Collaborative Humanities Cohort
February 12, 2026
Collaborative Humanities Cohort Begins Fall 2026Those of you who know me now might be surprised to learn that I was not a stellar high school student. I was a solid B student and not especially interested in intellectual pursuits. That changed during my first year of college, when I found myself enrolled in a 2.5-year Integrated Studies Program, a pedagogical experiment I apparently agreed to by checking a box on my application. The program combined cohorted classes, team-taught seminars, and a living-learning community of 120 students from across the university. After six weeks of Socratic seminars and applying Thomistic “Just War” theory to the contemporary Iraq War (with the soundtrack of Green Day’s American Idiot), I was completely sold.
Since arriving at Xavier in 2016, I’ve hoped to help build something similar here. Thanks to years of groundwork laid by many generous colleagues, that hope is becoming a reality. In Fall 2026, 50–75 first-year humanities majors will arrive on campus as the inaugural Collaborative Humanities Cohort (CHC). They’ll live together in Kuhlman Hall and take nine credits of core courses (THEO 111, PHIL 100, and ENG 205) together in the basement of Hailstones.
The CHC invites students to explore what it means to be human, how communities shape our lives, and how imagination, ethics, and faith can guide us in a complex world. Drawing on literature, philosophy, and theology, students will wrestle with questions like: Who am I becoming? What do I owe to others and to the world? How do hope and creativity help us respond to injustice and crisis? At its heart, the cohort reflects what makes Xavier distinctive: learning in community, asking meaningful questions with rigor and care, and forming people committed to justice, service, and the common good.
This summer, our interdisciplinary team (Drs. Alexis Dianda, Sheena Steckl, and myself, along with disciplinary experts Elliot Chen, Anna Miller, and Maggie Myers) will redesign CHC versions of these core courses together. We’ll coordinate readings, develop shared assignments, plan guest lectures and community engagement, and build the social structures that support cohort life. Fall 2026 may still be months away, but the imaginative and hope-filled work is already underway. In collaboration with the Center for Teaching Excellence, we’ll be hosting classroom observations, workshops, brown-bag conversations, and consultations. If you’re curious, we’d love to have you join the conversation and help shape what’s next.
Ashley Theuring
Associate Professor of Theology
Program Director, Collaborative Humanities Cohort