Skip Navigation

COVID-19 information and resources: gonzaga.edu/ZagOn

  • University Navigation University Navigation
  • Search Button
Search Button
s
Close Menu

Gonzaga Home

  • About
  • Academics
  • Admission
  • Student Life
  • Athletics
  • myGU

College & Schools

  • Online Graduate Programs
  • College of Arts & Sciences
  • School of Business Administration
  • School of Education
  • School of Engineering & Applied Science
  • School of Law
  • School of Leadership Studies
  • School of Nursing & Human Physiology

Info For

  • Future Students
  • Current Students
  • Military & Veterans
  • Parents & Families
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Our Community
  • Basketball Fans
Visit
Apply
Give
Close Menu
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
  • Search Button
  • Toggle Menu
News, Events & Stories Menu
  • News
  • Events
  • Stories
  • Publications
  • Galleries
News

News

Close Menu
Events

Events

Close Menu
Stories

Stories

Close Menu
Publications

Publications

Close Menu
Galleries

Galleries

Close Menu
  • Home
  • News, Events & Stories
  • Stories
  • Professor Chien Publishes Research on Compassion Meditation and Jesuit Education

Professor Chien Publishes Research on Compassion Meditation, Jesuit Education

Building Compassion, Developing Whole Person

water dropping (Photo courtesy Levi Xu via Unsplash)
(Photo courtesy Levi Xu via Unsplash)
September 17, 2020
|
Gonzaga News Service
Share Story

SPOKANE, Wash. — Gloria (I-Ling) Chien, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University, has published a peer-reviewed research article showing how the compassion meditation course she taught at Gonzaga helped fulfill key goals of Jesuit education: to foster students’ compassion for others and develop the whole person.

Gloria (I-Ling) Chien, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies (GU photo)
Gloria (I-Ling) Chien, Ph.D. (GU photo)
The study, titled “Complementary Teaching Practices: Ignatian Pedagogy and Buddhist-Inspired Compassion Meditation,” was published in the latest issue of the journal Teaching Theology and Religion (23, No. 2; 2020). While scholarly discussions on Jesuit education are plentiful, inquiries related to Ignatian pedagogy are rare, Chien noted. 

A certified teacher in the Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT), Chien’s research for the article focused on a non-credit GU course she taught in spring 2018 titled, “Compassion Meditation and Happiness.” The aim of the teaching and research course was to promote emotional well-being in students and to increase their ethical considerations of others.

Thanks to the positive feedback she received from students in the class, Chien created a new course, “Buddhist Meditation and Practice,” which she has been teaching since fall 2019.
Students’ comments from the 2018 class include the following:

  • “Dr. Chien made meditation engaging, relaxing, and educational. Everything we did was true, supported by a study. She modeled compassion in her love and care for students.”
  • “This class has truly helped me to become a happier & more compassionate person. I feel I can relate to others so much more.”
  • “It has helped me to judge others much less, and made it easier for me to find common humanity.”

Inspired by Tibetan Buddhist Lojong compassion meditation, or “mind training” practice, CBCT is tied to the burgeoning, interdisciplinary field of contemplative studies and touches upon both the humanities and the sciences.

Professor Chien says the cultivation of compassion is similar to nurturing a plant. (Photo courtesy Francesco Gallarotti via Unsplash)
Professor Chien says the cultivation of compassion is similar to nurturing a plant. (Photo courtesy Francesco Gallarotti via Unsplash)

Modern Ignatian pedagogy, a distinctive feature of Jesuit education, is mainly derived from the “Spiritual Exercises,” a contemplative guide composed by the founder of the Society of Jesus, Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556). Chien’s research explores how CBCT aligns with the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm’s five elements: context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation.

Chien’s study employs measurements, such as the Compassionate Love for Humanity Scale, to document how her interdisciplinary approach may enhance participants’ emotional well-being and widen their ethical concerns. As these outcomes are inherently cross-disciplinary, they cannot be achieved through a single evaluative lens, Chien said.

“Building a bridge between the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm and CBCT provides a successful strategy for the educational objectives of developing the whole person and forming a compassionate character,” she noted, adding that the study establishes a foundation for further research related to students’ cultivation of compassion and holistic development.

Chien says students in her “Buddhist Meditation and Practice” class last semester also shared with her how contemplative practice has helped them during this anxious time of the coronavirus pandemic.

Before coming to Gonzaga in 2017, Chien taught courses in Buddhism, Eastern Religions, and Religion and Film at Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned a doctorate in religious studies from the University of Virginia.

Funding for the study was made possible by Gonzaga’s Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of Mission and Ministry, and the Center for Teaching & Advising.

Chien offered special thanks to religious studies faculty colleagues Joseph Mudd, Ph.D., and Anastasia Wendlinder, Ph.D., along with Michelle Wheatley, D.Min., vice president of mission and ministry, for their insights on Ignatian pedagogy. She also thanks psychology faculty members Adam Stivers, Ph.D., and Gary Thorne Ph.D., for their help with statistics, and the theatre and dance department for offering space for this research. Chien dedicates this publication to her students who participated in the project, especially in memory of her late student Erik Bruhjell.

  • Academics
  • Faith & Mission
  • College of Arts & Sciences
  • Academic Vice President
  • Religious Studies
  • News Center

Share Story

Related Stories

Professor Johnston Publishes ‘Walking School Bus’ Research

April 06, 2020

Joe Johnston, assistant professor of sociology and criminology, recently published a research study about a program in multiple Spokane elementary schools, in which college students volunteer to walk children from their homes to school.

In the News: Bartlett's Work on Gratitude Receiving National Attention

November 27, 2019

The academic research work of Gonzaga's Monica Bartlett, Ph.D., and her colleagues on the topic of gratitude continues to receive regional and national attention.

Professor Raven Maragh-Lloyd Part of Grant Studying Radicalization in Social Media

August 07, 2020

Raven Maragh-Lloyd, Ph.D., assistant professor of communication studies at Gonzaga University, is part of a unique research project examining how and why some people adopt extreme political and cultural views through their use of social media, and what might be done to identify, predict, and prevent that behavior.

Gonzaga Acquires Atomic Force Microscope, Thanks to NSF Grant

March 23, 2020

A tool for transformational collaborative nanoscience research.

Subscribe

Subscribe to Messages from Gonzaga University


First Name
Last Name
Email Address *

Get the latest news sent to you as soon as it is published. While the frequency of these emails varies, you’ll typically receive between two and five emails per week, depending on the time of year.

A monthly newsletter sent from August through June that highlights some of our best news, stories and events.


Back to Top
Visit
Apply
Give
Quick Links
  • Maps & Directions
  • Employment at GU
  • Emergency Information
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Title IX
  • Consumer Information
  • ZagMail
  • Contact Us
  • Harassment & Discrimination Policy
  • Virtual Tour
  • myGU Intranet
Gonzaga University
502 East Boone Avenue
Spokane, WA 99258-0102
(800) 986.9585
A Jesuit, Catholic, Humanistic University
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube