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@sjcsantafe

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America’s Great Books College. Philosophy, literature, language, science, music, math & ideas that shape our world. Small seminars, caring community.

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St. John’s friend Cornel West on the place of the Great Books in democracy and cultivating self-inquiry and courage. Filmed in the St. John’s Senior Common Room on April 10, 2026.   #liberaleducation #greatbooks #cornelwest #democracy taken in St John's College Santa Fe New Mexico by @sjcsantafe

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2 months ago

How do we prepare students for the AI world? President Sterling poses a few answers in his latest Los Angeles Times op-ed, which you can read at the link in our bio, including:   “If you spent a week at the college I lead, St. John’s College in Santa Fe, N.M., you might forget that AI even exists. It’s hard to fake a two-hour conversation about Don Quixote after reading only an AI summary, and it’s awkward to continue that conversation with your friends over a meal in the dining hall. Should you succumb to the temptations of AI in writing a paper, you’re likely to find yourself floundering in the follow-up discussion with faculty.   Liberal arts colleges have one other indispensable tool for deepening learning and human connection: culture. Most are small, tight-knit communities where students and faculty know one another and ideas are exchanged face to face. Students don’t choose these schools by default; they opt in, often for their distinctiveness. The pull of technology is less strong at these colleges, because they create intense, sustaining, unmediated experiences of communal thinking. This strong culture might be seen as a kind of technology itself — one designed not to dissipate minds and hearts, but to support and deepen them.   Paradoxically, four years largely removed from the influence of technology is one of the best ways of preparing for life and work in an increasingly technologized world.   Carla Echevarria, a 1996 alumna of St. John’s and now a senior manager of user experience at Google DeepMind, admits that she would ‘struggle with Schrödinger in senior lab and then bang my head against Hegel for a couple of hours and then weep in the library while listening to Tristan und Isolde. That brings an intellectual fearlessness.   ‘When I started working in AI, I didn’t really know anything about AI,’ she adds. ‘I prepared for my interview by reading for a couple of weeks. That fearlessness is the greatest gift of the education.’ Many alums echo this belief regardless of the fields they go into.   As we head into this school year and into a future shaped by powerful and unpredictable machines... (Excerpt continued in the comments) taken in St John's College Santa Fe New Mexico by @sjcsantafe

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a year ago

Philosophy Is Back—and It’s Hiring!

In a surprising turn, philosophy now outranks finance in early career employment outcomes - and St. John’s College has the most rigorous philosophy studies of any undergraduate program in the country. According to NBC New York, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, philosophy majors are landing jobs—and earning more—than many of their peers in traditional pre-professional majors. The latest research shows that students who study philosophy are not only more employable than ever but are also better equipped to think critically, communicate clearly, and adapt to the changing demands of the workforce. At St. John’s College, we’ve always known that a deep, rigorous education in the humanities—through close reading, sustained dialogue, and study of the great books—cultivates the kinds of minds the world needs most. Now, the numbers are catching up with the truth we’ve long defended: the future belongs to the thoughtful.

Learn more about the St. John’s Program of Study, which leads to a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts, and which is equivalent to a double major in philosophy and the history of mathematics and science, and a double minor in comparative literature and classical studies.

#philosophy #philosophycareers #hirephilosophers taken in St John's College Santa Fe New Mexico by @sjcsantafe

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a year ago

When we come across a kingdom of reading, we want to tell you about it. St. John’s Santa Fe is a treasure. Long may it flourish! Unlike so many colleges and universities, which have made it clear in the last few years that they are corporations, beholden to larger corporations, St. John’s feels like an ark, a salon, a collective, a refuge, a merry weirdness, a way. Something so old it’s new! Etc. How lovely and restorative it is to walk around that place, and hear its conversations, and meet its students, learning to learn. by @sjcsantafe

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Wittgenstein once said that the aim of his philsophical work was, “to show the fly the way out of the fly bottle.” We’re nearing the midpoint of the semester and you might be feeling, as the air gets colder and the readings more dense, like Wittgenstein’s fly.   When doing diificult philosophical work, its important to maintain perspective of why you went down this path to begin with. Perhaps your dorm room feels a bit like a bell jar. Maybe the whole campus is starting to feel a lot like a bottle. The annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta which ends today is always a wonderful opportunity not only to get out of the bottle, but to also really look up and see the sky.   @balloonfiesta #visitabq #nmtrue #studentlife #johnnielife #simplynm taken in Albuquerque, New Mexico by @sjcsantafe

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Closing out Banned Books Week at St. John’s College Santa Fe with some of your favorite influencers and decided to ask them about their top Banned Classics and the Banned Classics they’re excited to get into! Thank you again to @sjcsantafe for allowing us to be a part of their Banned Books Week event 🙏🏼 #bookstagram #bannedbooks #bannedbooksweek #reading #bookrecs by @sjcsantafe

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The Class of 1976 has returned to St. John’s for Homecoming, where they are celebrating their 50th reunion. Follow our Stories for coverage throughout the weekend—with more to come here next week—as well as our alumni account @johnniealumni!

#mugbook #johnnielife #stjohnsforever taken in St John's College Santa Fe New Mexico by @sjcsantafe

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On October 3, St. John’s College honored pioneering New Mexican author Rudolfo Anaya (1937–2020) as part of Santa Fe Reads and National Banned Book Week. Anaya’s novel, Bless Me, Ultima, is perhaps the most famous Chicano text in the world and has undergone bans and burnings since its publication in 1972.

