Hazard Yet Forward: Framing the Catholic Mission & Legacy of Seton Hill University

In 2024, the Council of Independent Colleges, through the generosity of Lilly Endowment, Inc., awarded Seton Hill a Reframing the Institutional Saga grant, which has allowed the university to “produce an updated account of [its] history and mission in light of [its] current context.” Hazard Yet Forward: Framing the Catholic Mission & Legacy of Seton Hill University is the result of several years of discussion, research, and writing amongst a core group of faculty and staff at Seton Hill University. 

Hazard Yet Forward does not serve as a comprehensive chronological history of Seton Hill University. In fact, faculty members were encouraged to follow historical paths relevant to their academic disciplines or personal interests. It is an exploration of mission, leadership, theme, and institutional change in the history of both the Sisters of Charity and the University through a contemporary lens. Current students, alumni, and staff, inspired by several mission-themed prompts, tapped into their creativity to express their own feelings and experiences of Seton Hill. These deep dives and the accompanying creative works, therefore, meld past and present, pointing forward a new future. 

At this moment, Seton Hill University is at a crossroads. Our founders, the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, begin to transition away from direct oversight of the institution. More than ever, Seton Hill will rely on its lay leaders to forge pathways that honor the legacy of our Setonian tradition while accounting for the complexities of a Catholic university within an increasingly fractured society. Socio-economic and political change, shifts in faith traditions (or lack thereof), and the evolving nature of higher education will continue to affect Seton Hill's trajectory. 

The stories of individual Setonians, the lessons of tragedy and triumph, the flows of change and stagnation, all within this book, are meant to teach, inspire, and provoke. The essays recognize the broader work of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill as an extension of the Seton Hill story and as representative of the values of our founders. A deeper understanding of our Catholic, Setonian origins and how they have been made manifest by real people, in ways large and small, will lead to a stronger community and a clearer vision for our institutional future. 

Most importantly, the mission of Seton Hill, and one of the goals of this project, is to form our students in this tradition. By harnessing the power inherent to institutional identity-making and storytelling, there is a robust opportunity to shape student experience and, thereby, the students’ own lifelong vocations. This aligns with Seton Hill’s mission to position students to “think and act critically, creatively and ethically as productive members of society committed to transforming the world.”