Director of Spiritual Diversity

Santa Clara University•Santa Clara, CA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director for Spiritual Diversity (DSD) is charged with envisioning and creating enduring structures, programs and relationships that support the development and nurturing of the spiritual life of the SCU community, especially those from diverse religious/spiritual traditions and students who identify as religiously unaffiliated. The DSD, under the direction of the Director of the Center for Spirituality and Faith (CSF), will create, direct, and implement plans and programs that foster multi-faith awareness and community-building on campus and support interfaith worship and community. The DSD will develop creative, engaging, and exciting growth-development programming and opportunities to engage the growing population of religiously unaffiliated students in the positive possibilities of a robust spiritual life, especially drawing on the tools of Ignatian Spirituality. The position will collaborate extensively with other Mission and Ministry partners, especially the Ignatian Formation team. In addition, the DSD will develop and sustain key institutional partnerships with a series of external partners connected to various faith traditions. The DSD will oversee a team of graduate assistants and student interns to execute the portfolio. This is a full-time, 12 month/year position.

Requirements

Awareness of religious and wisdom traditions and current spirituality trends; knowledge of interfaith dialogue frameworks
Understanding of spiritual/religious development stages for contemporary young adults and the capacity to implement programs to meet these spiritual developmental aspirations
Familiarity with interfaith dialogue across a broad range of religious traditions
Knowledge of trends in the spiritual and religious practices of young adults
Experience in educational institutions required, preferably involving teaching experience or retreat experience focused on spirituality and faith formation for diverse student populations
A comprehensive understanding of and professional involvement with the Ignatian and Catholic educational paradigm is desirable
Strong verbal /written communication and influencing skills
Superior ability to communicate with religiously and intellectually diverse audiences.
Inter- and intra-culturally competent and skilled in working with and supporting students, faculty and staff from a wide variety of backgrounds and orientations
Open, objective, innovative, and oriented toward understanding and responding to issues from divergent perspectives
Outstanding organizational and project management skills
Demonstrated competence in MS Office, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Suite, Adobe Acrobat Pro required
Demonstrated ability to provide pastoral and spiritual care for students
Demonstrated high-level performance in organizational entrepreneurship and creativity
Demonstrated high-level performance in successfully driving projects from inception to completion, including curriculum or program planning and implementation
Excellent overall judgment combined with attention to detail
Ability to consistently demonstrate a commitment to equity and respect in the workplace, a genuine desire to promote a supportive climate for all members of the SCU community, intercultural awareness, communication and understanding, and the ability to manage difficult and contentious situations
Demonstrated high level record of building and managing effective connections with a range of constituencies to achieve success
Availability to work variable hours when required to accomplish project goals
Master’s degree required /o r an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Clinical Pastoral Education credits highly desirable
Minimum four years’ professional experience in relevant field required.
Experience in pastoral care or chaplaincy strongly desired

Nice To Haves

Valid U.S. Driver's License preferred

Responsibilities

Develops a strategy to foster the spiritual and religious formation of students across the spectrum of faith traditions or those who are religiously unaffiliated
Develops a comprehensive strategy for religious and spiritual formation that can be tailored to the diverse student body
Establishes foundational programming and engagement opportunities to connect with the full spectrum of student experiences
Develops an outreach plan to establish and maintain connections to students whose spiritual formation is not being met through traditional needs
Establishes an assessment framework grounded in best practices and informed by national trends that can inform the establishment of strategic goals and tracking effectiveness and impact
Develops and executes programming to foster the religious formation of students
Creates opportunities for students to practice their religious traditions by offering opportunities for prayer, scripture study, meditation, worship, and service, in collaboration with Center for Spirituality interns and with the leaders of student religious organizations
In collaboration with the Center for Student Involvement, provides leadership, guidance, and mentorship to all faith-based registered student organizations
Coordinates the celebration of religious holidays (e.g. Welcome Weekend Havdalah, Passover Seder, Ramadan Iftars and Eid Banquet, Holi festival, Diwali celebration, Sikh holidays, among others), in collaboration with the leaders of student religious organizations
Develops and executes programming to foster the interfaith formation of students
Promotes interfaith and intercultural understanding, relationships, and community life
Supervises interfaith interns and equips them with bridge-building skills to cultivate relationships with students, faculty, and staff on a spiritually diverse campus
Guides student leaders through a strategic visioning and planning process
Collaborates with student organizations to design events for the campus community, including dinners, cultural programs, and service projects
Collaborates with faculty and staff to design curricular and co-curricular opportunities for students
Identifies community partners to participate in educational experiences with students
Develops and executes programming to foster the spiritual formation of religiously unaffiliated students
Creates dialogue and engagement opportunities for students who are religiously unaffiliated but still desire spiritual growth
Works with Mission and Ministry’s Retreat Team to develop, promote, and deliver retreats that offer opportunities for all students – including religiously unaffiliated students – to explore spirituality, meaning, and purpose.
Draws on expertise and wisdom, as well as practices and scriptures, from diverse traditions to contribute to these retreat experiences
Creates campus educational opportunities for campus partners to investigate and understand strategies for serving religiously unaffiliated students
Develops students’ holistic formation through intensive mentorship and pastoral care
Pastorally supports students, regardless of religious affiliation, during crises, spiritual accompaniment, and general mentorship
Fosters particular in-depth leadership development for student leaders, employees, and volunteers to foster their learning and formation in ministry
Accompanies students in the challenges they face in collaboration with CAPS and other university support units
Establishes and maintains a critical portfolio of partnerships, both on and off campus
Directs the CSF’s inclusion and support of faith-based student organizations
Develops relationships with faculty and staff who can serve as resources and representatives of various religious traditions, with specific outreach to the Department of Religious Studies, the Jesuit School of Theology, and the Graduate Program in Pastoral Ministries
Establishes relationships with local religious communities to make referrals for worship, as needed
Develops relationships with religious bodies and interfaith organizations that resource students and advance interreligious education (e.g. Hillel of Silicon Valley, Pacifica Institute, the Healing Mountain)
Represents the CSF on university committees, meetings and /or at events related to religious diversity, pluralism, inclusion, and in appropriate liturgical functions
Discerns the appropriateness of outside religious organizations that wish to operate on campus or resource students
Manages all operational and financial aspects related to the portfolio
With the support of operations staff, leads the effective operation of program activities
Manages annual allocated program budget development, reporting, and forecasting
Hires, trains, and supervises student employees and interns
Supports fundraising efforts and donor cultivation
Contributes to the broader work of the Division
Consults with constituent programs to further align them with SCU’s Jesuit, Catholic mission
Supports the creative infusion of faith and spirituality throughout Mission and Ministry and broader campus programming
Regularly attends and participates in Ignatian programming and Catholic liturgy events offered by other Division programs, including some events that may be held outside of regular business hours
Regularly attends and participates in SCU campus-wide, staff-wide, and academic programming events to represent Ignatian Spirituality and Catholic life perspectives, to form relationships to support engagement with Ignatian Spirituality, and to inform Ignatian Spirituality programming, including some events that may be held outside of regular business hours
Executes other tasks as assigned