SPONSORED EVENTS
Lilly Network Collaborations and Conferences bring together faculty and administrators from different institutions in church-related higher education.
Collaborations invite a small group to consider a topic of concern or interest in a workshop setting, while conferences bring together a large group of faculty or administrators (possibly along with students or community members) to examine a common concern or topic of special significance to the group.
UPCOMING EVENTS
FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 1, 2025 - SAMFORD UNIVERSITY
Institute on Faith & Simulation
Samford University School of Public Health’s Department of Social Work, in partnership with the Experiential Learning and Simulation Center, invites you to join us in Birmingham as we explore the integration of faith and simulation in social work education.
Attendees will learn how to:
Leverage the strengths of simulation as pedagogy.
Learn the nuts and bolts of implementing simulation in your setting.
Develop and apply simulations that address personal and client issues of faith in practice.
Spots are limited. Participants accepted by application review. Applications close July 15, 2024.
The Institute will cover registration costs, hotel for two nights and meals. The institute is supported by The Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities and the William E. and Wylodine H. Hull Fund for Christian Scholarship.
Contact Jean Roberson for more information at croberso@samford.edu.
APRIL 3-4, 2025 - GENEVA COLLEGE
Call for Papers: Orality & Literature Conference
Walter J. Ong’s discussion in his influential books The Presence of the Word and Orality & Literacy invite us to ask, what are words and how do words work? Such basic questions, often taken for granted historically, technologically, and theologically, should instead prompt further inquiry. Ong’s contributions suggest we might find fruitful cues for thought by continuing to study modern means of communication. Ong’s reflections on oral patterns of thinking, transitions in writing and printing, and prescient insights regarding our social media technologies provoke stimulating questions worth considering, and in this year’s conference we invite application of his ideas to academic curricula, with our expectation that professors and practitioners in diverse fields will explore these connections.
Paper proposal submissions should be a 300-500 word abstract with a bibliography. Abstracts can be submitted either as a Microsoft Word document or a PDF. Please email submissions to administrative assistant Blaine Gutberlet at btgutber1@geneva.edu. Please indicate in your proposal whether you would need any A/V equipment (essential equipment only, please).
If you have any questions, please contact the program planners for questions regarding the conference or submission via the administrative assistant.
Proposals may be received by mail at:
Geneva College – Attn: Blaine Gutberlet 3200 College Ave, Beaver Falls, PA 15010
RECENT EVENTS
OCTOBER 17 - 19, 2024 - WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY
Renewing Mind and Heart: Questions for the Next Generation in Higher Education
What makes a Christian university education worthwhile? How can our academic communities cultivate an education not just of the mind, but also of the heart and soul? And is it possible for Christian universities to draw upon the deep resources of our theological tradition while also critiquing systemic injustice in society and our own communities?
In October of 2024, the Weyerhaeuser Center for Christian Faith and Learning will host a conference aiming to rekindle an ongoing conversation around these themes and the future of Christian higher education: "Renewing Mind and Heart: Questions for the Next Generation in Christian Higher Education." Over three days, the conference will feature plenary talks from leading Christian thinkers, worship led by Porter's Gate, facilitated conversation over shared meals, and break-out sessions designed to encourage more focused disciplinary conversations about the integration of faith, scholarship, and teaching.
OCTOBER 13 - 15, 2024 - HOPE COLLEGE
Managing Your Academic Career: A Workshop for Mid-Career Women Faculty
Mid-career, the longest academic career stage, often represents a crossroads of determining where to go or what to do next. For some, this phase results in a “stalled career” when weighing the benefits and costs of pursuing full professorship or other aspirations such as administrative posts. Others experience the signs and symptoms associated with job burnout, disengagement, and institutional disillusionment with increased responsibilities, tension between research and teaching, and additional administrative and leadership responsibilities.
This Lilly Fellows Workshop will provide a space for vocational conversations about mid-career teaching, research, service, and leadership development. It will offer specific tools, resources, and strategies to help mid-career women thrive in their work.
SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2024 - INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2024
INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
Habits of Hope: Educational Practices for a Weary World
The Hedgehog Review’s Jay Tolson offered, “hope may be the most demanding virtue—and, in our time, the one in greatest need.” The purpose of the “Habits of Hope” symposium is to extend that theological logic concerning hope to the work humans called to the academic vocation do. The disorientation plaguing individuals called to such a vocation was on the rise through the 2010s, with Covid-19 only exacerbating it. While the pandemic has gratefully eased, that sense of disorientation is one from which educators have yet to recover.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE
Hans Boersma
Audrey K. Bowden
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu
Kevin G. Grove, C.S.C.
