Abstract
Despite a rapid growth in student interest, the Rhetoric and Composition minor at the College of the Holy Cross faces staffing challenges due to its placement in an interdisciplinary center but reliance on faculty lines in English. In an attempt to address these challenges, we sought to develop a new gateway course to the minor that was deeply situated within our unique Jesuit small liberal arts context. This profile explains our development of such a course, focusing on the Jesuit rhetorical concept of eloquentia perfecta , or writing and speaking for the common good. Ultimately, we suggest that mission alignment is an important strategy for writing programs at small liberal arts colleges as we work to articulate our value to the institution and draw needed resources to the program.