Student Services and Information

The students of Kenrick School of Theology are the primary constituency served by the school’s programs. With the faculty, they constitute a community of faith and learning, focused on the priestly ministry and the future of the Church. All full-time students at Kenrick School of Theology must be sponsored by a diocese or religious community. Admissions policies and procedures are outlined in the description of each credential program above. A fuller treatment of these is available in the Admissions Handbook. Kenrick regularly reviews the quality of applicants admitted to its programs, and seeks to develop strategies for enhancing the overall quality of its student population. Policies regarding students’ rights and responsibilities, as well as the code of discipline or rule of life, are clearly identified and published in the student handbook. Kenrick regularly evaluates the appropriateness, adequacy, and use of student services, for the purpose of overall improvement. Kenrick maintains adequate student records regarding admission materials, course work attempted and completed, student evaluations, and other areas as needed. Kenrick ensures the security of its files, and maintains appropriate backups of electronic data.

Kenrick School of Theology administers a student financial aid program, in accordance with accreditation guidelines and federal regulations. Students with an interest in this program should contact the Financial Aid Officer.

All full-time students of Kenrick are required to live on campus, except during their year of internship. Each student is assigned his own room, equipped with a desk, chair, bookcase, bed, and closet. At his own expense, the student is permitted additional furnishings, such as a reading lamp, sound or video equipment, computer hardware, a small refrigerator, an easy chair, or, as applicable, an area rug. Each student is expected to furnish his own towels and linens.

Since the city of St. Louis experiences four distinct seasons, students should afford themselves a variety of winter and summer clothing, both dress and casual. Kenrick students wear clerical garb for liturgies and classes on campus. Kenrick provides a self-service laundry facility for the use of residents.

Kenrick provides a state-of-the-art computer facility for the use of students. This facility, located in the fourth floor tower room, features eight personal computers, scanning and printing equipment, and a high-speed link to the Internet. Computers for student use are also available in the Library.

Each student room is equipped with 100 mbs link to the Seminary Network and the Internet. Student email accounts are established at no charge upon admission to the Seminary. For students with laptop computers, a wireless network card will be provided if needed. A telephone line with voice mail capability is also provided in each student room. Students provide their own telephones.

Kenrick provides parking space for student cars, but accepts neither legal nor financial responsibility for cars parked on its premises, nor for the contents of these cars. Students who park in areas other than those assigned are subject to fines.

The Student Life Association of Kenrick School of Theology serves the students of the school by facilitating open communication between the students and the administration, and among the students themselves. The Association operates through a number of standing committees, and participates in the planning and execution of monthly house meetings in which both students and administrators participate. It is a principal means for the coordination of student contributed services to the seminary.

The Kenrick-Glennon Student Store is a service operated by the students of the seminary on a voluntary basis, primarily for the sale of textbooks. On an occasional basis, the store also handles the sale of other items, particularly those bearing the seminary logo.

Instructional Technology Resources

In the year 2000, Kenrick School of Theology successfully applied for a $300,000 Lilly grant from the Wabash Center in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The grant, which was invested over a three-year implementation process, enabled the seminary to establish an Office of Instructional Technology that oversaw the building of a comprehensive faculty and student computer network; the installation of high-speed dataports in all student rooms and faculty offices along with 11 mbps wireless access points in all hallways throughout the building; the retrofitting of the four primary classrooms, the homiletics lab, and the chapel; the ordering of computer hardware and software for the classrooms and the student lab, which presently hosts five IBMs and two Macs; and the training of faculty and students in the use of educational technologies as appropriate extensions of themselves in the world. Kenrick provides ongoing maintenance for these services and has established a three-year replacement plan for all faculty, classroom, and student lab equipment.  The wireless access points are presently undergoing a planned three-year upgrade with the first third having been replaced by 54 mbps units in the 2006-2007 academic year.

In addition to maintaining the network and its accompanying hardware, the Office of Instructional Technology offers ongoing workshops for faculty and students in accordance with John Paul II's instruction to priestly formation programs to promote media literacy and training (cf., "Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel," "Church and Internet," and "The Rapid Development"). In support of this goal, the Office of Instructional Technology provides a Blackboard course template for each of the courses it offers, facilitates the online presence of its faculty and students by offering web-development seminars in plenary, small group, and individual bases, and works with faculty and students in the preparation of classroom presentations -- which may include a range of interlinked multimedia.

Support from the Office of Instructional Technology is provided by the office coordinator, Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, who oversees the instructional technology program under the supervision of the Academic Dean, and a number of student organizations, which include the Student Computer Services (responsible for general maintenance and training on personal computer systems), the Instructional Media Center (responsible for maintenance and circulation of video equipment), the Graduate Writing Center (responsible for providing a peer review process for students needing assistance with graduate level writing or basic web-building), Broadcast Media Services (responsible for creating and distributing media on various lectures and workshops), and Kenrick Magic and Light (responsible for ensuring that the lectures and workshops at Kenrick have sound equipment and lighting in place).