BY MICHAEL FENNIE
It’s been nearly a decade since the University of Scranton’s Loyola Science Center opened its doors at the heart of our campus, significantly upgrading the University’s STEM teaching and research capabilities and symbolically connecting to St. Thomas Hall, where many humanities programs reside.
Still, I clearly recall the theme of the dedication program: “Science as a Human Endeavor.” On the surface, this theme alludes to the collaborative nature of research projects in the sciences, many of which require a team or a community of researchers to make substantive progress. But a more appropriate and potentially energizing interpretation of this theme aligns the Loyola Science Center with Scranton’s Jesuit mission.
Science is a human endeavor because it is a way for us to know about and serve our world. In concert with the arts, humanities, and social sciences, the scientific disciplines can help form students into well-rounded leaders committed to the service of, and justice for, others. Therefore, education in the sciences in a Jesuit context ideally facilitates the understanding of topics integral to a commitment to justice and prepares students to serve in an array of globally important fields.
Loyola Science Center at the University of Scranton is designed to serve as a center for collaborative learning, to make science accessible and welcome to all, and to highlight science as a human endeavor. It contains 22 classrooms, 34 labs, and a rooftop greenhouse for research. Photo courtesy of the University of Scranton.
It’s true that the theme of justice seamlessly weaves into the disciplines of theology, philosophy, or economics and that, for many, this connection is less obvious in fields like chemistry or physics. But if the mission of a Jesuit institution is to prepare students to go into our world and advance justice — to ensure that every discipline cultivates in students a “moral concern about how people ought to live together,” as the former Jesuit General Superior Peter Hans Kolvenbach, once put it — these institutions must be ready to do so competently in areas impacted by the sciences.
Examples of global and societal challenges involving the sciences abound, but the call to action is clearest when it comes to the environment. Not only did Pope Francis (who was trained as a chemist!) make the environment the focus of his encyclical Laudato Si’, we are also called to action by the fourth of the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus: To collaborate in the care for our common home. Because science allows us to expand our knowledge of the environment and study the interplay between environmental change and human activity, its role is essential. The promotion of justice, moreover, is inextricably linked to this knowledge because environmental damage disproportionately impacts those on the margins of society, whether they are residents of impoverished areas in close proximity to inadequately maintained waste sites, those who cannot afford to live anywhere but urban heat islands, students exposed to lead and asbestos in poorly-funded schools, or those who live in areas where lax environmental regulation is exploited by industry.
Whether people readily recognize it or not, advancements in the sciences and technology, particularly those guided by a deep moral concern for others, hold enormous promise in advancing justice. Consequently, in the years ahead it is paramount that Jesuit institutions take the lead in preparing science majors to pursue careers and projects that promote conservation and environmental sustainability. Further, it is imperative that we commit to forming all graduates, including non-science majors, so that they have a STEM fluency which prepares them to tackle environmental challenges as part of their diverse efforts to bring about a just society.
Then, the theme of “Science as a Human Endeavor” will become not a mere slogan or nice idea, but a core element of how we live the mission on our campuses.
Michael W. Fennie is an associate professor of Chemistry at the University of Scranton.