Faculty Life
What does it take for an organization to remain faithful to its vision? At Valor, we believe that meaningful time spent in an ever-deepening exploration of our vision and intellectual inheritance is key. The Valor Institute exists to deepen our faculty’s engagement with reality by cultivating wisdom, gratitude, and friendship in our community.
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Retreats
The Institute’s single day and multi-day retreats give faculty the opportunity to step back from their daily work and immerse themselves in study and conversation with friends and colleagues. Topics range from canonical studies of Shakespeare and Dante to more recent thinkers, such as Josef Pieper and Eric Voegelin.
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Faculty Fellows
This program emphasizes intellectual formation, personal and professional growth, and friendship with one another through a sequence of readings, discussions, lectures, social events, and retreats. Unique in its holistic approach, the Faculty Fellows program does not focus on only one aspect of life at Valor (the intellectual, professional, or social), but incorporates each into an integrated whole. It aims to enliven and deepen Valor’s vision within each fellow to form a core group committed to wisdom and virtue.
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School Leaders
Valor is deeply committed to developing its school leaders. While our school model provides a guiding light, school leaders are ultimately responsible for the instantiation of Valor’s vision in each school. Each school leader must understand the theoretical and practical wisdom necessary to guide a Valor school. This program shapes school leaders through intensive intellectual formation, personal and professional growth, and friendship with one another through readings, discussions, presentations, and retreats.
Valor Symposium
The Valor Symposium brings together Valor's entire faculty and staff together twice per year to celebrate our vision and mission. Each Symposium includes small group seminar discussions, shared meals, a keynote lecture from a distinguished scholar, and a finale with a convivial social.
"For in celebration, we experience reality in its most real form. Here, we do not do something because it is good for something else, which we do in turn for yet another reason... Here reality appears wholly as it truly is, not as foreign, as begrudging, as frustrating, but as awe-inspiring, powerful, and at the same time as friendly and brightly lit.”
– Robert Spaemann
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Cultural Events
The Institute coordinates meet-ups at local cultural events, such as public lectures, musical performances, and more throughout the year. Past events include lectures hosted by First Things, choral performances by the Talis Scholars, and local Shakespeare performances.
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Reading Groups
Reading groups are coordinated for faculty across Valor’s campuses. These groups help to deepen friendship among Valor faculty in each campus community by providing opportunities to share a meal together over a good book discussion. Past topics include The Inklings, American Short Stories, and class Latin American literature.
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Socials
The Institute hosts campus-specific discussions on great works of art, poetry, and music periodically throughout the year. These events are great opportunities for faculty who wish to join together in great conversation with one another.