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Matthew Reavy, Ph.D.

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 EXCELLENCE IN ADAPTING CLASSIC PRINCIPLES OF JESUIT PEDAGOGY INTO THE CURRICULUM: MAGIS AWARD

This award recognizes a faculty member who makes specific, sustained, and creative efforts to adapt principles of Jesuit pedagogy in his or her classes. Because Jesuit pedagogy emerges from the humanist tradition, all faculty are eligible to be nominated for this award. The principles might be considered in the following categories: The Jesuit Paradigm for Course Design including context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation. Themes of Jesuit Education including: academic rigor, learning integration, Eloquentia Perfecta, discernment, Cura Personalis, curricula blending past and present, and social justice; and Favored Strategies including prelection, frequent reviews, repeated exercise, emulation, competition, Eloquentia Perfecta.

 This year’s Magis Award is particularly special because we offer it in remembrance of a faculty member who we lost.  The recipient of this year’s Magis Award is being given posthumously to Dr. Matthew Reavy of the Communication and Media Department.

Matt’s passing on Feb 2 of this year was both a shock and a loss to the students who benefitted from his excellence and enthusiasm in the classroom and to his fellow faculty members, particularly those in his department, who also witnessed and benefitted from his two decades of service to his alma mater, the University of Scranton.

Matt was a faculty member that truly lived the Magis through his teaching and service. In the classroom, Dr. Reavy prepared students to become men and women for others through his use of the Jesuit Paradigm of course design by creating courses that taught his students ethics, critical thinking, and Ignatian values. Matt developed and led an intercultural communications study abroad course to Ireland that he often ran during summer sessions. This valuable learning experience provided students with the opportunity to learn about the history of Ireland and its people, and blended past and present in order for students to critically think about culture. (There are also many reports from past students indicating the rich learning experience that took place listening to Irish ballads in the serene setting of local pubs during these trips!)

Seriously, Matt will be most remembered for his true dedication and faith in the concept of Cura Personalis. During the years that he spent as a member of our community, Matt affected the lives of countless students and colleagues alike by simply caring about them and their well-being and listening to them. His office was frequently filled with students and he loved to learn from them as much as he loved to teach them.

In the months after his passing, many alumni have offered their memories of Matt and shared the lasting impact that he had upon their lives. As an educator, mentor, and friend, there can be no greater satisfaction than be recognized as someone who always exemplified the Magis in the work to which they dedicated their life.

On behalf of a grateful University, with much love and respect, we present this year’s Magis award to Dr. Matthew Reavy.   

 

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