better together: fostering interfaith appreciation to advance the common good

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Better Together: Fostering Interfaith

Appreciation to Advance the Common Good

Jeff Carlson and Claire NoonanDominican University

13th Biennial Colloquium of Dominican Colleges and Universities

June 2014

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DEFINITION: INTERFAITH COOPERATION

Interfaith Cooperation

respect

relationships

common action

respect for religious and non-religious

identity

mutually inspiring relationships

common action for the common good

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PARTNERSHIP: CAMPUS ENGAGEMENT

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FRAMEWORK: CAMPUS TRANSFORMATION

STUDENT OUTCOMES

CAMPUS OUTCOMES• Urgency: Why now?

• Relevance: Why us?

• Excellence: What is success?

• President & administration

• Teaching faculty

• Administrative faculty

• Students

• Students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors

• Creation of interfaith leaders

• Supportive campus climate

• Sustainable structures

VISION ECOLOGY

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VISIONTo craft a vision for interfaith cooperation, explore the following questions in relationship to your campus:

Relevance ExcellenceUrgency

Why now?

• Religious bigotry

• Religious ignorance

• Increasing & supporting diversity

Why us?

• Connection to mission, identity & values

• Educating for a diverse world

• Cultivating global citizens

What’s success?

• Cross-campus; high level

• High participation

• Action oriented

• Measurable

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ECOLOGYThe ecology of the campus represents a way to think about structures, assets, and challenges across the institution. How can each dimension of the ecology support interfaith cooperation?

Alumni and Community

President & Administration

Faculty

Staff

Students

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STUDENT OUTCOMESStudent outcomes should demonstrate measurable change in student attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors concerning religious diversity.

Knowledge

Attitudes

Behaviors

Yr. 1 Yr. 2 Yr. 3

25%

50%

75%

100%

% o

f stu

dent

bod

y

STUDENT BODY

Unaware / Unsupportive

4

3

2

1% o

f stu

dent

bod

y

LEVELS OF INTERFAITH LEADERSHIP

Transformers

Activists

Conversation Changers

Supporters

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CAMPUS OUTCOMESTo ensure interfaith cooperation is a lasting priority, your campus should be able to measure changes in terms of overall campus climate and in terms of the sustainable structures put in place.

Campus Climate Outcomes

“My campus values religious pluralism”

“My campus intentionally creates opportunities for me to meet people of different religious/philosophical identities”

“My campus intentionally creates opportunities for people of different religious/philosophical identities to work together on issues of common concern”

Sustainable Structures

President & Administration

Faculty

Staff

Students

Alumni and Community

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MAP CAMPUS ASSETS• Core mission• Curriculum including undergraduate general education• Programs and events• Communication pieces• External partnerships• University policies• Include a survey of students/faculty/staff re. interfaith

attitudes/knowledge

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THE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE• Faculty, staff and students• Dominican example: Interfaith Cooperation

Committee co-chaired by Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Vice President for Mission and Ministry.

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STRATEGY OF INFUSION• Interfaith as expression of institutional mission• Interfaith as expression of institutional diversity plan• Transforming endowed chairs, special lectures,

campus-wide rituals or major events

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INTERFAITH LEARNING OUTCOMES

o Incorporated interfaith cooperation into an existing Global Citizenship initiative, made concrete through the Higher Learning Commission’s Assessment Academy and Dominican’s focus on the Globally Positioned Student

o Interfaith Cooperation Committee created interfaith learning outcomes in order to assess interfaith student learning across campus

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UNIVERSITY-WIDE OUTCOMES

• Demonstrate a willingness and ability to explore, through dialogue, their own and others’ religious, spiritual, or value-based (RSV) worldviews and traditions

• Develop “religious literacy” with regard to facts, values, practices, and philosophies of multiple traditions

• Identify warrants and strategies within particular traditions for interfaith dialogue and cooperation

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UNIVERSITY-WIDE OUTCOMES

• Explore the history of interfaith interchange, organizations, and initiatives following the 1893 World Parliament of Religions

• Engage persons and communities with diverse RSV worldviews to address contemporary social concerns

• Explain why knowledge about RSV worldviews is important for the students’ chosen field of study or future profession

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DIVERSITY CURRICULUM AUDITo Surveyed faculty to determine levels of engagement

with multiple aspects of diversity, including religious diversity, in each course

o Developed faculty grants for course enhancement, targeting gaps/low scorers

o Conducted direct assessment of student learning in targeted courses with rubrics developed from interfaith learning outcomes

o Incorporated interfaith learning outcomes in specific disciplines, e.g. “explain why knowledge about religious, spiritual and value-based worldviews is important for the students’ chosen field of study or future profession.”

