Wabash at AAR
AAR & SBL 2026: Denver
Wabash Center Doctoral Student Luncheon
As you prepare for life beyond the PhD, conversations about research often take center stage. But what about the teaching life that awaits you? This luncheon invites doctoral students to gather in intentional community to reflect on the transition from doctoral study to faculty leadership. Hosted by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, this gathering creates space to connect with peers across institutions and to begin building relationships with an organization deeply committed to strengthening teaching in theology and religion.
While Wabash primarily supports faculty, we recognize that the habits, imagination, and pedagogical commitments of future professors are formed long before the first faculty appointment. This conversation will explore what it means to prepare now for a thriving teaching life—intellectually, relationally, and vocationally.
Come meet other doctoral students navigating similar questions. Learn how Wabash supports faculty once they enter the professoriate. Begin building the networks that will sustain you not just through the dissertation, but into the classroom and beyond.
This is a space to think ahead, build relationships, and imagine your future as a teacher-scholar with intention.
Please register directly on our website or at this here.
Date & Time
Saturday, November 21, 2026
11:30 – 1:30pm
Location
Hyatt Regency, Centennial E
Wabash Center: Thinking Teaching: Strategies, Stories, and Insight to Improve Teaching
Teaching theology and religion is both intellectually rigorous and deeply human work—shaped over time by experimentation, challenge, and discovery. This panel celebrates the release of Thinking Teaching: Stories, Insights, and Strategies to Ignite Reflection, Discussion, and Imagination by Nancy Lynne Westfield. Drawing on decades in the classroom, the book invites educators to pause and reconsider the habits, assumptions, and possibilities that shape their teaching.
Join a distinguished group of teacher-scholars—Lisa Thompson, Willie James Jennings, Katherine Turpin, Boyung Lee, and Elizabeth Conde-Frazier—as they reflect on enduring questions of vocation, creativity, and growth. Together, they will explore how educators sustain imagination, adapt to changing contexts, and continue learning across a lifetime of teaching.
Attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the book and learn about a new Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion grant opportunity to support faculty conversations in their own institutions.
Panelists
- Lisa Thompson, Union Theological Seminary
- Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Independent Scholar
- Katherine Turpin, Iliff School of Theology
- Boyung Lee, Iliff School of Theology
- Willie J. Jennings, Yale University
Date
Saturday, November 21, 2026
3:00 – 4:30pm
Location
Hyatt Regency, Mineral Hall G
Wabash Center Reception
Come join us for drinks, tapas, music, and dessert while gathering with colleagues who share a commitment to teaching, learning, and faculty life in theology and religion.
Reconnect with past participants of Wabash Center gatherings, and meet new friends who are part of this growing community of educators. Come for conversation, connection, and celebration of the teaching life!
Date
Saturday, November 21, 2026
8:00 – 10:00pm
Location
Hyatt Regency, Centennial E
Writing Teaching: A Creative Scholarship Workshop
Date & Time
Sunday, November 22, 2026
9:00 – 10:30am
Location
Hyatt Regency, Capitol 4