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Cor Unum Statement and Resources

Convent & Stuart Hall articulated the commitment to the continued support of a diverse working community with the creation of our “Cor Unum Statement” in 2018. President Ann Marie Krejcarek formed a multi-constituent Cor Unum workgroup in 2020 to advance the essential work of our institution, recognizing that a community diverse in backgrounds, beliefs, and ideas requires actionable and intentional cultivation.

Cor Unum Statement

Rooted in the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Heart’s foundational precept of “cor unum et anima una,” relationships between and among members of the community are forged through curious and courageous engagement and dialogue. Through interactions inspired by deep curiosity, we recognize, honor and invoke the “one heart” of humankind that holds sacred each person’s full membership in this world. We commit, through collective and individual learning, to understand the history of power and economic drivers that have shaped inequalities in societal and individual human experiences. With an orientation to hope, we strive to create a more just and equitable future, calling on each member of the community to embrace and live into the core belief that there is a world within us and a world outside of us, and we must be able to engage and encounter both.

School leadership and our Board of Trustees are committed to sustaining the mission of Sacred Heart education to developing a fair and just society and to forming a community that is diverse in its student population, teaching staff and Board composition.

Cor Unum initiatives include:

  • Continue to support diversity as an essential feature of a flourishing community
  • Continue to engage in the practice of dialogue, listening with empathy and speaking authentically
  • Keep open channels of feedback from all constituencies
  • Invite and engage with impactful thought leaders in our Cor Unum Voices program
  • Engage with diverse voices and perspectives in curricular texts 
  • Continue to provide resource lists on Cor Unum topics
  • Support students' voices 

Inspired by the tenets of our International Baccalaureate curriculum to offer an education that is expansive, inclusive and sensitive to the world’s most pressing issues and needs — locally, nationally and globally — we will develop “inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.”

Our Commitment to Free Expression

Convent & Stuart Hall supports the "Chicago Principles," a statement on free expression and academic freedom created at the University of Chicago that conveys a commitment to promote and protect the ideals of free expression in all its forms. You can learn more here.

Cor Unum Voices
Annual author visits, inspired by the Great Texts Philosophy, animate both the yearly curriculum and our commitment to Cor Unum. Cor Unum voices and our guest author program includes a diverse range of authors. Here is a comprehensive list of the thought leaders and authors who have brought inspiration to our community.
 

Key West Literary Seminar

Encounters with authors at the Key West event have brought authors to our community, including Teju Cole, Annette Gordon-Reed, Jason Reynolds, George Saunders and Rowan Ricardo Phillips. The seminar catalyzes expansion of our assigned texts and library collections, facilitating deeper literary engagement and research opportunities for our community.
 


Setting the Course for Cor Unum and Current Strategic Plan Authorship

The Cor Unum statement emerged from the following initiatives and engagements

  • A yearly survey of parents started in 2013
  • Diversity and school culture consultant Ruth Sanchez visited for one week in April 2016. 
  • Faculty, students, trustees and parents had opportunities to share input that informs the strategy and initiatives for 2020 strategic plan; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) emerges as a major strategy in Area of Impact I of the strategic plan.
  • A Cor Unum statement was drafted and presented to the Board and Leadership team in March/April 2018.
  • In summer 2020, President Ann Marie Krejcarek announced the formation of a faculty and staff Cor Unum Workgroup to engage ever more deeply the charge to build a fair and just society. The group had its first meeting on September 10, 2020.
     

Cor Unum Workgroup
Belle Akers
Convent Gr. 1 Faculty
Alyson Barrett
Library Department Chair, History & Social Sciences, Academic Department Co-Chair
Michael Campos
Religion, Theology & Spirituality, Faculty
Hector Flores
Facilities Engineer Lead
Dennis Estrada
Director of Faculty & Staff Development
Cesar Guerrero
Director of Admissions & Academic Guidance
Alexa Johnson
Head of Convent Elementary
Ann Marie Krejcarek
President of School
Roderick Mobley
Sciences Department Chair & Faculty
Sharanya Naik
Studies in Literature & English Language, Academic Department Chair & Faculty
Paul Pryor Lorentz
Chair of Community Spiritual Life; Religion, Theology & Spirituality, Department Chair & Faculty
Rachel Simpson
Chief Academic Officer & Head of Convent High School

Cor Unum Resources


Society of the Sacred Heart Resources