Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

Friendship

Collegial Connections, Week Three: Maintaining Connections

This fall, Renee Bourdeaux draws on her expertise in psychological research and her experience as a college professor to offer tips on building strong relationships with academic colleagues. In addition to applying her academic knowledge, each week Renee will also offer a prayer and a practical exercise to help build community in academic settings. Read Post 1 here, and Post 2 here. 

coffee chat photo

This Collegial Connections series has so far covered Hallway Connections and Meeting Connections. Now, with any luck (and, of course, with some guidance from God), the intentionality we used to engage our colleagues in the hallways and during meetings hopefully led us to developing some stronger friendships with our colleagues. Now, I’d like to share some of the research on how to maintain those friendships.

Relational Maintenance Theory (Canary & Stafford, 1992; Stafford, 2011; Stafford & Canary, 1991; Stafford, Dainton, & Haas, 2000) explains that there are seven maintenance behaviors (positivity, understanding, assurances, network, sharing tasks/activities, relationship talks, and self-disclosure) that are used to sustain various types of relationships. For friendships, though, start by focusing on these two maintenance behaviors: sharing tasks/activities and self-disclosure. [Read more…] about Collegial Connections, Week Three: Maintaining Connections

Collegial Connections, Week Two: Meeting Connections

This fall, Renee Bourdeaux draws on her expertise in psychological research and her experience as a college professor to offer tips on building strong relationships with academic colleagues. In addition to applying her academic knowledge, each week Renee will also offer a prayer and a practical exercise to help build community in academic settings. Read Post 1 here.  [Read more…] about Collegial Connections, Week Two: Meeting Connections

Collegial Connections, Week One: Hallway Connections

This fall, Renee Bourdeaux draws on her expertise in communications and her experience as a college professor to offer tips on building strong relationships with academic colleagues. Stay tuned for three posts exploring connections with fellow academics in your department and university. In addition to applying her academic knowledge, each week Renee will also offer a prayer and a practical exercise to help readers build community in academic settings.  [Read more…] about Collegial Connections, Week One: Hallway Connections

Book Review: Spiritual Friendship

Spiritual Friendship by Wesley Hill. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015.
Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian by Wesley Hill. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015.

Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian by Wesley Hill. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015.

Summary: This is an exploration of the place of friendship in the life of the Christian, particularly its importance for those who chose, either because of sexual orientation, or other reasons to live celibate, chaste lives.

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“Downstream” Author Interview

Downstream
Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly-Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia by David O’Hara and Matthew Dickerson (Wipf and Stock, 2014)

Over the past several years via the Emerging Scholars Network I’ve gotten to know David L. O’Hara, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Philosophy and Classics, Augustana College, South Dakota). I particularly appreciate the refreshing manner in which he addresses material on his blog Slowly Percolating Forms. After the release of his new Wipf and Stock publication, Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly-Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia (co-authored with Matthew Dickerson, Ph.D., Computer Science Professor, Middlebury College), I dropped him a line to see if he’d be willing to share about Downstream with the Emerging Scholars Network. No doubt it was special timing that both David and Matthew were able to respond with the new term so close at hand. I encourage you to sit back and enjoy the conversation around the virtual media table. Tom: Dear David and Matthew, Thank-you for taking the time to join us on the Emerging Scholars Network blog. Please begin by sharing with our readers the story behind Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly-Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia.

DAVID: My friend, Professor Matthew Dickerson (Middlebury College) and I spent the better part of six years researching and writing about brook trout throughout the Appalachians from Maine to Georgia.  Several impulses drove us on: first, we love brook trout and the places they live.  We wanted to get to know the fish and their native waters better, and to do what we could to help our communities to care for those places.  Second, all of our writing together (this is our third co-authored book) is the product of an enduring friendship.

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