Holly VandeWall, professor of the practice of philosophy at Boston College, has been named the 2025 Ascione Faculty Formation Fellow in recognition of her contributions to formative and holistic education at the University.
“I can’t imagine anything I would rather be awarded with, because what I really am excited about doing here on campus is being [here] accompanying undergraduates as they figure out who they are and what they want to be,” VandeWall said.
Created by a gift from Katheryn H. and Michael C. Ascione, both BC ’93, the Ascione Faculty Formation Fellowship honors faculty who demonstrate a commitment to educating the whole person.
VandeWall said the fellowship’s mission of reflection and purpose is especially relevant for students navigating life beyond the structured environments of high school and college.
“Once you leave college, the guardrails come off in a lot of ways,” VandeWall said. “You knew exactly what you had to do to get into college, right? Like everyone told you exactly what you had to do, and you did it. If you got into BC you did it really well. And now you have a few more choices, and you’re a little further away from home. But after this, the guardrails come off, and [you] make your community yourself. You make your vision of yourself.”
VandeWall is a leader of the Center for Student Formation’s Halftime retreat and a mentor for the Self-Knowledge and Reflection course, which takes students on a pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
For VandeWall, student formation extends beyond the classroom—she sees retreats as be valuable opportunities for reflection and personal insight.
“One of the things that I feel like [connects] me to the sort of Jesuit values is working a lot with the Center for Student Formation and the Office of Mission and Ministry, and thinking about the sort of things that drive that Halftime retreat, which is my personal favorite of them,” VandeWall said. “Asking this question, like, ‘What are you good at? What brings you joy, and who does the world need you to be?’”
VandeWall underscored the importance of educating beyond technical or academic skills, emphasizing a more holistic approach rooted in students’ self-discovery.
“Our goal cannot just be to make these people good at spreadsheets,” VandeWall said. “Our goal cannot just be to make these people good at analyzing poetry. What we’re doing it for is the whole person. To produce this sort of integrated personality, where you don’t do one thing.”
Jeffrey Bloechl, philosophy department chair, praised VandeWall’s commitment to students, both inside and outside of the classroom.
“What stands out is her availability and her energy,” Bloechl said. “It isn’t just that she’s willing to put in a lot of her time on the weekends to things like the Halftime retreat, but she’s always ready in her office and around campus to be with students in a way that goes way beyond just teaching the material to them in the classroom.”
Bloechl said VandeWall exemplifies the Jesuit values central to BC’s mission, highlighting her commitment to education, reflection, and the formation of the whole person.
“What eventually gets called a cura personalis—the teaching of the whole person—is something that’s done by the teacher and done with the students, and it’s something that’s embodied,” Bloechl said. “That’s a matter of people working together. And then there are people who live in it, and I think Holly lives in it. So these kinds of things are going on in her approach to life, and in her approach to the classroom with her students.”
According to the Dean of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Rev. Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., VandeWall embodies BC’s Jesuit commitment to formative education.
“In her teaching and in her commitment to engaging with students in the Halftime retreat and other kinds of formative activities, she’s really a model for the kind of faculty member that we want to take seriously this question of who the student is becoming through their experience at BC,” Kalscheur said.
Kalscheur also highlighted VandeWall’s contributions across the University, noting her involvement in formative education initiatives that span both academic programs and extracurricular activities.
“I think in her teaching in Perspectives, in some of the new core courses, the Enduring Questions and Complex Problems courses that she’s been involved in, and in all of her work with Halftime and the Center for Student Formation, she’s really been a model for a faculty member who cares about student formation as being at the heart of what we do,” Kalscheur said.
Belle Liang, a professor of counseling, developmental, and educational psychology in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development and the inaugural Ascione Family Fellow in 2023, praised VandeWall’s ability to challenge and inspire students.
“While I haven’t worked closely with Dr. VandeWall yet, I’ve followed her work with real admiration,” Liang wrote in a statement to The Heights. “She brings a perspective that’s both intellectually serious and deeply human. I’m so glad to see her recognized in this way.”
As the first Ascione Faculty Fellow, Liang said she witnessed the power of the investment herself over the last three years.
“It affirms that formative education—education that helps students become more whole, more thoughtful, more grounded—is not peripheral, but central to our mission,” Liang said.
As for students who are unsure about their future, VandeWall offered a perspective grounded in self-discovery.
“I see too many students worried because they don’t know what they want to do yet,” VandeWall said. “But that’s not the main thing. While you’re here, the real work is figuring out what kind of person you want to be.”
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