I have a question for everyone sort of akin to Josh’s. Last year our Dean of Rockefeller Chapel, who runs the Inter-religious Center and has a big influence in all religious and inter-religious programming on campus (at some of your campuses s/he would be Dean of Religious Life, etc.), left for another school. We are currently in the last stages of hiring a new one, and I have been attending the visiting sermons and trying to get to the receptions for the candidates. What do you all think I should be looking for? Are there attributes of your administrators you think are particularly helpful or unhelpful?
February 28, 2008...3:50 pm
Dean of Religious Life?
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March 1, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Hannah,
I actually was just in a very similar situation. At Trinity the main Chaplain of the college who was sort of the unofficial dean of religious life left us. The process of hiring the new one was a bit different (it was just interviews, they never actually came and preached), but it was still trying to fill the position of someone who had a great deal of influence on campus. During the interviews I wasn’t entirely convinced that the person Trinity ended up hiring was the right one, but in the end it actually turned out really well. The one thing that did stand out was the energy that she had. Throughout the process she was not only able to joke with the people interviewing her, but she also had a lot of energy and seemed enthusiastic about the job. So, I think if you’re looking for specific attributes, go for enthusiasm because the college is obviously able to screen out a lot of things through the application process, but what you really want is someone who has passion about what they are doing and really wants to take the position that they are applying for.
March 10, 2008 at 8:23 pm
yes, i am coming to the same realization- that Brandeis needs an Interfaith Coordinator who programs for IF events on campus rather than someone who gives religious advice. I think the most important values of a Dean for Religious Life are:
1) a willingness to to assess and re-assess the needs of the campus community (too often people get stuck saying “we studied that last year and made changes so we should wait for 5-10 years more to look at it again”)
2) phenomenal interpersonal skills- the ability to connect with many different types of people, not even across faith, but across campus- someone who can connect to students AND faculty AND top administrators
3) beyond basic knowledge of a few religious traditions (having a Dean of Religious Life make silly religious mistakes is unacceptable, but no Dean of Religious Life has to be an expert!)
Jess