Dates of Sessions

• July 14, 2021                    2:30 to 6:30 PM EST
• September 1, 2021          7:00 to 9:00 PM EST
• October 6, 2021               7:00 to 9:00 PM EST
• November 3, 2021          7:00 to 9:00 PM EST
• December 1, 2021           7:00 to 9:00 PM EST
• January 12, 2022            2:30 to 6:30 pm EST
• February 2, 2022            7:00 to 9:00 PM EST
• March 2, 2022                7:00 to 9:00 PM EST
• April 6, 2022                   7:00 to 9:00 PM EST
• May 4, 2022                    7:00 to 9:00 PM EST

one hour asynchronous time will be added to each session

Participants

Sunder John Boopalan, Canadian Mennonite University
Laura Carlson Hasler, Indiana University
Dixuan Yujing Chen, Grinnell College
Christy Cobb, Wingate University
Jessica Coblentz, St. Mary’s College
Erin Galgay Walsh, University of Chicago Divinity School
Jason Jeffries, University of Denver
Jaisy Joseph, Seattle University
Jin Young Kim, Oklahoma State University
Jeffrey D. Meyers, DePaul University
Nermeen Mouftah, Butler University
Michelle Wolff, Augustana College
Stephanie M. Wong, Valparaiso University
Kimberly Wortmann, Wake Forest University

Leadership Team

Tat siong Benny Liew, Ph.D., College of the Holy Cross
Maureen O’Connell, Ph.D., LaSalle University
Paul Myhre, Ph.D., Wabash Center

Description

This cohort experience invites teachers who are in their first years of teaching to join a community of peers and leaders who value the cultivation of capacities for empathic care, generative collegiality, and imaginative reflection about teaching as socially responsive craft, vocation and employment. Our conversation will recognize the liminality brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic, the need for Black Lives Matter protests, and the social uncertainty in the wake of the 2020 Presidential election. 

We will grapple with such questions as: Who is the self who teaches? What is required to accurately read institutional contexts? What kinds of self-care are needed to be a generative and passionate teacher? In what ways might early career colleagues contribute to the health of the institution? Considering the seasons of a teaching career, what are the metrics of good teaching in the early years? What pedagogies might strengthen my teaching? What are the unforeseeable challenges for which a peer conversation might be beneficial?

This cohort builds itself through the exploration of:

• the significance of embodiment in and beyond the classroom
• institutional culture and politics
• emerging pedagogies and pedagogical encounters
• the spirituality, imagination and creativity of teaching
• the agency and commitments of the teacher who knows teaching as liberative
• the multiple epistemologies which might need to inform 21^st century teaching
• the impacts of larger sociopolitical and economic dynamics on whom, what, how, and where we teach

The workshop will gather 16 faculty peers, 2 co-leaders, and a staff person to establish an online cohort for enhanced teaching and deepening of the teaching life.

Workshop Goals

• To create a generative space in which participants can reflect on their vocation, craft and employment as teachers
• To engage participants as they reflect on a variety of practices, methods, wisdoms of being a teacher of adult learners
• To encourage participants to own and develop their sense of embodied agency in their teaching, institutional life, and career path
• To develop peer relationships with colleagues who also pursue improved teaching
• To consider self-care as necessary for the health of family, community, career and self
• To envision teaching as a form of sociopolitical activism within specific cultural framework

Participant Eligibility

• 2-5 years in a tenure-track, contingency, or continued contract
• Job description and contract that is wholly or primarily the responsibility of teaching
• Teaching in an accredited college or university theology, religion, or religious studies department in the United States, Puerto Rico, or Canada
• Doctoral degree awarded by January 2021
• Tenure decision (if applicable) no earlier than June 2022
• Institutional support to participate fully in workshop sessions and to complete teaching fellowship project in the 2022-23 academic year

Application Materials 

Please complete and attach the following documents to the online application:

1. Application contact information form

2. An introductory letter that describes the challenges and opportunities at your institution as regards to your teaching, scholarship, and/or service. (200 words)

3. Application Essay: When you critically and imaginatively reflect upon your teaching, to what metaphor or simile do you aspire and why? How does this metaphor or simile present itself in your classroom teaching as well as in relationship with colleagues? What are the joys and challenges of embodying this metaphor or simile as you teach adult learners? (600 to 750 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.