Karen Eifler was a Collegium fellow in 2001 and has served on the board and as a mentor for a number of years since. At the University of Portland, where she teaches future teachers in the School of Education, her Provost jokingly refers to her as the “Collegium Poster Child.”

Like many other fellows over the years, she went to the colloquy clueless about what would transpire, only to have it be “Lightning Bolt City transformative.” She laughs as readily as she cries, and both capacities are put to good use at Collegium. The greatest treasure culled from each colloquy Karen has participated in has been making a home in paradox, “the only basket large enough to hold the truth.”

There is no such thing as a trivial conversation at Collegium, she says. The questions posed and wrestled with by good people, treating each other gently, with kindness and respect, serve as inspiration for her work back in the classroom and in ongoing faculty formation and development among her colleagues.

Together with Collegium alum Norah Martin (2004 fellow), Karen founded the University of Portland’s Faith and Intellectual Life Discussion Group, in which 20 faculty and staff, now from every unit on campus (a stat which makes Karen glow) regularly meet over wine and cheese to wrangle with readings and ideas that matter.

Learn more about Karen at her Web site.

Sr. Eva Hooker, CSC is writer-in-residence at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana. Previously she was professor of English at Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota, where she served nine years as Vice President for Academic Affairs. She received a B.A. in English from St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, an M.A. from the University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York, Buffalo in Renaissance literature, psychoanalytic psychology, and the study of literature.

Eva is a poet who also has a special interest in women's studies, and has taught Shakespeare and poetry writing at Saint John's University. She still holds the title Regent’s Professor of Poetry at Saint John’s University. Eva is the person who first suggested the name Collegium for our program, and has been involved in almost every Collegium Colloquy over 18 years.

Additional mentors will be named. Read about past mentors and their Collegium experiences.