Valparaiso University Christ College - The Honors College

09/03/2026

It’s , and we’re throwing it all the way back to LAST WEEK. Seniors spent a weekend retreat in Mueller thinking about vocation, life after graduation, and habitual reflection as a path to the good life. (All that, and debating the ending to La La Land — not pictured, a group photo AFTER the film!)

Thanks to our friends at Inst for Leadership & Service for reminding us that “calling is not a straight line,” and to Valparaiso University Dining for keeping us fed and flourishing all weekend!

08/28/2026

🎉 Save the date! Join us Wednesday, September 2, for the annual Dean's Address & Picnic — the perfect kickoff to another great year as a scholar!

📢 5:30 p.m. — Dean Prough's address in the Refectory
🧺 Picnic dinner
🏆 Lawn games, including the legendary tug-of-war tournament
🍦 Ice cream!
👕 Pick up the latest CC t-shirt + other fun swag

Use the comments to tag a friend with whom you want to get ice cream (or watermelon). See you there!

08/26/2026

Happy first day of classes! The fall semester is already off to a sunny, virtuous start.

Meno asks Socrates, "How will you look for virtue when you do not know at all what it is? How will you aim to search for something you do not know at all? If you should meet with it, how will you know?"
.. well, that's the question we'll spend much of the year (and our honors curriculum) pondering. As students, what are you here to learn? As faculty, what can we do to teach? And as alumni, where are the places you find your CC education especially valuable?

In short, what does it mean to live a good life, and how far along the journey are you today? Where will you be in a year? Let us know in the comments!

08/24/2026

It’s Welcome Week at Valpo, and CC Scholars are getting their first taste of the good life RIGHT NOW! Are they flourishing? Professor Upton is on the case.

08/21/2026

Today is , and before we greet the new semester, we are waving goodbye to Slavica Jakelic, our professor of humanities and social thought. Professor Jakelic is currently serving as a McDonald Centre Senior Fellow at the University of Oxford.

Professor Jakelic joined the CC faculty in 2013, and we will miss her spirited conversations on love, humanism, and -- as Antonio Gramsci put it -- "Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will."

Share your favorite memories of Professor Jakelic in the comments below, and drop her a line when you're across the pond!

08/19/2026

It's hard to believe that the fall semester starts in ONE WEEK! We can't wait to see everyone in Mueller.

💼 While you are packing your supplies for the year, Meowller (our building cat and CC mascot) has a few items on the checklist to guarantee a successful and virtuous year.
.. wait a second, we didn't sign off on that last one.

08/11/2026

08/10/2026

It's back-to-school season, which means our new Alumni Syllabus is ready for you! Join Associate Dean Zachary King '10 in a tour of Comics Studies -- how to read comics, what sort of stories can be told using words and pictures, and what the future of comics might be.

🔗https://www.valpo.edu/christ-college/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/08/Comics-Studies-Christ-College-Alumni-Syllabus-26-27.pdf

If you'd like to join -- or start -- an alumni reading group, email [email protected]!

08/06/2026

"I found my passion for friendly discussion with my peers and had my love for humanities revived. [...] All of the Christ College professors have encouraged me to think deeper on human ethic rather than allowing it to pass through me."

Thanks, Nickie! We're glad you're here with us.

08/02/2026

James Baldwin (1924-1987) rose from a childhood marked by poverty and hardship to become one of the 20th century's most powerful literary voices. Nurtured by the Harlem Renaissance and mentored by figures like Richard Wright and Countee Cullen, Baldwin transformed his personal story into unflinching prose.

Although Baldwin’s hopes for a more liberated future were often challenged by the hard realities of racial hatred, he never gave up on the idea that writing could lead to social change and the redemption of white and Black people alike. “It is the writer, not the statesman, who is our strongest arm,” he declared in 1954.

Today, we celebrate the birthday of James Baldwin, one of the many powerful voices our first-year students encounter in Christ College.