Bless Me, Ultima tells the story of young Antonio, growing up in rural New Mexico, and the curandera Ultima, who guides him as he wrestles with faith, family, and identity. Like many of New Mexican ancestry, Antonio is torn between his two cultural identities: Spanish Catholicism (his mother hopes he will become a priest) and traditional curanderismo, represented by Ultima.

Our tribute brought together members of the Anaya family including his sister Dolores and niece Belinda, as well as his longtime literary agent, Susan Bergholz, who championed Anaya’s work for decades. The college also brought in book influencers to bring awareness nationally to the book, the tribute, and Santa Fe Reads.

President J. Walter Sterling opened the program by reflecting on why humans struggle to hear and consider uncomfortable ideas and urged attendees to develop curiosity and intellectual courage. Carmella Padilla, author and co-founder of the Santa Fe International Literary Festival, and New Mexico content creator and journalist Jeremy Jojola (@cuentosycorazon) spoke about how Bless Me, Ultima gave generations of Nuevomexicano and Chicano readers a story that continues to reflect their lives, language, landscape, and the culture of New Mexico.

To close, St. John’s Government Relations Officer Pier Quintana presented the Anaya family with a framed copy of our “3,000 Years of Banned Thought” poster. It traces 50 books that have been banned or challenged over three millennia. The tribute ended with the dedication of the Rudolfo Anaya Reading Hearth in the college’s bookstore, The BookMark.

#rudolfoanaya #blessmeultima #bannedbooks #chicanoliterature #nuevomexicano taken in St John's College Santa Fe New Mexico by @sjcsantafe

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This weekend, we put banned classic books into the hands of 102 local high school students who came up to campus for Santa Fe Reads, which was a celebration of National Banned Books Week. Each student picked a classic to take home for free, from Homer and Plato, to Rudolfo Anaya, Toni Morrison, Leslie Marmon Silko, and dozens of other authors whose books have been banned or challenged.

Capital High School led the way with 28 visiting students, followed by Santa Fe High (16), the Academy for Technology and the Classics (10), Santa Fe Prep (10) and New Mexico School for the Arts (7). We also received visits from homeschool students (4), Mandela and Albuquerque Academy (3 each), plus students from Los Alamos High School, Albuquerque High, Early College Opportunities, the College and Careers Readiness Bureau and more!   Over the weekend, The BookMark filled with students browsing the shelves, comparing picks, and talking with our own students about the books they chose and why those books still matter. Those conversations are at the heart of a St. John’s education, and it was a joy to share them with the next generation of readers.

#readbannedbooks #bannedbooksweek #nmtrue #localbookstore #getwiththeprogram taken in St John's College Santa Fe New Mexico by @sjcsantafe

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Reason Franken’s (SF26) experience of the program bears some resemblance to the experience most interlocutors have when talking to Socrates — a perplexity that grows into excitement and dwelling thought. The St. Johns program tends to deconstruct one’s metaphysics before sharing a smorgasbord of ways to find real truth. We argue that the best way to find and establish the bases through which one lives one’s life is through continued investigation. What is the good life, and how do we live it?   #liberalarts #classicalliberalism #SJC #graduate taken in St John's College Santa Fe New Mexico by @sjcsantafe

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Is there a right way to read a book? Does one ever stop figuring a book out? What kind of relationship does the author have with the readers? Annapolis tutors Zena Hita (A95) and Mary Elizabeth Halper discuss these questions and more in the Continuing the Conversation episode “Can a Book be a Friend?” Listen to the full podcast on our website sjc.edu or on Spotify!

#stjohnscollege #greatbooks #BookTok #continuingtheconversation taken in St. John's College NM SAO by @sjcsantafe

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Look at what was created when 10 people came together for 5 days of impact, connection, and, ultimately, love🫶🏼 I will forever be grateful for @sjcsantafe for curating an experience that will stay with us for a lifetime 🙏🏼 #bookstagram #reading #books #family #love

Celebrating our sister @tuhkyjuhslife’s East of Eden experience! Grateful to @netflix and @zoe.kazan for allowing our girl to play such a major role in their premier!

So honored to play a part in hanging out Banned Classics to High Schoolers! Read Banned Books ✊🏼

So honored to be a part of St. John’s honoring of Rudolpho Anaya and his Banned Classic, Bless me, Ultima! @cuentosycorazon did a phenomenal job honoring this powerful man and novel.

Got to spend some time at the @sfinternationallitfest offices. The festival next year is going to be one for the books! Thanks to @suzspace and her team for having us 😊

St. John’s College in Santa Fe is one of the most beautiful campuses I’ve ever seen! I mean what other campuses have a hiking trail that least such a phenomenal view?!

You know we had to get us some St. John’s Swag!

Beauty, style, grace, and intellect. My sisters are everything!

Of course we had to get come communal reading in 📚

Engaging in a St. John’s style seminar was one of the highlights of the experience! We really engaged in fruitful conversation about The Symposium by Plato 📚

@thoughtsofdante gave us a Greek lesson!

One of the many moments of us bonding over food. Readers love to eat!

The fellas cleaned up nice for our dinner 😮‍💨

How many Johnnies does it take to make a fire?! 😂😂😂

To have had my brothers by my side for the entire experience was a blessing. Can’t wait for what’s next for us, Insha Allah!

My sister Ty is a living example of how being a blessing to others manifests blessings for you. I’m in awe of her and so glad to call her friend.

In my element 📚 taken in Santa Fe, New Mexico by @sjcsantafe

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6 days ago