MARION — Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) will formally open its new Center for Faith and Learning with a public open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Center exists to deepen the university’s foundational commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord of all creation by forming faculty and co-curricular educators for faithful Christian academic vocation, and is another milestone achievement of the IWU momentum plan.
The open house will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, in the Center, located in the Jackson Library near the rotunda and adjacent to the Office of Academic Affairs. A brief program will begin at 3 p.m., followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Select Center-sponsored lectures, performances, and scholarly events will be open to the public.
“The Center for Faith and Learning gives visible, institutional expression to who we are as a Christ-centered academic community,” said Jon Kulaga, Ph.D., president of IWU. “It strengthens our shared conviction that Christian faith orders intellectual life, professional calling, and service in the Church and the world, and it forms educators who model that integration for their students.”
The Center serves IWU faculty and co-curricular educators by cultivating sustained, theologically rich formation through teaching, scholarship, service, and mentoring. Its work affirms that faculty formation is not merely professional development, but Christian discipleship shaped by Scripture, Christian tradition, and the Wesleyan-Holiness heritage.
The Center supports faculty through formal initiatives such as the New Faculty Class, along with lectures, forums, seminars, reading groups, visiting scholars, and ongoing scholarly conversation. All programming is anchored in the Common Learning Theme, The Christian Imagination, a multi-year initiative spanning the 2025–26 and 2026–27 academic years.
“The New Faculty Class represents the heart of the Center’s work,” said David Davies, Ph.D., IWU’s vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer. “It creates space for prayerful reflection and sustained conversation about Christian academic vocation, helping educators consider how faith shapes teaching, research, service, and life in the Church.”
The Center for Faith and Learning builds upon earlier formative initiatives at IWU while creating a dedicated space focused specifically on the spiritual and intellectual formation of faculty and co-curricular educators. As external-facing initiatives continue under other university programs, the Center allows IWU to invest intentionally in the spiritual and intellectual formation of those who steward the curriculum and mentor students.
“Since its founding, IWU has affirmed that education is a sacred calling under the lordship of Christ,” Davies said. “The Center for Faith and Learning creates a shared space where educators can deepen that calling, grow in theological confidence, and help students understand their academic work as faithful Christian vocation.”
Across Christian higher education, Davies noted, many educators desire to integrate faith with teaching and scholarship but lack sustained formation or institutional space for reflection, particularly those whose academic training occurred in settings where faith and learning were divided. The Center addresses this need by fostering mentoring, dialogue, and shared practice across disciplines.
The Center for Faith and Learning is housed within the Office of Academic Affairs, underscoring the centrality of faith and learning to IWU’s academic mission.
For more information about the Center for Faith and Learning and upcoming events, visit http://cfl.indwes.edu/.