Cherie Harder
Philip Graham Ryken
David I. Smith
Jessica Hooten Wilson
MAY 13, 2024 - JOHN BROWN UNIVERSITY
MAY 13, 2024
JOHN BROWN UNIVERSITY
Enacting Justice, Mercy, and Reconciliation on a Diverse Campus
The purpose of this conference is to gather faculty, staff, and administrators from our surrounding region, many of which are in rural, suburban, or small city settings, to discuss how to enact the biblical values of justice, mercy, and reconciliation better in our classrooms, in athletics, in residential and student life, in chapel, and in student success. This conference will be held on May 13, 2024.
SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 1, 2024 - ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
Expanding Minds and Hearts through Global Learning and Study Abroad
Abilene Christian University will hold the next conference in its biennial “Best Practices in Christian Higher Ed” series on September 29-October 1, 2024. The theme for the 2024 conference is “Expanding Minds and Hearts Through Global Learning and Study Abroad.” Keynote speaker Melissa Torres, President of The Forum on Education Abroad will present the theme keynote on Study Abroad, and Dr. Alex Sosler, Assistant Professor of Bible and Ministry at Montreat College and Assisting Priest at Redeemer Anglican Church will provide theological perspectives in his keynote address. This conference offers a platform for attendees to network, exchange insights and research findings, contemplate the distinctive qualities of Christian education, and come together in worship. The conference includes best practices, an online track, and special interest group meetings. Registration closes September 4. Register here.
APRIL 11-12, 2024 - VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY
Building Sustainable Peace After Genocide: Lessons from Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina
The “Building Sustainable Peace after Genocide: Lessons from Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina” webinar on April 11 and 12, 2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This LFP sponsored webinar, which Dr. Gerald J. Beyer of Villanova University hosted, included participants from numerous countries, including Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Internationally renowned academics and peace activists discussed their first-hand knowledge and experience of peace building in the Rwandan and Bosnian contexts. Among other topics, they considered the role religion in peacebuilding and fomenting conflict, women as peacebuilders, international law and transitional justice, and the methods, key actors, successes, and ongoing obstacles in the peacebuilding process since the tragedies. They discussed how religious believers courageously and creatively engaged in peacemaking activities in areas characterized by ethnic and religious tensions after the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. The goal of the webinar was to engender a renewed commitment at church related higher educational institutions to equip peacebuilders with knowledge and insights needed to transform themselves and the world. In addition to providing an opportunity to remember and learn from the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia, The webinar responded to Pope Francis’s call to members of all the world’s religions to intensify their collaboration in the task of peacebuilding. In this vein, the webinar provided participants with a deep understanding of the latest theoretical and practical initiatives in peacebuilding and transitional justice more generally. For those who were not able to attend, the sessions devoted to Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina are available on the Villanova University YouTube page.
MARCH 30-31, 2023
GROVE CITY COLLEGE
MARCH 30-31, 2023 - GROVE CITY COLLEGE
Christianity and Core Texts at Global/Cultural Crossroads
On March 30-31, 2023, Grove City College hosted an on-campus Lilly Fellows Regional Conference on “Christianity and Core Texts at Global/Cultural Crossroads.” Panelists were asked to deliver scholarly or pedagogical papers on a primary text or core text from a non-Western tradition that engages with Christian faith, practice, or tradition, including works of literature, philosophy, theology, history, and the fine arts. Panels engaged with works and authors from Uganda, Rwanda, Peru, India, Japan, Martinique, Cameroon, the United States, and various Christian communities in the Middle East. Gene Luen Yang, an award-winning graphic novelist and cartoonist, delivered the keynote address on Thursday evening. Alongside visuals of his cartooning work throughout the years, Yang offered a personal account of his life as he navigated the tensions and harmonies between his Chinese heritage, his search for vocational direction as an artist, and his Catholic faith. On Friday afternoon, Dr. Susan Van Zanten (Valparaiso University) gave a plenary address centered on Christian ethics in contemporary ecocriticism and West African fiction, particularly the recent novel How Beautiful We Were (2021) by Cameroonian author Imbolo Mbue. Dr. Van Zanten’s lecture offered a critical framework for connecting global literatures in light of current environmental crises.