Workshop Session A

Advancing a Campus Culture of Pluralism 

Interfaith America staff will give an overview of how a pluralism-based framework can help you advance a welcoming and engaging campus culture as a chaplain or religious life professional. Participants will examine how key concepts and skills of pluralism can lead to stronger relationships across difference on their campus.

Carr Harkrader, Senior Program Specialist, Interfaith America

An Apologist Forever: A Case Study in Translating & Re-Translating Spiritual Life in Higher Education 

This session presents a Northwestern University case study and assessment framework that equips chaplains to translate and expand their work across the full spectrum of student identity, shifting from traditional religious accommodation to an integrative model of spiritual well-being.

Eric Budzynski, Associate Director of Holistic Wellness & Contemplative Practice, Northwestern University 

Interfaith Photovoice

This workshop combines smartphone photography, photovoice, and structured dialogue around personal stories of gratitude to quickly build empathy, improve communication skills, and equip participants with tools to cultivate stronger, more resilient teams.

Roman Williams, Interfaith Photovoice

Interfaith Queerness

This session uses a multi-faith, restorative communication approach to share personal narratives around queer identity while inviting others to share their own experiences with spirituality and queerness.

Sean Watson, Director, Religious & Spiritual Life, University of Rochester

Sam Kinsman, Protestant Chaplain, University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology

Marc Goldman, Jewish Life Coordinator, Rochester Institute of Technology

WORKSHOP SESSION B

Disruption as Pastoral Care 

Designed for college and campus ministers, this workshop reframes disruption as a faithful pastoral practice that interrupts harmful patterns and creates space for healing, equipping leaders to ethical and relationally guide students when care demands change rather than comfort.

Rev. Dr. Patricia Murphy, Ecclesiastical Endorser/National Director of Chaplaincy and Specialized Ministries, American Baptist Home Missions Society/American Baptist Churches USA

Nones Don't Exist: The Perils of Labeling & the Realities of Non-religious Diversity

What are the distinctions among atheism, agnosticism, humanism, spiritual-but-not-religious, and other identities, and how can chaplains best account for this diversity and serve those who live within these frameworks?

Ben Iten, President of the Humanist Society & ACPE Certified Educator 

Dr. Vanessa Gomez Brake, M.Div, Senior Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California

Unlikely Partnerships: Leveraging Relationships to Create “Disruptive” Programming

To address declining engagement amid a challenging political climate, this workshop showcases how UMBC’s Center for Religion, Spirituality, and Pluralism leveraged community assets and unlikely partnerships to create innovative spaces for connection, while helping participants identify potential stakeholders for similar disruptions on their own campuses.

Matt Hoffman, Director for the Center of Religion, Spirituality, Pluralism (UMBC)

Joseph Vann-Jones, Program Coordinator for The Gathering Space for Spiritual Well-Being (UMBC)

Writing for Publication

Did you know ACSLHE has a journal? Want to write for it? Join the editors of Unfolding: University Chaplaincy in Practice for a workshop designed to develop your reflections on the work of chaplaincy into published, peer-reviewed articles.  Liz & Preeta will provide detailed information on the submission process and next issue’s theme. Participants will play with a writing prompt and begin the process of outlining potential submissions. 

Elizabeth Hakken Candido, College Chaplain and Director of Religious Life, Kalamazoo College

Dr. Preeta M. Banerjee, Meaning Making Facilitator, Harvard Divinity School

Workshop Session C

Honoring Our LGBTQIA+ Elders

“Honoring Our LGBTQIA+ Elders” is a community engaged learning project that provides a platform for undergraduate students and LGBTQIA+ religious elders to reflect together on the intersections of age, gender, sexuality, and religion through shared oral history. Make this work for your campus and community. Archiving is activism!

Rabbi Camille Shira Angel, Faculty, University of San Francisco, Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice and

Campus Rabbi, Jewish life and multi-faith LGBTQIA+ spiritual life

How Exodus Story Helps Chaplains with Disruption, Trauma, and Personal Renewal

This workshop explores how chaplains can utilize the interfaith, redemptive themes of the Exodus story to support trauma survivors, encourage dialogue amid disruption, and foster their own personal renewal.

Starr Tomczak, lawyer, speaker, and author of Living Well: Inspired by the Story behind the Bible (Cascade Books, 2024)

Interfaith Living-Learning Community: Lessons Learned

Drawing on 4 years as a program director for the Aurora Living-Learning Community, Knonenborg shares the why, what, and how of starting and sustaining an interfaith/multifaith living-learning community on your campus.  

JillAnn Knonenborg, Assistant Dean for Interfaith Leadership, Virginia Tech

Voices from the Field: A Listening Session on Emerging Needs and Opportunities for Chaplains in Higher Education — 

This facilitated listening session will engage participants in reflective dialogue to surface lived experiences and perspectives on chaplaincy work within today's evolving higher education landscape. Participants will collaboratively identify emerging needs, challenges, and opportunities shaping the field, while gaining a brief introduction to Interfaith America's mission, framework, and offerings that support campuses and communities navigating religious diversity.

Becky Crandall, Director of Educational Partnerships, Interfaith America

Workshop Session D 

Death: Conversations about Presence, Care, and Advocacy Surrounding Loss

This session provides a collaborative space for campus professionals to process recent losses and discuss the vital role of chaplaincy in response to death, focusing on peer connection, advocating for culturally equitable grief policies, and visioning future rituals and campus partnerships.

Hannah Adams Ingram, College Chaplain & Associate Dean for Institutional Equity, Macalaster College

Cloud Meditation 

Guided visualization and body scan exercise, give your tension to your cloud!

Kimraj Jordan, University of Chicago Graduate Student

Soul Care: Music

Bring your voice to the circle as we harmonize and create music through collective sound and shared rhythm.

Nuria Rodgers, University of Chicago Graduate Student

Supporting Students to Weave a Vision of Wholeness

Gather with WSCF-US leaders and fellow chaplains in a collaborative space to learn about the practical challenges ICE and other threats create for campus communities, share best practices to protect student leaders in this moment, and build relationships to sustain your network of support.

Ailih Weeldreyer, World Student Christian Federation-US 

Tarot Card Reading

Learn about Tarot as an individual spiritual discipline and collective tool for liberation. Ponder questions about the appropriation and commercialization and Tarot. And, if you wish, participate in a 3-card reading. Presided over by JillAnn Knonenborg, a practicing Christopagan and witch, and assistant dean at Virginia Tech.

JillAnn Knonenborg, Assistant Dean for Interfaith Leadership, Virginia Tech