Alumni Stories

Brendan Fereday

Inspired by Scala’s emphasis on education as formation, Brendan is studying under Professor William Damon, a contributor to The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts, at Stanford University.

Having recently defended my dissertation at Baylor and started a new position at Harvard, I am reminded of how fellow Scala participants from different theoretical traditions and methodological backgrounds examined essential questions and increased my desire to engage in interdisciplinary dialogues and research. I now work as part of a team that values and works toward the integration of knowledge and perspectives from multiple disciplines.

Renae Wilkinson, PhD

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard University

“What I will continue to think about after the conclusion of the Scala summer seminar is how to bring love back into the classroom. It was truly wonderful to watch how we (the Scala participants) went from being individuals from a variety of backgrounds to a community of friends and learners. We now share a common passion that binds us together: the pursuit of taking what we have learned here during our time together and integrating that knowledge back into our own communities and institutions of education.”

Nathan Stenberg

Ph.D. Candidate, Theater Historiography, University of Minnesota

I have found myself transformed by my involvement with Scala. Scala has inspired me to seek out continuing education courses at the New York Academy of Art and the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. I was grateful to find myself making the time for ongoing learning in my leisure time, again inspired by the vivacious intellectual curiosity I found in the Scala community.

Rose Tomassi

Teacher at Martin Saints Classical High School (Oreland, PA); MA in English Literature, CUNY

“Scala’s programs are about having the conversations that policy makers are not having, conversations about virtue, character formation, and learning as an end in itself. These conversations are important because they recognize public policy as it applies to humans. By studying the integration of faith, family, and community into learning, I gained a deeper perspective on my work as a higher education policy maker. My experience with Scala gave me material to use when I write op-eds and publications and when I engage in conversations with students, parents, university leaders, and legislators.”

Nathaniel Urban

Associate Director of Curricular Improvement, American Council of Trustees and Alumni