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EXPANDING ACCESS THROUGH CURRICULAR ANCHORS

Liberal Arts and Sciences Seminars as vertical spine of undergraduate Core Curriculum

o Taught by faculty from 15 Arts and Sciences Departments, also School of Business, School of Education, School of Library and Information Sciences, and School of Social Work

o Students take one each year, with a focused theme and one common text at each level

o Dominican has infused interfaith/religious/philosophical common texts at all four levels.

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LAS SEMINARS COMMON TEXTS

• 1st year "The Examined Life": Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ

• 2nd year "Life in Community": Diana Eck, Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras

• 3rd year "A Life's Work": Pope John Paul II, On Human Work (Laborem Exercens)

• 4th year: "The Good Life": Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

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MINISTRY, STUDENT LIFE & COMMUNITY SERVICE

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PRAYER AND CELEBRATION

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INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL LIFE

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SPEEDFAITHING

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ASSESSMENT: LAS SEMINARS

• Facilitated pre- and post-surveys for students enrolled in freshman and sophomore seminars inquiring about their attitudes, knowledge, and skills along particular interfaith learning outcomes

• Administered surveys to seminar faculty at the end of the semesters to gauge their perceptions on the overall success of the interfaith texts and learning modules (on site visits, and on interfaith dialogue exercises) that had been developed and shared

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LAS SEMINAR ASSESSMENT• Seminar students report increases in:

o Number of “meaningful conversations with someone from a religious, spiritual, or value-based worldview” other than their own

o Comfort in discussing their own worldview with others who have a different worldview than theirs

o Capacity to name something positive shared with another worldview

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Students also report increases in:o Knowledge of Buddhismo Understanding why interfaith cooperation is

important for the Catholic Dominican traditiono Belief that the college classroom is an appropriate

place to discuss issues related to spirituality and/or religion

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ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING IN TARGETED COURSES

o Rate student work in multiple courses using rubrics developed from two of the interfaith learning outcomes:

• Demonstrates willingness to respond to questions regarding one’s own religious, spiritual or value based worldview

• Analyzes the role of religion, spirituality, and value-based worldviews in significant current and historical events

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STUDENTS/FACULTY/STAFF POST-SURVEYS

In an all-campus survey administered in 2010, only 28% of student respondents said they “very often” or “often” got “information about different religious or philosophical traditions” from their classes. Now we can confidently say that nearly 100% of undergraduates are exposed to some different religious traditions as a course requirement.

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POST-SURVEYS First-year students who read Living Buddha, Living Christ are able to identify the Buddhist value of “mindfulness” as a shared value across different religious traditions, and the majority of students (84%) “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” that participating in the Seminar made them more comfortable discussing their own worldview with others who have different worldviews.

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CAMPUS RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL CLIMATE SURVEY

In the Spring 2013 administration, Dominican students reported the highest level of curricular religious and spiritual engagement among all students surveyed within that administration

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CAMPUS RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL CLIMATE SURVEY

Dominican students report increasingly positive attitudes toward people of minority faith traditions and atheists, when compared with Dominican students who were surveyed in 2010 and students on other campuses in the 2013 CRSCS national administration.

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CAMPUS RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL CLIMATE SURVEY

Contrasted with 2010, when only 25% of Dominican student respondents indicated they had a “very positive” or “somewhat positive” attitude toward Atheism

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SUMMARY1. Map campus assets2. Establish an oversight committee3. Adopt a strategy of infusion4. Develop university-wide interfaith learning outcomes5. Conduct a diversity curriculum audit6. Create curricular anchors7. Create co-curricular experiences8. Conduct a variety of assessments