Faculty Summer Seminar

I have good news! The Meetinghouse invites interested faculty to apply for a seminar on the vocation of teaching at a Christian college. This four day seminar will be held on our campus with a concluding dinner in Lexington at a restaurant selected by the participants.

The goals of the seminar are to provide an opportunity for Georgetown faculty to explore what it means to be academicians and scholars at a Christian college. We will talk about the landscape of church-related higher education, how we integrate our faith with our research and teaching, and how we understand our calling to Christian higher education.

The format of the seminar will be facilitated conversation guided by presentations from teams of participants. We will share lunch each day and conclude in time for parents to intercept children after school.

Participants will receive the following benefits:

•  Great conversation with 14 colleagues
• Participants will receive copies of the books used in the seminar
• $500 stipend
• Snacks and meals during the seminar and a trip with families to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game.

Participants will be expected to:

• Attend all the sessions and assist in team-leading a session
• Prepare a brief written summary of the seminar and conversation
• Participate through reading the provided material.

Meeting Schedule and Plan:
The seminar will meet from 8:30 to1 pm each day with coffee and snacks provided during the sessions and with lunch following. The format of the sessions is group discussion guided by readings. In order to spread the load of reading a bit, each participant will work with two or three others to lead the discussion of one of the texts below so no one person has to read all the texts. Titles for this year’s seminar are:

• Conflicting Allegiances: The Church-Based University in a Liberal Democratic Society, eds Michael Budde and John Wright
• Robert Benne, Quality With Soul
• Elton Trueblood, The Idea of a College (selected chapters)
• Henry and Agee, The Christian Scholarly Vocation
• Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak

In the concluding sessions of the seminar participants will be asked to prepare a short written response (one or two pages) to the conversation. These written summaries are intended to aid the participants’ reflection on the theme of the vocation of teaching. They will also be used, with the permission of the participants, to assess the success of the seminar in our report to the Lilly Foundation. Roger Ward will facilitate the discussion. The final event of the seminar is a dinner and Cincinnati Reds ballgame for the participants and their families. Meals, books, and the dinner and game are included in the benefits for the participants in addition to the stipend.

Special Guest: We are pleased that Robert Benne, author of Quality with Soul will join us for our conversation Thursday. He directs the Center for Religion and Society at Roanoke College.

Applying to the Seminar:
In order to apply for the seminar respond via email with a paragraph describing your interest in the topic of vocation. For instance, you may describe your understanding of the value of church-related higher education, your sense of calling to an academic career, or the ways you integrate biblical or faith principles into your teaching. The committee will evaluate applications beginning March 10 and continue until the seminar is full.

Thank you for your interest in the seminar. If you have any questions please call any of the committee members: Susan Bell, Michael Cairo, Juilee Decker, David Forman, Roger Ward