Description: 

What does a courageous and creative career look like in unstable higher education contexts?  

This workshop invites early career faculty in their first six years of full-time teaching, either on the tenure track or in a continuing term position (lecturer, instructor, or teaching scholar) to join a community of peers who value being imaginatively and critically reflective while becoming increasingly skilled teachers.  

The workshop seeks participants who demonstrate a commitment to joining a collaborative learning cohort around the craft and calling of the teaching life including developing imaginative pedagogies, navigating institutional demands, and engaging in courageous, compassionate dialogue. 

Sessions will include small group and plenary discussions, structured and unstructured social time, and time for personal and communal discovery, relaxation, restoration, exercise, meditation, restoration, and shared meals.  Note that this is not another burdensome professional obligation, but an invitation into spaciousness for deeper reflection on cultivating a sustainable and life-giving teaching life.

We will grapple with such questions as:

• What is agency in the classroom and in career?
• What knowledge and guidance are required to accurately read institutional contexts, cultures, and politics?
• What kinds of self-care do we need to do, in an ongoing way, healthy, generative, and passionate teachers?
• Considering the seasons of a teaching career, what are some practices of good teaching and the good life that we should develop in the early years? How can we remain imaginative, creative, and, if it is important to us, spiritual in our teaching?
• What pedagogies and teaching strategies might strengthen teaching in early career?

Workshop Goals:

1. To dedicate focused time to the craft and calling of teaching
   Intentionally invest time and energy into critically and imaginatively reflecting on and developing one’s teaching practice and vocational identity as an educator.
2. To engage in substantive, well-facilitated dialogue
   Foster meaningful conversations that are thoughtfully structured to promote deep learning and mutual understanding.
3. To nurture imagination and creativity in the learning process
   Provide space for innovation, curiosity, and artistic expression in both teaching and learning.
4. To navigate institutional life with wisdom and agency
   Develop skills of institutional citizenship to engage systems thoughtfully and effect positive change.
5. Deepen understanding of the authority and power of teaching
   Reflect on the ethical and relational responsibilities that come with the influence of being an educator.

Participant Eligibility

Participants must be/have:

• Full-time tenure track or continuing term relationship with one school
• 1+ year of teaching experience in a full-time position at the institution of current employment
• Teach religion, religious studies, or theology in an accredited college, university, or seminary in the United States, Puerto Rico, or Canada. If working in related fields must be teaching primary courses focused on issues of religion or theology
• Institutional support and personal commitment to participate fully in all workshop sessions
• Hold a job description or contract that includes at least 50% teaching responsibility
• Applicants must already hold a doctoral degree at the time of application

Application Materials

1. Application Contact Information form 
2. Cover letter:  
   • An introductory letter that describes your teaching context and addresses why you want to be part of this collaborative community, including what you hope to get out of it, and what you might contribute to it. (Up to 500 words) 
3.  Brief essay: 
   • Describe a moment in an introductory class  that challenged you to think more deeply about your teaching. What happened and how did you respond? How did you adjust for the next time you faced that moment? (Up to 500 words)
4. Academic CV (4-page limit) 
5. A letter of institutional support for your full participation in this workshop from your
   • Department Chair, Academic Dean, Provost, Vice President, or President. Please have this recommendation uploaded directly to your application according to the online application instructions.