b"Paul Uhlig instructs a mathematicsclass at St. Marys University.PHOTO BY ROBIN JERSTADPAUL UHLIG, PHD higher education coming into play, he said. Curricu-Professor and Interim Dean lum trends began emphasizing utilitarian outcomes,St. Marys UniversitySan Antonio often to the detriment of the liberal arts.But Uhlig noticed how vowed Marianists viewedAlthough he didnt have a particular vocabulary to the universitys mission through a different lens. Theydescribe it then, something about St. Marys University wanted education to address issues such as what itjust felt right to Paul Uhlig when he enrolled in 1987. means to be human, he said. And thats a big partThere was intellectual of what called me to become a Marianist Educationalchallenge, to be sure, Associate. I realized we need to be able to askandbut also something answerthose questions in a meaningful way atTHE CHARISM moresomething St. Marys.inviting about the way The MEA program offered Uhlig a formal way toIS CAUGHT, the vowed Marianists contribute to the conversation around sustaining aNOT TAUGHT on the San Antonio strong Marianist culture at St. Marys. A member ofcampus interacted the 2009 formation cohort, he sees the program's impactwith students. play out in a number of ways. Math students, for example,I dont know that tend to experience a prudent tendency toward leniencythe words family spirit from their professors, he said. We dont get out thewere in my mind, he said. But that gets to what bloody axes at the end of a semester, but instead lookseems pretty universal in the Marianist world: The to see how we might help a student get through.charism is caught, not taught. On a broader level, Uhlig also has seen how uni-Even three decades later, the names of many influ- versity leadership values the programs intentionalential Marianist brothers (Don Boccardi, John Totten, engagement with the ideals of Marianist higher edu-Herbert Janson and DuWayne Brisendine) and priests cation, using it to influence hiring practices and cur-(Larry Doersching, Franz Schorp and Conrad Kack- riculum decisions. And as changing times raise newowski) remain fresh in Uhligs memory as men who questions on campussuch as the current push toembodied what higher education ought to be about. advance diversity, equity and inclusion practices After completing graduate studies at Rice University MEAs are helping to strengthen the conversations,in the 1990s, Uhlig returned to St. Marys as a Math he said, by making sure we are really answeringDepartment faculty member in 1997at a time when those questions well.\x00powerful cultural forces began to wrench universitiesnationwide. You started to see a secularization of John Schroeder is a freelance writer from St. Louis.marianist.com/donate 11"