At the Threshold: College Chaplaincy in the 21st Century

November 7 – 9, 2013

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 What is the work and vocation of college and university chaplains in the 21st Century?

Through three keynote presentations from highly engaged leaders in the field, two panels of chaplain writers, and small group discussion, this is an opportunity for practitioners, seminarians, seminary and higher education professors, congregational leaders and student affairs professionals to learn and think about working with a generation of spiritually longing young adults.

This conference celebrates the publication of College and University Chaplaincy in the 21st Century: A Multifaith Look at the Practice of Ministry on Campuses Across America, edited by Lucy Forster-Smith and published by Skylight Paths Publishers. The book and this conference are made possible by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., The grant supported the writing of a collaborative book of essays by college and university chaplains, under the direction of Lucy Forster-Smith at Macalester College. The IYM is pleased to host this event.

Be part of this conference to:

• Examine the range of practices attendant to ministry on campus
• Explore the possibilities for multi-faith and multicultural engagement in chaplaincy
• Learn how seasoned practitioners, from a range of theological and vocational perspectives, inhabit the role of campus minister
• Engage the ethical and moral questions that animate the lives of chaplains as they practice ministry on campus.

The resulting publication, College and University Chaplaincy in the 21st Century: A Multifaith Look at the Practice of Ministry on Campuses Across America, Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishers, will be available October, 2013.

Leaders

 Sharon Daloz Parks is director of Leadership for the New Commons, an initiative of the Whidbey Institute. Formerly, for more than sixteen years, Sharon held faculty and research positions at Harvard University including a senior research fellow at the Harvard Business School and in the Leadership Education Project at the Kennedy School of Government. Her publications include, Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World; Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Young Adults in their Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Faith; and she is co-author of Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World. She speaks and consults nationally for a wide range of professional organizations and institutions.

 Deanna Shorb is Dean of Religious Life and Chaplain of Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa. Deanna is ordained in the United Church of Christ and has served in religious life and spiritual leadership in the liberal arts college communities for nearly 20 years. She has an M Div. from Yale Divinity School. Deanna enjoys engaging in the questions with her religiously and culturally diverse undergraduates and she spends her personal ‘co-curricular time’ gardening and continuing construction on the next phase of her children’s tree house.

 Rev. Craig Williams was organizing pastor of Trabuco Presbyterian Church, director of new church development for the Presbytery of the Cascades, and now serves as the Director of the Presbyterian Center for New Church Innovation, West Coast and field staff for the Office of Church Growth. He was instrumental in developing the coaching program and the PCUSA resources for church planting, and continues to serve on the writing teams and development of new resources. Craig coaches leaders, teams, cohorts, and planters as they work towards releasing new ministry, and is involved with several ecumenical and urban ministry cohorts. He leads the PCUSA church planter assessment initiative, and is a regular speaker at presbytery and national gatherings.

 Patricia Karlin-Neumann is Senior Associate Dean for Religious Life at Stanford University. She teaches and lectures widely on Jewish feminism, rabbinical ethics, the relationship between religion and education, and social justice. Rabbi Karlin-Neumann was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1982. She has been a Hillel Director and Jewish Chaplain at UCLA and at the Claremont Colleges, a congregational rabbi in Alameda, California and a Regional Director for the Union for Reform Judaism, the congregational arm of the Reform Movement. At Stanford, she teaches courses including “Spirituality and Nonviolent Social Transformation” and “Rereading Judaism in Light of Feminism“. She is married to biologist George Karlin-Neumann and is the mother of two children.

 Ian Oliver serves as pastor of the University Church at Yale University. An ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ, he has more than thirty years of experience in campus ministry. He served, for twelve years, as University Chaplain at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he was pastor of the Rooke Chapel Congregation on campus and coordinator for the university’s religious affairs. From 1990-1996, he served as Associate Chaplain at the Kodaikanal International School in South India under appointment from the United Church Board for World Ministries. Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Ian is a graduate of Amherst College and University of Chicago Divinity School.

 Linda Morgan-Clement is the Henry Copeland chaplain and Director of Interfaith Campus Ministry at The College of Wooster. A Presbyterian minister for more than 25 years and chaplain since 1996, she brings experience in pastoral care, interfaith dialogue, preaching and public speaking, vocational and career counseling, advocacy work on behalf of women and persons of color, and leadership development.

 Sharon Kugler became the seventh University Chaplain to Yale University in 2007. She came to New Haven from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where she served as the University Chaplain for fourteen years. Sharon has over two decades of experience in ministry in higher education, interfaith collaboration, pastoral and social ministry. Sharon is the past president of both the National Association of College and University Chaplains (NACUC) and the Association of College and University Religious Affairs (ACURA). Sharon received her Masters degree from Georgetown University and is a member of the Theta Alpha Kappa National Honor Society for Religious Studies and Theology. Her master’s thesis, “The Limits and Possibilities of Building a Religiously Plural Community”, was used by the United States Department of Defense: Office of the Chief of Chaplains as a training tool for new chaplains in the military. Sharon is Roman Catholic and originates from northern California. She is married and has two daughters.

 Gail Bowman is Director of the Willis D. Weatherford, Jr. Campus Christian Center and College Chaplain at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky. Gail earned the B.A. from the University of Iowa, the J.D. from Harvard University, and the M.Div. from Howard University School of Divinity. Prior to her beginning her work at Berea College Gail was University Chaplain at Dillard University, New Orleans, LA. She was at Dillard when the devastating Hurricane Katrina forced Dillard to evacuate its campus, seek temporary residential quarters in a hotel in New Orleans, hold classes in the New Orleans World Trade Center, and eventually move back to its home campus. Her reflections on the practice of ministry in times of deep displacement are gripping.

 Richard Spalding is Chaplain to the College at Williams College, Williamstown, MA. An ordained Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Teaching Elder, Rick has served at Williams College for many years. His role includes overseeing religious and spiritual life with a special focus on students affiliated with under-represented traditions and students who are exploring spirituality generally. He works as part of a team of chaplains focusing on inter-religious dialogues and offering several multi-faith services of worship each year. One of his great joys at Williams is leading a Winter Study course called “Explorations in Solidarity” in Nicaragua.

 Lucy Forster-Smith is Associate Dean for Religious and Spiritual Life and Chaplain at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota. She is a graduate of University of Sioux Falls (B.A.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div., D.Min.). Lucy has served as a minister in higher education her entire career, beginning as a Campus Minister at the University of Washington, Seattle, followed by her position as Chaplain at Carroll University in Wisconsin. Her work at Macalester includes oversight of the College’s Multifaith Council, Interfaith House, pastoral care of the community and Co-Directing the College’s Lilly Program for Vocation and Ethical Leadership. Her interest in the work and vocation of college and university chaplains led her to apply and receive a grant from the Lilly Endowment to write two books. The collaborative book of essays by college and university chaplains and edited by Lucy Forster-Smith, College and University Chaplaincy in the 21st Century: A Multifaith Look at the Practice of Ministry on Campuses Across America, Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishers, will be available October, 2013.

Cost and Registration

$115 per person for program and some meals (coffee breaks, receptions, 2 breakfasts, and 2 lunches are included)

Lodging

Affordable lodging is available in the Erdman Center at an additional cost. Please reserve a room at the time of registration. Please read the Registration and Cancellation Policy before registering. Register online here.

Location

Princeton Theological Seminary
Erdman Center
20 Library Place
Princeton, NJ 08540

Download a pdf of the schedule

If you have further questions, please call 609-497-7914 or e-mail [email protected]. Or contact Lucy Forster-Smith at Macalester College [email protected].