HILBERTBLUEPRINT ALUMNINEWS
for Student Success: A Four-Year Program for Intellectual Growth and Lifelong Learning
is an independent institution of higher learning that embraces its Catholic Franciscan heritage and values. Students from diverse backgrounds are educated in liberal arts and professional programs to become informed citizens committed to serving and strengthening their communities.
OUR MISSION
HILBERTCOLLEGE
Introduction:
A Bit of Hilbert History:
This edition of Hilbert Magazine includes the first of a two-part series reflecting upon Hilbert’s Blueprint for student success, a four-year sequence of academic initiatives specifically designed in light of the best practices known to current teaching pedagogy. Over the course of several years, the Blueprint has grown into an effective, dynamic, fully integrated, and above all, challenging program that guides our students’ intellectual and personal growth throughout their four years at Hilbert. Part one describes the history of institutional growth leading to the Blueprint’s implementation and reflects upon the intellectual development and personal values that Hilbert, in particular, perceives as integral to a holistic, liberal learning education. Part one discusses how these values are embedded in the First-Year Experience and GS 101 Foundations Seminar courses, and later developed and reinforced via the college’s sophomore year Service Learning requirement. Part two of the series, to be published in the winter edition of Hilbert Magazine, describes how the Blueprint’s major educational learning outcomes are fully integrated through the college’s Junior Symposium and senior year Capstone requirements.
Hilbert has had a remarkable history of growth and expansion for over half a century. Like any ambitious institution of higher education, it has not just survived; it has thrived, and like its students, Hilbert itself has had to learn how to learn, and not just accept change but actively create and embrace it. Hilbert has always been guided by its founding Franciscan values of hope, peace, service, joy, integrity, respect, compassion, and vision. These core values have enabled the college to evolve from its seemingly distant past to its recent years of incredible growth. This expansion has required additional administrators, faculty, and staff, and included a more diversified student body. The college has also expanded its physical facilities, including new dorms, Paczesny Hall, and Swan Auditorium. Along with all these changes, Hilbert instituted a remarkable variety of curricular changes that eventually paved the way for the current Blueprint model. These major curricular developments include the Liberal Learning Goals and Core Curriculum modules, and most recently, the four-year sequence of experiential learning opportunities for students via Hilbert’s Blueprint for student success. Lastly, in the midst of all these sea changes, Hilbert implemented a new series of Graduate School degree programs.
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PART ONE
HILBERT
Introducing the new
by Dr. Anthony D. Hughes Professor Hilbert College English Program
This is a good moment to reflect upon Hilbert’s entire history and realize that, once upon a time, “Hilbert” shared its name with Immaculata High School. However, knowing where our name originates is a good place to grasp Hilbert’s current ethos because the answer combines our history and philosophy. The college was originally named after Mother Colette Hilbert, who, in 1897, established the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph, which became the college's founding congregation. In 1957, the community founded a teacher training college for its members; in 1969, having broadened its curriculum to include degrees outside of teacher training and expanded its enrollment to include both men and women, the institution officially became known as Hilbert College. In 1992, Hilbert began to offer four-year degrees for