Dr. Conor Kelly, assistant professor of theology, has been named the university’s next director of the Marquette Core Curriculum (MCC), Provost Kimo Ah Yun announced today. Dr. Kelly will begin his new role on July 1, replacing Dr. James Marten.
Dr. Kelly’s research centers on the ethics of ordinary life, demonstrating how theological resources can help sharpen moral discernment in everyday situations. His first monograph, The Fullness of Free Time: A Theological Account of Leisure and Recreation in the Moral Life, will be published by Georgetown University Press this fall.
Dr. Kelly regularly teaches classes across the foundations and discovery tiers in the MCC and has been a member of the MCC Committee since it began in 2018. He was actively involved in the core revision process, serving on the Culminating Experience Task Force, one of the initial campus working groups. Additionally, Dr. Kelly has been a member of the Core Proposal Modification Review Committee and the Core Curriculum Implementation Committee.
Dr. Kelly contributed to Marquette’s recent Mission Priority Examen, is a member of the Honors Research Action Team and serves on the Center for the Advancement of the Humanities’ Career Diversity Taskforce.
“I am excited to contribute to the ongoing implementation of the Marquette Core Curriculum in this new role,” Dr. Kelly said. “The MCC offers us a tremendous opportunity to showcase the distinctiveness of a Marquette education and to live out our mission as a Catholic, Jesuit university more fully. I look forward to working with faculty across campus to strengthen the connections between the classes we teach and our Ignatian values.”
“Conor demonstrates both the leadership skills to engage faculty across campus and the vision for an integrated and transformational core curriculum that will be a national model for Catholic, Jesuit higher education. Marquette is fortunate to have him in this role,” Dr. John Su, vice provost for academic affairs, said. “I’m also deeply grateful to Jim Marten for his service over the past year and a half. Jim stepped in as acting director at a crucial moment in the implementation of the Marquette Core Curriculum.”
Dr. Kelly also commended Dr. Marten, “Among the many colleagues whose efforts have helped to shape the MCC, I am particularly grateful for the hard work of Jim Marten, the acting director of the Marquette Core Curriculum, and Sarah Feldner, his immediate predecessor. Their attention to student success has laid the foundation for a core curriculum that promotes integration across a student’s Marquette experience. It is a privilege to continue their work as the next director of the Marquette Core Curriculum.”