La Salle Awards Honorary Degree to Br. Miguel Campos,
Who Has Spread the Lasallian Mission Worldwide

La Salle University honored Br. Miguel Campos, F.S.C. with an honorary doctorate at Honors Convocation on Oct. 8 for his “significant contributions to the worldwide Lasallian movement.”

Br. Miguel, who has taught at La Salle, has traveled extensively for retreats and seminars in the United States and around the world to enhance and expand the mission of the Christian Brothers.

Br. Miguel Campos, F.S.C. (center) is presented with an honorary degree by La Salle President Br. Michael McGinniss, F.S.C. (left). La Salle Religion Professor Gail Ramshaw (right) sponsored the honor.

“Throughout his career, Br. Miguel has cultivated and used his talents for the good of many—his students, colleagues, fellow Brothers, and the lay associates who he knows will help to carry the Lasallian mission into the future,” said La Salle Religion Professor Gail Ramshaw, who sponsored Campos for the honor. “A man of intelligence and master of four languages, a man of passion for the mission and with a work ethic to be admired and emulated, Br. Miguel is truly deserving of our appreciation.”

In conferring the degree, La Salle President Br. Michael McGinniss, F.S.C., said of Campos, “Your seminars, retreats, and workshops in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe have touched many Lasallians, helping them to understand, among other things, the religious dimension of all education. You have helped to make John Baptist de La Salle accessible and inspiring to your fellow Christian Brothers and all our Lasallian colleagues.”

“Further, La Salle University has indeed been fortunate to have been the direct recipient, on two occasions, of your dedication and abilities. Your work with our BUSCA program was an important step in the evolution of our service to the Hispanic community,” added Br. Michael.

In his remarks, Br. Miguel noted that he had attended several fall convocations as a faculty member at La Salle. “Never in my wildest imagination, however, did I dream of being the recipient of an honorary degree from La Salle,” he said. “I would like to express today my deep joy and gratitude for this degree. As a member of La Salle, it makes me feel more deeply connected to the many men and women who have preceded us in this University.”

Since 2000, Br. Miguel has served in Rome as one of six General Councilors of the Christian Brothers. In this and other capacities, he travels around the world conducting seminars and workshops promoting the values of the Christian Brothers to lay faculty members and encouraging them to follow in the tradition of the Brothers.

After joining the order in 1966, Br. Miguel was a mathematics and religion teacher at a Christian Brothers high school in the Dominican Republic. He went on to direct youth ministry and campus ministry programs in Miami, Fla.

Br. Miguel first taught at La Salle from 1975 to 1978, and again from 1991 to 1998. While at La Salle, he co-founded BUSCA, a program for Spanish-dominant students to receive a University education. Students begin with a semester-long Intensive English course, and courses thereafter are all in English. BUSCA students earn an associate’s degree in La Salle’s School of Arts and Sciences, and many go on to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Addressing La Salle students at the convocation, Br. Miguel said:

“Your world is not leading you inexorably to disenchantment, despair and to death,” he told the students. “This is what I hope you will be able to ask for and experience in t his learning community of La Salle University in your relationships with one another, with your professors and administrators.”

He then went on to quote from Walt Whitman’s poem, “The Mystic Trumpeter”:

Sing to my soul
Renew its languishing faith and hope
Rouse up my slow belief
Give me some vision of the future
Give me, for once,
Prophecy and joy.