2025 Workshop

Application Dates:

Opens: August 1, 2024
Deadline: October 1, 2024

Schedule of Sessions

All Virtual Sessions – Fridays 3:00-5:00 ET

• Session 1: Friday, February 7, 2025
• Session 2: Friday, March 7, 2025
• Session 3: Friday, April 4, 2025
• Session 4: (In-person) June 2-6, 2025
• Session 5: Friday, September 5, 2025
• Session 6: Friday, October 3, 2025
• Session 7: Friday, November 7, 2025

Leadership Team

Roger Nam, PhD, Candler School of Theology
Alison Gise Johnson, PhD Claflin University

Participants

Baiju Markose, Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University
Collin Cornell, Fuller Theological Seminary
Nick Peterson, Christian Theological Seminary
Colin Donnelly, Virginia Theological Seminary
Henry Kuo, Eden Theological Seminary
Julianna Smith, Earlham School of Religion
Soren Hessler, Emory University
Perzavia Praylow, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Hyemin Na, Wesley Theological Seminary
Hyun Woo Kim, Princeton Theological Seminary
A. Denise Bell, Lexington Theological Seminary
Katrina Olson, Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Dietra Wise Baker, Eden Theological Seminary

Description

“The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives.” Audre Lorde

Participants will explore the paths that led us to our vocations as theological educators. We will examine the ways that our diverse experiences inform our teaching so that we can fully claim our authentic selves. It is only by connecting to our authentic teaching identity that we can sustain ourselves as educators during these times. We will also explore how this work of “scrutiny” can lead to our personal thriving, which can then engender hope for our communities.

Participants can expect to:

• Investigate and reflect our own narratives as they relate to teaching
• Develop practices to deploy methods of integrating our our journeys with our classrooms
• Experience collegial work in an environment that is relaxing and restorative
• Imagine ways of teaching and learning that evoke curiosity, joy, and hope

The hybrid workshop will gather for six online sessions and an in-person summer session at the Wabash Center in Crawfordsville, IN. Sessions will include small group and plenary discussions, structured and unstructured social time, and time for personal and communal growth, relaxation, restoration, and shared meals.

Goals

1. To excavate and nurture your authentic identity as a teacher
2. To transform your teaching with this authenticity
3. To translate your vocational work into communal sustainability
4. To connect our efforts for communal sustainability back to practices that lead to our own sustainability and flourishing for our teaching selves.

Eligibility

• Completed 1-5 years of teaching in a full-time, tenure track or other continuing position
• Doctoral degree completed by end of Spring 2023
• Tenure decision (if applicable) no earlier than Spring 2026
• Teaching in an accredited seminary or divinity school in the United States, Puerto Rico, or Canada
• Job description or contract that is wholly or primarily inclusive of teaching

Application Materials

Please complete and attach the following documents to the online application (available August 1):

• Application Contact Information form 
• Cover letter:  
  • Write a cover letter that describes why a Wabash workshop, given the diverse makeup of its participants, would be helpful to you at this point in your career. What role do you see peer colleagues and collaborators playing in your growth as an early career teacher and scholar?
• Brief essay:  
  • In 500 words or fewer, describe a friendship that informs how you interface with colleagues/peers. How does this friendship inform how you create space for your students? 
  • In 500 words or fewer, tell us about a specific life experience that informs who you are as a teacher?
• Academic CV (4-page limit) 
• 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.