharkynbai Sebetov, Mairambek Tagaev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article presents a comprehensive study of the century-long historical and legal evolution of state-imposed prohibitions on the institution of polygyny in Kyrgyzstan. The primary objective of the research is to evaluate the outcomes of a hundred years of repressive policies – originally classified as “crimes of daily life” (bytovye prestupleniya) during the early Soviet era–and to uncover the transformed legal paradoxes of this phenomenon today. Drawing on historical archival materials, Communist Party reports, and contemporary regulatory acts, the authors investigate the fundamental reasons why polygyny persists as a resilient “shadow” institution in Kyrgyz society despite its criminalization. Within the …

Islamic Law Without Legal Authority: Sharia And State Governance In Kazakhstan, Duman Saifullin, Temur Amankul, Laura Toktarbekova, Erkinbek Daken

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the role and status of Islamic law (Sharia) in Kazakhstan, a Muslim-majority country that has consistently maintained a strictly secular legal order. The background of the study is grounded in the apparent paradox between Kazakhstan’s Islamic historical heritage and the complete absence of Sharia from its formal legal system. The objective of the research is to explain how and why Islamic law has remained confined to private, moral, and ritual domains while being excluded from state legislation and judicial practice. Methodologically, the article employs a qualitative legal-sociological and historical approach, combining analysis of constitutional norms, legal regulations, …

Quaker Campus, February 26, 2026 (Vol. 24, Issue 9), Whittier College

Quaker Campus

No abstract provided.

Five Students Win Mcgrath Awards For Research In Catholic Intellectual Traditions, Devin Chivers

College of Arts and Sciences Newsroom

The McGrath Award recognizes students whose research in a Common Academic Program course demonstrates engagement with Catholic Intellectual Traditions.

Doc 2026-06 Department/Program Merger: Department Of Visual And Performing Arts, University Of Dayton. College Of Arts And Sciences

Senate Documents

This proposal is a proactive realignment, not simply a reaction to external pressures. We must  thoughtfully respond to the evolving university landscape, which includes shifts in student  enrollment, a smaller faculty body, and increased budgetary pressures. This merger presents a  significant opportunity. By combining our strengths, we can create a more integrated and  dynamic faculty and student experience, steward our resources more effectively, and build a  shared, revitalized plan to elevate the visibility and impact of the arts at the University of  Dayton.

We anticipate this merger will create significant operational and financial efficiencies, allowing  us to redirect resources to …

Ud In The News Feb 14-20, University Of Dayton

News Releases

Sociologist Art Jipson wrote "What I'm seeing in my classroom isn't just about failure to meet deadlines" for Inside Higher Ed. Faculty also shared their expertise with NewsNation, USA TODAY and The National Desk.

2025 And 2026 - Faculty & Staff Research Symposium - Mini, Elizabeth Outka, Lidia Radi

Faculty and Staff Research Symposium Programs

September 26, 2025; November 7, 2025; January 20, 2026; and, February 20, 2026

[Excerpt from the "Welcome"]

"Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the Faculty and Staff Mini-Symposia Series!

As we gather for the fourth and final installment of this year’s Mini-Symposia Series, we are delighted to continue this new chapter of the Faculty and Staff Research Symposium, building on the extraordinary enthusiasm of the past two years. What began as a single day of conversation and exchange has grown into a cycle of events designed to highlight the intellectual and creative work of our community in even more accessible and collaborative …

Beyond The Primordial Ooze: “Real” Americans And The Supposed Divide Between Science And Religion, Dinty W. Moore

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Research Note: Project Initiated In China To Translate And Research The Philosophical Writings Of William James, Wang Chengbing

Dewey Studies

No abstract provided.

An Interview With Marilyn Fischer, Marilyn Fischer, Judy Whipps

Dewey Studies

No abstract provided.