At IWU, spiritual formation is not confined to chapel or small groups. It also unfolds in classrooms, advising conversations,
and the daily practices of teaching and scholarship.
Across IWU’s Marion campus and National and Global (N&G) programs, faculty share a conviction: education shapes more than intellect. It forms the soul.
At Wesley Seminary, spiritual formation is an explicit and central part of theological education. Seminary faculty devote their work to shaping pastors and ministry leaders through spiritual disciplines, theological reflection, and mentorship.
Across the rest of the university, however, formation often takes place in less obvious but important ways. Faculty integrate Christ-centered faith with teaching and scholarship in disciplines where students may not expect it.
Two professors illustrate how that formation moves from professor to student.
Upon a wall in Jeff Tabone, Ph.D.’s office hangs a cluster of devotional images.
“They help me focus,” he says.
For the Honors College professor, spiritual formation scholar, and Anglican minister, attention is inseparable from vocation. Formation, he argues, is always happening. The question is what shapes it.
Tabone describes spiritual formation as “a process of being conformed into the image of Christ for the sake of others.”
As a young man, he arrived at college carrying a faith that had little room for questions. What rescued it was not certainty but space.
“There’s space for me to be imperfect, space for me to have doubts, space for me to not have it all figured out,” he says. “I never realized how deep the streams of the Christian tradition could be until I got to a Christian liberal arts college, and that’s what saved my faith.”
Now he creates that same space for students in his first-year course, Called to Love. The class introduces ancient Christian practices in practical ways. Students experiment with rhythms such as Sabbath rest, silence, and intentional community. For many first-year students, it is the first time they have practiced spiritual disciplines intentionally rather than assuming faith will grow on its own.
“You can’t quench the thirst of thirsty people from stagnant water.”
In IWU-N&G, where students often learn far from a physical campus, Sarah Hamsher, Ph.D., believes formation begins with presence.
Hamsher, division chair and professor of undergraduate and initial licensure programs in the School of Integrated Learning and Development, studies the affective domain of learning: the values, motivation, and character that shape how people grow.
Many of her students are adult learners balancing careers, families, and coursework online. For them, the risk of feeling disconnected from a university community can be real.
Hamsher works intentionally to counter that distance.
In her asynchronous courses, she sends students personal emails sharing pieces of her own life, asking how they are doing, and offering to pray. The goal is not simply academic support but pastoral presence.
“They know I’m there,” she says. “That’s often enough for them to press on.”
Students often respond by sharing the challenges they face outside the classroom, from demanding work schedules to family responsibilities. Those conversations frequently open doors for encouragement and spiritual guidance.
For Hamsher, formation begins with recognizing that every student carries a story.
12:1
Marion campus student-faculty ratio*
21:1
N&G and Wesley Seminary student-faculty ratio*
*Stats provided by the IWU Department of Institutional Academic Research (a division of University Academic Affairs), pulling from Fall 2025 data
