Hammering a Higher Vision for Higher Education: The College of St. Joseph the Worker, by Paul Kengor

Steubenville, Ohio — In this industrial, Rust Belt city in northeastern Ohio, just across the Ohio River from West Virginia and mere miles from the Pennsylvania border, something special is happening. No, it isn’t the idyllic Nutcracker Village displays that adorn downtown at Christmastime. Nor is it the latest tribute to the town’s most famous native son — the legendary Rat Pack crooner Dean Martin. It isn’t even the excellent Catholic college the city boasts, Franciscan University of Steubenville, home to renowned scholars of the faith such as Scott Hahn and Regis Martin. Though, as with Franciscan, it does relate to higher education.

In this town hit hard by the collapse of the once-thriving steel industry, a revival is taking place, a renaissance in higher education. It’s occurring at a newly established institution called the College of St. Joseph the Worker. …