Place-Based Microcolleges as a Context for Cultivating Meaning and Purpose with Young Adults
Publication information:
Abstract
Place-based microcolleges with intimate student cohorts and embodied, meaning-centered curricula are emerging as a unique and powerful strategy for addressing crises of belonging and purpose among young adults. In this presentation, two leaders of this nascent movement – Jacob Hundt, founder of Thoreau College in Viroqua, WI and Philip Francis, founder of the Seguinland Institute in Georgetown, ME – discuss how they weave together nature, work, art, spirituality, and community in their work with students.
Presenter Biographies
Jacob Hundt is Executive Director of Thoreau College, a microcollege in Viroqua, Wisconsin offering immersive, holistic gap year programs. He attended Deep Springs College, the American University in Bulgaria, and the University of Chicago, where he received an MA in Social Sciences. He is the host of the Microcollege Podcast.
Philip Francis is Founder and Director of the Seguinland Institute, a microcollege in Georgetown, Maine, where he grew up - on a boat yard. He completed his doctoral work at Harvard Divinity School in religion and aesthetics, which resulted in his book, When Art Disrupts Religion. He is committed to advancing the emergent microcollege movement.