Course Development
Loyola University Chicago’s Joan and Bill Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage (CCIH) encourages the development of undergraduate and graduate courses connected to the broad range of Catholic thought. It does this by offering full-time Loyola faculty a stipend of up to $4,000 (pre-tax) for the development of these courses.
Application Information
Applications for courses developed in Academic Year 2026-2027 will be due on January 16, 2026, and can be submitted through our submissions platform. Applications must include:
- Completed application form
- Course Development Proposal
- Proposals include a 1-2 page description of the proposed course, level of instruction (100, 200, etc.), topic(s), and purpose of the course, method of instruction, textbooks and materials to be used, course requirements, and planned evaluation methods. In addition, the proposal should explicitly state the ways that the course will integrate Catholic intellectual concern into the course. At least one third of the course’s content should be explicitly Catholic, but ideally, even more.
- Instructor Background
- Proposals should include a paragraph describing the instructor’s background (teaching, research, or other experience) in the topic and material proposed for the new course, and how that background will contribute to the instructor’s ability to develop the course.
- Current CV
- Approval from Department Chair (to be completed through application portal)
Applications are reviewed and evaluated by the Hank Center Advisory Board, and are judged on the merit of the proposed course in relation to its pedagogical aims and its attention to topics of Catholic intellectual concern.
Faculty members in all disciplines--and both tenure track and non-tenure track--are encouraged to apply for course development funding through the Hank Center. In awarding course development funding, attention is given to distributing these funds equitably to faculty across all departments. Applications for undergraduate courses are additionally considered in relation to the proposed course’s curricular contribution to the university’s interdisciplinary minor in Catholic Studies. Applicants apply with the understanding that their proposed course must be taught within three (3) semesters after it has been funded and developed.
Awarded faculty will have a full academic year to develop their courses. Upon completion of their courses, they will be required to submit the following materials to the Hank Center:
- A completed course syllabus
- Drafts of all assignments for the course
- A Sakai site for the course, or similar digital course asset
- A 1-page statement, and several small social media blurbs, describing how the course supports and furthers the Catholic Intellectual Tradition at Loyola.
Awarded faculty will also be required to meet several times as a cohort throughout the fellowship year for professional development and course planning.
Prospective applicants are encouraged to consult with the Hank Center’s Associate Director, Dr. Joseph Vukov (jvukov@luc.edu), in order to cultivate a constructive and pragmatic approach to course design. Submissions can be made here.
Current Courses
"Catholic Social Imagination and the Arts, Health Equity, and Community"
Sarah Cullen Fuller
Senior Lecturer of Dance, The Department of Fine and Performing Arts
This interdisciplinary undergraduate course explores how the Catholic intellectual tradition can illuminate contemporary questions at the intersection of the arts, health, and social equity. Through critical reading, embodied practice, and community-based projects, students will examine how themes such as embodiment, justice, dignity, and solidarity inform public health and wellness through community engagement. The course will emphasize experiential learning: students will partner with local communities and health and arts organizations to co-create accessible, culturally responsive programming that promotes health equity and well-being through the arts. The course will work to interrogate foundational theological concepts, ethical frameworks, and practical applications through readings, discussions, and creative projects. Students will develop both critical understanding and actionable plans for ministry, scholarship, and service that centers human dignity, wellness, justice, and beauty.
"Contemplative Writing: Discernment and Analysis in the Catholic Tradition"
Katherine Scharfenberg
Lecturer, Department of English
"Contemplative Writing" is grounded in the Catholic intellectual tradition that has, for centuries, treated the disciplined examination of interior experience as a form of rigorous inquiry. Using writing as a way of knowing, this course will draw on Catholic contemplative practices including the Ignatian Examen and visio divina, as well as the tradition of spiritual autobiography, to develop students' capacity for both reflective attention and critical analysis. Students will read, analyze, and respond to texts ranging from the writings of Saints Augustine and Teresa of Avila to Flannery O'Connor, David Foster Wallace, and Tracy K. Smith, alongside contemporary visual art and Substack posts, building a personal writing practice that integrates close reading and critical argument with the habit of discernment at the heart of Jesuit intellectual life.
"Integral Ecology"
Yoel Stuart
Associate Professor, Department of Biology
Integral Ecology will provide a space for environmentally minded students to engage with Earth’s ecological crisis. We will study the science of climate change, habitat fragmentation, species invasion, and extinction. We will then study how humans are working to fix these problems, with the objective that students build a tool kit that allows them to contribute to solutions with hope, energy, and compassion. This will be an effort that combines science and the humanities, as the climate problem is societally driven. Ecological justice is social justice. We will focus on how Catholic thought has been evolving towards care for the Creation during this lifetime, foregrounding the social, emotional, and spiritual ways in which the environment can be understood, then loved, then protected.
"Ethical Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Education"
Guofang Wan
Professor, School of Education
The main goal of the course is to equip educators and professionals with core Catholic AI principles that guide the ethical use of AI in teaching and learning and address related issues. The course critically examines the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in educational contexts, guiding students to interpret and evaluate AI uses in education through a lens informed by Catholic intellectual tradition, alongside learning theories and models of technology integration. Students apply the core principles of the Vatican AI Guidelines (Glatz, 2025) and develop strategies to embrace AI in education while addressing complex AI-related challenges. The course fosters a human-centered, critical, ethical, transparent, and responsible approach to AI integration. Students lead and advocate for the ethical use of AI in education and for meaningful participation in an AI-saturated society.