2024 Fall Regional Conference: Habits as a Path to Virtue
Dallas,
TX
University of Dallas
Habits as a Path to Virtue: Excellence through Education
“The purpose of education is…the habituation of the mind and body to will and act in accordance with what one knows.”
—David Hicks, Norms and Nobility
Classical education has long been understood as the cultivation of (wisdom and) virtue. Every educator who has contributed to the renewal of classical education today—Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Charlotte Mason, and David Hicks—expect education to include training in habits or virtues or character or all of the above. For some, the cultivation of wisdom is more readily at hand: read great books, discuss great ideas, and inculcate a love for the wise teachings of wise people. The cultivation of virtue is just as essential to a classical education as wisdom, and some great thinkers have provided great insights into how to cultivate virtue and what the cultivation of virtue does for the child and the community.
At this Fall Conference, hosted at the University of Dallas in Irving, TX, we will bring together these insights and consider some of the big questions that arise in the cultivation of virtue. What is virtue? Can virtue be taught? What role does “habit training” play in the path to virtue? How do habits lead to rituals? How do rituals lead to meaning? How does meaning inform our virtues and even provoke a loyalty to them? Does excellence follow from this, and are these virtues for the body? the will? the mind? From habits to rituals to meaning to virtue, these are the ideas that will be considered this fall in Irving, Texas. Join us at the University of Dallas from October 10-12. Come early and join us as we will begin Thursday evening with a welcome reception and an opening plenary by Andrew Kern.
Please reach out for a discount code for groups of five or more by emailing matthew@circeinstitute.org
Confirmed Speakers
University of Dallas
The University of Dallas attracts highly motivated students who seek to attend a top-ranked liberal arts university, participate in a one-of-a-kind Rome semester abroad experience, and build life-long friendships with fellow students and faculty.
UD offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral and continuing education programs to more than 1,400 undergraduate students and 1,200 graduate students from across the U.S. and the world.
Founded in 1955, the university is a highly-ranked Catholic university that consistently enjoys a spot in the top 15 Catholic colleges nationwide by Forbes and the top 10 Catholic colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Reports. UD’s summer programs for gifted high school students rank in the top 20 in the nation.
Schedule
CST time
October 10
Thursday
5:30-6:00pm - Registration and Check-in
6:00-7:00pm - Opening Plenary: You Will Show Me The Path of Life: Habits, Virtues, and the Way of the Lord by Andrew Kern
7:00-9:00pm - Welcome Reception (Wine and Hors d'oeuvres will be served)
October 11
Friday
9am - 10:30am - Plenary II - Habits become Rituals, Rituals make Meaning - Dr. Matthew Bianco
11am - 12pm - Breakout Session I
- The Temple, the Flood, and the Carpenter's Jig - Annie Crawford
- "Seven times a day will I praise Thee for Thy righteous laws...": Cultivating Medieval Habits of Time - Richard Rohlin
- Recalibrating Liturgies: Cultivating the Virtue of Self-Denial - Mandi Gerth
12pm - 1:30pm - Lunch
1:30pm - 2:30pm - Breakout Session II
- Tied to a Mast: The Art of Attention - Andrea Lipinski
- How to Know When You Have Got a Virtue - Dr. Gary Hartenburg
- You Need More Dragons, Witches, and Goblins in Your Life - Tonya Rozelle
3:00pm - 4:00pm - Plenary III - The Way of the Torpedo Fish: Virtue, Suffering, and Repentance - Heidi White
4:15pm - 4:45pm - Q&A Panel
October 12
Saturday
9am - 10:30am - Plenary IV - Why You Need Superpowers and How to Get Them - Andrew Pudewa
11am - 12pm - Breakout Session III
- Brave Education: Cultivating Habits of Courage for Educators - Heidi White
- From Habits to Healing: exploring true healing in the works of Medievalists from William Morris to J.R.R. Tolkien - Katerina Hamilton
- The Greatest of These is Love - Dr. Matthew Bianco
12pm - 1:30pm - Lunch
1:30pm - 2:30pm - Breakout Session IV
- The Virtue of Poetry - Buck Holler
- Virtue as Knowledge of Good and Evil - Dr. Gary Hartenburg
- Do habits constrain us or can they make us free and creative? - Matthew Post
3:00pm - 4:00pm - Plenary V - Show Me Thy Glory: Moses, Mediation, Vision, and Virtue - Andrew Kern
4:15pm - 4:45pm - Q&A Panel
Sponsors
