On March 22, Dr. Shawna Cooper-Gibson, Boston College’s Vice President of Student Affairs since August 2021, was the featured speaker in the most recent rendition of the Agape Latte faith speaker series at Hillside Cafe. Speaking to the students present that night, she opened her talk by outing the two themes of faith and clarity.
“Faith has been important to me because it implies trust,” Cooper-Gibson began. “You have to trust that you’re going to be successful in all that you do, but also along the way you have to get clarity on how you navigate that trust and that faith.
To illustrate her point, Cooper-Gibson turned to her story. She was the only black girl at her Catholic K-8 school for all 9 years of her education there. She then went on to graduate high school a year early, anticipating the opportunities of the college experience. She studied elementary education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and found her role in the community through being an RA, becoming a member of a historically black sorority, performing undergraduate research with a professor, and serving on the campus activities board.
After about three years working as an elementary school teacher, Cooper-Gibson says, “I was thinking, this is not my jam, what am I going to do?” She returned to school, seeking a doctorate degree in human development and education at Boston University, where she again sensed the need for a new direction after taking a research methods class that caused her to question her potential fulfillment as a member of a university faculty.
Cooper-Gibson turned to reflection, recognizing “I wanted to help people, I liked the college environment a lot, and that I happened to be living in the mecca of higher education.” That moment of reflection, combined with the clarity of a job opportunity in student activities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), produced what Cooper-Gibson called “an inkling of a large-scale idea.”
What followed is an impressive portfolio of student affairs work, beginning with her position of assistant director of student activities at MIT and leading to Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, and Seton Hall University. Searching and praying for clarity guided her, relying on the mantra, “you’ll always be put where you need to be.”
It was at Loyola University, a Jesuit school, that Cooper-Gibson discovered the formative experience of Jesuit education. “Catholic small ‘c’ really means universal, and that it applies to everyone no matter what faith background you have, and the pillars of a Jesuit education really speak to that,” said Cooper-Gibson. Turning to her audience, she cited the Jesuit ideal of magis, or “the more”, and challenged her listeners: “I hope all of you want to do more. I hope all of you care for the whole person, including yourselves.”
Cooper-Gibson spent 11 years at Loyola University Chicago, where she worked in academic advising with the outlook, “I found my passion, and I want to help you explore yours.”
She then served as Vice President for Student Services during the beginning of the pandemic at Seton Hall University, a diocesan Catholic college.
“What’s beautiful about Catholic education is that there’s a mission, and that mission still speaks to me no matter where I go,” Cooper-Gibson said, though adding “I did miss Jesuit education, because we didn’t have those pillars.”
Facing the challenges of the pandemic in her role at Seton Hall, and right after the difficulty of seeing her husband through a 3-week hospital stay for a serious illness, she received a call from the BC recruiter for the position of Vice President of Student Affairs. Poised to return to Jesuit education, live in Boston once again, and work with “top-tier students,” she was asked by her husband, “What would be wrong with that opportunity?”
Despite the numerous places she’s been, Cooper-Gibson said of BC, “I’ve found my home.” In turning her talk to giving advice for the journey to those in attendance, however, she emphasized that college “is just the beginning of your journey.”
“It’s okay to slow down, reflect and take time for yourself,” she said. “It’s okay to sometimes fall down as long as you get back up .. you’ve got to have faith that you are here for a reason.”
“Pray for that clarity… don’t pray for those specific things, but [to] make these decisions clear for you,” whether it be the right major, job, or city. Also, “Some things are not meant for you.”
“We had faith in you as a BC community,” Cooper-Gibson said, and “God has faith in you, so it’s really important that you have faith in yourself, but don’t forget about the people who are coming behind you.”
She also expressed that BC sometimes suffers from a “lack of intimacy … we’re no doubt an intense culture. Some of what I’d like to provide you all is more opportunities to be intimate. This Agape Latte is one of those intimacy opportunities.”
Image Credit to Elizabeth Campbell
Thomas is a student in BC’s Carroll School of Management, who fittingly serves as the current Business Manager of The Torch in addition to his position as Campus News Editor. Thomas can be found around campus singing at Masses with the Liturgy Arts Group, tabling for the BC Pro-Life Club, deep in conversation while enjoying BC Dining cuisine, or gazing in awe at Gasson Hall and its Collegiate Gothic style architectural neighbors.
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