f spirituality is to play a significant role in the moral formation of humanity in the 21st century, it is crucial that the next 
generation of educated professionals should nurture spiritual awareness in their formative years. That is the premise underpinning the work of Professor Helen Astin and her husband Alexander (known as Sandy) at the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSEIS).
The Astins’ earlier research, (also Templeton-funded,) produced findings that surprised them as much as the academic community. College students emerged as being much more spiritually-oriented than had been expected; so did faculty members, but the problem was that, of the majority of faculty who professed spiritual commitment, many were reticent about communicating those values to students. Undergraduates expressed disappointment that their teachers, so competent and dedicated in imparting academic knowledge, did not encourage discussion of spiritual issues.
This disconnection struck a strong resonance with Helen Astin. It was precisely such negative compartmentalization that had drawn her into this research in the first place. Speaking of her experience 10 years ago, she recalls: “We learned that faculty really live very divided lives: there is a separate life at home, with a family, with a community, with a church, with a spirituality—and a very separate life within the academic institution.”
Phase I of the Astins’ research, “Exploring the Trends, Patterns and Principles of Spiritual Growth During the College Years/Spirituality & the Professorate Survey” was, as its title implies, a parallel investigation of both students and staff in institutions of higher learning. Conducted between 2004 and 2006, its principal features were a pilot survey completed by 3,700 juniors at 46 colleges and universities, a survey of 112,000 entering freshmen at 236 institutions, and a complementary survey of around 65,000 faculty at 511 colleges and universities nationwide.
Phase II of the research, “Longitudinal Study of College Students’ Spiritual Development During the Undergraduate Years,” funded by a $1.9 million grant, includes a three-year longitudinal follow-up survey of the 2004 entering freshmen conducted in 2007 to assess their spiritual development. This second phase also involved a pilot National Institute on Integrating Spirituality into the Campus Curriculum and Co-curriculum with ten institutions that generated detailed action plans to enhance spiritual development on the campus.
The preliminary findings from the longitudinal study produced some surprises. Most significant, although it emerged that students’ religious engagement dropped considerably during the college years—they are less likely to attend church or read scripture—their religious commitment remains virtually stable, while their spirituality-related qualities actually increase over three years.
Helen Astin explains this apparent anomaly, “What we are finding is that students, over time, become more spiritual, more of them report being on a spiritual quest and also we find that a lot of spirituality-related qualities such as equanimity, ethic of caring, ecumenical worldview also show increases. And to us that’s a great message, that indeed over time students become much more reflective, much more concerned with existential questions… they are on a spiritual quest.”
The data are still being analyzed, so the researchers cannot commit themselves on the question of whether or not academic staff generally have increased their engagement with students on spiritual matters. But certain facts have already emerged, “If faculty encourage conversations around existential questions or issues of spirituality the increases [in spiritual awareness] are much more marked. Also we found out that certain curricular or co-curricular experiences play a role, such as interdisciplinary studies, study abroad, leadership training, participation in group projects.”
As analysis of the data is continuing, Helen Astin comments, “I cannot underscore enough how important these findings are for higher education,” insists Helen Astin, “because colleges and universities being criticized by many as not attending to the development of the whole student, separating their work, their mind, from the soul and attending primarily to the development of the exterior.”
The researchers concluded, “We are very much interested in developing global citizens who have been able to cultivate their inner life.” How optimistic is Helen Astin about achieving their goals? “I’m very optimistic that the work Templeton started is going to have an impact—is having an impact and is going to have an even greater impact—on how we do our business within higher education.”
