Claremont School of Theology : 2000 Seminar
Newsbrief
Dean of Students Karen Dalton describes the results of Claremont’s systematic listening to students, the first stage of their project. The group interviews took place over dinner, several times throughout the year, and were designed to let students speak freely on topics of their own choosing. Students discussed: how much they enjoyed their diversity and how they wanted to see more done intentionally with it; Claremont’s pedagogy and curriculum, and their need to have more time to digest what faculty are teaching them; the fact that sometimes seminary upsets their clarity about vocation; the spiritual deconstruction they experience and their anxiety around putting it all back together; the desire for more spiritual mentoring; and the lack of a unifying theme in the M.Div. degree. Faculty, too, have been engaged in a systematic conversation, and have benefitted from forging a new level of trust and a new intensity in their meetings. Despite their diversity of denomination, discipline, and core commitments, faculty have engaged fruitfully over issues such as core values, the M.Div. degree, vocation, and change.
Dean of Students Karen Dalton describes the results of Claremont’s systematic listening to students, the first stage of their project. The group interviews took place over dinner, several times throughout the year, and were designed to let students speak freely on topics of their own choosing. Students discussed: how much they enjoyed their diversity and how they wanted to see more done intentionally with it; Claremont’s pedagogy and curriculum, and their need to have more time to digest what faculty are teaching them; the fact that sometimes seminary upsets their clarity about vocation; the spiritual deconstruction they experience and their anxiety around putting it all back together; the desire for more spiritual mentoring; and the lack of a unifying theme in the M.Div. degree. Faculty, too, have been engaged in a systematic conversation, and have benefitted from forging a new level of trust and a new intensity in their meetings. Despite their diversity of denomination, discipline, and core commitments, faculty have engaged fruitfully over issues such as core values, the M.Div. degree, vocation, and change.