Deepening Andre Delbecq’s legacy: Inspiring undergraduate students to serve humankind

ABSTRACT

In the past, the typical business school professional saw little need to even broach the spiritual calling. However, Andre’s vocational journey as a scholar-teacher significantly contributed to this change, and many of his colleagues are continuing and looking forward to the possibilities of Andre’s work. Through a Jesuit-lay friendship with the second author, the first author began to take Andre’s call in integrating business as a noble vocation at the undergraduate business level. In connecting classroom assignments and activities with Andre’s scholarship, undergraduate business students were invited to consider what kind of person they would want to be and what kind of world they would want to live in. Here, the article chronicles the work of Andre that inspired changes in the first author’s pedagogy toward coursework that embraces the discipline to make profits along with the discipline to be human – crossing geographical, political, cultural and religious boundaries – in order to meet the world’s needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Andre Delbecq’s legacy
• leadership
• pedagogy
• religiosity
• spiritual formation
• spirituality
• undergraduate business education
• vocational calling
• vocation of the business leader

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Dr Shawn Vecellio, a faculty member in teacher education at several Bay Area universities, for his profound comments and valuable editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Long Le

Long Le is a lecturer and director of international business program in the Management & Entrepreneurship Department at Santa Clara University. He is also the author of GlobalCitizenBiz.Org.

S.J. Mark Fusco

S.J. Mark Fusco is an Assistant Professor in the Religious Studies Department at Santa Clara University.