• About Donnelly
• Academics
• Admissions
• Student Life
• News & Events
• Calendar
• Career Opportunities
• Campus Ministry
• Giving to Donnelly
• Visit
• Merchandise

• Future Students
• Current Students
• Alumni & Friends
• Faculty & Staff

Donnelly College Values

Donnelly College’s core values emphasize our beliefs and commitments stemming from our Catholic heritage, our Benedictine influence, and those who have sustained our long-standing service to our surrounding communities. Our distinctive legacy provides the primary source of the values summarized below.

Our values portray not only what we respect, but also what we as an organization are committed to furthering—among each other and the students we serve.

• As a Catholic institution of higher education we value the pursuit of truth as the ideal central to the notion of a university. Our faculty and educational programs seek the integration of knowledge, promote the dialogue between faith and reason, and encourage concern for the ethical and moral implications of knowledge.  Our conduct of the College is committed “to Catholic ideals, principles and attitudes…with due regard for academic freedom and the conscience of every individual” (Ex corde Ecclesiae, 1990).

• A defining, historical characteristic of Catholic education is excellence. Our utmost commitment is to the continuation of our pursuit of academic excellence in the College’s teaching and learning environments, and our promotion of excellence in all service, support and outreach activities.

• As an outgrowth of our Benedictine heritage, we value and are committed to community. We recognize the multiple layers of community in terms of our role as a college; the term community in a broad sense acknowledges our surroundings, potential partners, and those that would benefit from our outreach—to whom we are always a welcoming institution. Internally though, community as a value takes on special meaning and recognizes explicitly the teachings of Benedict. Community acknowledges our interdependence on one another; recognizes our commitment to be consultative in our planning and decision making; concedes that as an organization of people, relationships and trust are central to our success; that we collaborate and show mutual respect to one another; and that each of us is expected to contribute in a positive way through his or her work (Wisdom from the Tradition, 2006).

• As an academic community, we value diversity, in all of its forms, including intellectual, experiential, perspective and background, as a fundamental component of a complete education. We are committed to creating opportunities in which the entire community learns through broadening viewpoints and each other to enhance respect and understanding of all persons and traditions.

• Our community practices inclusiveness and promotes justice.  As an institution of higher learning we are open and encouraging to all persons; we demonstrate and promote respect for each person, regardless of faith tradition, ethnicity, race or social status; and we foster and support an educational program that seeks to guarantee “all persons the ability to participate actively in the economic, political, and cultural life of society” (Economic Justice for All, No. 78, 1986). We value higher education as a path to personal growth, self-sufficiency and as an opportunity to fulfill each individual’s potential and thus contribute to a more just society.

• We promote and acknowledge our devotion to service. Our unique history and experience positions our College to continue our contribution to our region and the Church. In furtherance of our academic, Archdiocesan, civic and disciplinary communities: we seek to preserve and communicate knowledge for the good of society; we draw attention to and explore serious contemporary problems; we promote social justice; we explore new outlets and venues for our work; and we model our relationships between ourselves and God, our community, our society, and our world.

References:
Conference of Benedictine Prioresses, Wisdom from the Tradition: A Statement of North American Benedictine Women in Response to Our Times, 2006.

National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy, Issued by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 13, 1986.

Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities Ex corde Ecclesia, August 15, 1990, AAS 82 (1990) pp. 1475-1509.