Initiative

Interfaith Leadership in Higher Education

In recognition of the growing importance of religious identity, diversity, and equity on the national and global stage, AAC&U partnered with Interfaith America to advance interfaith cooperation as a learning goal and practice on campuses.

Partners in Pluralism

Many campuses and nearby communities have become increasingly divided over issues of religious identity and political ideology. AAC&U partnered with Interfaith America to help colleges and universities play a responsible role by embracing differences while maintaining a common life together. Through curricular and cocurricular models and campus programming, the Interfaith Leadership in Higher Education initiative helped shape campus culture by establishing promising practices for engaging religious diversity, encouraging interfaith cooperation, and integrating equity and inclusion into institutional interfaith practices.

The initiative was initially funded by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and had thirty institutions participate. With funding from the Lilly Endowment, the initiative expanded its reach to prepare teams of college and university leaders from ten additional institutions each year to transform their campuses into model environments for interfaith cooperation. Ultimately, the initiative leveraged and demonstrated the strength that comes from diversity and pluralism in campus communities and beyond.

Pinpointing Participants

Our interactive map shows the 41 campuses that to date have participated in an Institute on Teaching and Learning for Campus-wide Interfaith Excellence.

Highlights from Participating Institutions

  • Curricular
    Curricular

    Washington & Jefferson College: Completed curricular proposal for an Interfaith Studies Minor

    St. Mary's University: Conducting full survey of all academic programs and departments to ascertain the number, kind, and degree of interfaith issues and topics addressed in courses and/or programs.

  • Cocurricular Programming
    Cocurricular Programming

    Eastern Mennonite University: Launched the SoulStories program—monthly conversational gatherings to explore different worldviews and faith traditions.

    Queens University of Charlotte: Lead a Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion training with an interfaith focus for a cohort of 10 students.

    Washington University in St. Louis: Developed and launched an Interfaith Buddies Program—groups of three students from different faith backgrounds had recurring informal meetings throughout the semester. They also created an Interfaith Fellowship program with 11 undergraduate students. There are six sessions on interfaith dialogue and leadership.

  • Integration of Interfaith and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives
    Integration of Interfaith and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

    Nazareth College: Development of ROOTS program for developing student ambassadors to lead and facilitate conversation with attention to intersectional aspects of identity, including religious diversity. ROOTS stand for Re-thinking Othering and Oppression Through Systems.

  • Institutional Integration of Interfaith Initiatives
    Institutional Integration of Interfaith Initiatives

    Concordia College-Moorhead: Worked with the food hospitality task force to conduct a needs assessment to determine how dining services could better accommodate the religious dietary. Needs of faculty, staff, and students. As a result of interviews, significant changes were made in dining services—two interns participated in a meat-flagging project as part of their nutrition and dietetics major and interfaith studies minor.

    Concordia College-Moorhead, University of Denver, and University of Miami collaborated to create Holiday Fact Sheets. Each Fact Sheet focused on a single holiday, provided the name, information about the holiday, a description of what the holiday commemorates, and tips for students and faculty to discuss accommodations for missed classes or assignments.

    University of Denver: In a partnership between the Religious Inclusivity Team, the Office of Teaching and Learning and faculty in Computer Science, undergraduate students learned about the importance of religious inclusivity in a course and developed an app connected to the broader Holiday Fact Sheet project. The “Interfaith It” App adds dates of holidays from six religious traditions into users’ online Google, Apple, or Outlook calendars. The App is available on the Apple App store.

  • Professional Development
    Professional Development

    Elon University: Created an Advisory Board for Black Student Spiritual Support, comprised of an interfaith group of faculty and staff.

    Bethune-Cookman University: Offered a virtual faculty workshop on interfaith learning, focusing on student support and diversity awareness.

    Ursinus College: The Hillel Director created an asynchronous reading group to explore interfaith studies. That group has over 10 members and has been a forum for active discussion. In the group discussions, faculty and staff are questioning how college campuses should take on meaningful questions, including those of religion in the curriculum