January Term Workshops

Schedule: Wednesday, January 4, 2012, 11am-4pm
Facilitator: Karen McArthur (MDiv '87), affiliate minister of stewardship and finance at First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC, founder and principal of Congregational Finance LLC
Fee: $30
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

Leadership of religious organizations in the twenty-first century requires a basic understanding of nonprofit finance. Leaders need to be able to assess the financial health of a congregation, understand IRS requirements, and choose and train effective financial managers, whether they are paid staff or volunteers. Through presentation, discussion, and case studies, this workshop will introduce participants to the vocabulary and concepts of nonprofit financial management, including bookkeeping basics, financial reporting, employer responsibilities, and the role of the leader.

Schedule: Thursday, January 5, 2012, 9am-4pm (with a one-hour break for lunch)
Facilitators: Terry Sweetser (BD '73), vice president, Unitarian Universalist Association Stewardship and Development; Laurel Amabile, director, UUA Annual Program Fund; Liz Baker McClain, manager, UUA Campaign and Legacy Gifts
Fee: $30; free if also registering for the "Financial Management for Faith Communities" workshop on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

This class will shine a light on the fundamentally religious nature of giving, the critical part fundraising plays in ministry and lay leadership, and a practical exploration of types of gifts and fundraising vehicles. The presenters will discuss the process of setting fundraising goals for religious organizations; share advice on approaching donors for major gifts and legacy gifts; explore options for volunteer management; and emphasize the importance of building endowment and encouraging year-round stewardship. In addition to providing information about fundraising specifics, the aim of this class is to increase confidence and comfort in conversations about money and the relationship between generosity and religion.

Schedule: This workshop has been canceled for the 2012 January term
Facilitator: Margaret W. Izutsu (MDiv '95, ThD '04), creator, coordinator, and facilitator of pilot program of grief support groups based on Japanese Confucian memorial customs
Fee: $30
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 8
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

As a model of Confucian pedagogy that insists that each person be met where they are, we will begin with a brief reflection on each participant's previous exposure to death and bereavement to ground our explorations in our own experience. Where appropriate, bereavement theory and the various models available in the West will be discussed as they illustrate or illuminate participants' experience. Then, an overview of hōji practice will equip participants to engage in homework to try on a simplified version of the rituals at the heart of this praxis. The second day will provide an opportunity for participants to report on their experience of these rites. Reflecting on this together, we will draw on East Asian wisdom texts to guide and polish participants' pursuit of the rites. At the same time, we will be listening and looking for the places within participants' native traditions and experience that resonate with or are challenged by these rites. Problems with adapting these customs will be explored on both a personal and theoretical level. Collective reflection by participants promises to locate these ritual resources in an ever-widening fused horizon of their own traditions with these new yet ancient traditions.

Schedule: Monday, January 9 - Friday, January 13, 2012, 1-6pm
Facilitator: Dan McKanan, Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity, HDS
Fee: $60
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

This one-week workshop will explore the implications of food choices for people who eat, for workers who produce food, for plants and animals that become food, and for the ecological and social systems in which eating and food production take place. We will explore ancient texts and modern theologies from a variety of traditions, visit several food-related organizations, and spend time cooking and eating together. The workshop will conclude each day at 6pm or somewhat later, depending on our field trip schedule.

Schedule: This workshop has been canceled for the 2012 January term
Facilitator: Lori DiPrete Brown (MTS '88 and MS, Harvard School of Public Health), assistant director, Center for Global Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Associate Faculty Associate, UW School of Medicine and Public Health
Fee: $30
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

An estimated 143 million children in low-income countries have lost one or both parents due to disease, conflict, natural disaster, or poverty. This two-day course will give an overview of the public health policy and human rights principles that govern current responses to the needs of orphan children, and will include case studies of children in vulnerable situations from a number of countries. Participants will explore and reflect on sacred texts (drawing heavily from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, but also including excerpts from the Qur'an and Eastern texts) to discern how religious traditions can inform care, compassion, and advocacy for children in our world.

Schedule: Thursday, January 19 - Friday, January 20, 2012, 9 am-4 pm (with one-hour break for lunch)
Facilitator: Colby Devitt (MTS '92), vice president of marketing for Reading Kingdom, a start-up company that sells an online program that teaches children 4-10 years old how to read and write to a third-grade level
Fee: $30
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

Online marketing and social media can be practiced using excellent free tools, which are accessible to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. However, there is a great deal of skill and knowledge required to leverage these new electronic tools for maximum effect. This two-day seminar will cover the core principles and best practices of social media and online marketing so that marketing efforts yield the desired results. By the end of the seminar, participants will know how to design and execute an online marketing and social media strategy. Covered subjects will include setting up a successful site, blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube channel, newsletter, and advertising campaign. We will review the course material by examining three case studies of organizations that have successfully used online marketing and social media for social change. Case studies will include how a church used online marketing to grow their community by 227 percent, how a nonprofit grew online donations, and how local charities raised money via viral campaigns.

Schedule: Thursday, January 12, 9am-3pm (with break for lunch), and Friday, January 13, 9am-noon
Facilitator: Jeremy J. Smith (MTS '03 and MBA '05, Harvard Business School), manager, operations and strategy, The Rainwater Charitable Foundation, Texas
Fee: $30
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

HDS prepares global-minded leaders to build a world in which people can live and work together across religious and cultural divides. The leader's work is done collectively within communities (or congregations, staffs, or teams) through effective organizations. However, organizations often do not begin with a shared vision or with alignment on how to achieve the vision. Therefore, a fundamental part of leadership is strategic planning—that is, aligning a group around a common vision and collectively determining the path to achieve it.

Strategic planning is fundamentally about collective stewardship and reflection. This course will cover the principles of successful strategic planning that can be applied to nonprofit and faith-based organizations as well as career or personal aspirations. How does a divided organization align around a plan? What are the steps in successful planning? The course will cover three real-life case studies as well as commonly used frameworks, and will be taught using the case-study method to maximize class interaction and personal reflection. Students will also share their own experiences/stories and collectively problem-solve real challenges.

Schedule: This workshop has been canceled for the 2012 January term
Facilitator: Kerry Maloney, director of religious and spiritual life, HDS
Fee: $250 to cover food and lodging cost, nonrefundable
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 7
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: October 14, 2011
Transportation: We will attempt to carpool, if participants own vehicles

This four-day course in comparative monasticisms will immerse up to seven students and the course director in an encounter with the daily practices of a Cistercian Christian monastery in central Massachusetts, a Zen Buddhist community in western Massachusetts, and a small contemplative center that aims to build bridges between the Christian and Buddhist traditions.

During the week, we will spend two days at Saint Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, one day at the Empty Bell in Northampton, Massachusetts, and one day at the Green River Zen Center in Greenfield, Massachusetts. In addition to joining the members of each community for their respective periods of meditation, prayer, work, and meals, we will hold a daily seminar with a member of each community. Prior to and during our week of immersion, each student will be asked to choose a text from a supplied bibliography to read and to present to the workshop in short seminar format; each person will also be asked to keep a journal of her/his experiences throughout the week. Late in the fall semester, participants will share an evening meal and will view a brief film or two on monasticism. Upon our return, we will hold a seminar on the texts we have read and the experiences we have shared, with a focused consideration of engaging contemplative practices in daily life.

Due to limited space this course is open to HDS students only.

Schedule: This workshop has been canceled for the 2012 January term
Facilitators: Dudley Rose, associate dean for ministry studies; Emily Click, assistant dean for ministry studies; and Laura Tuach, assistant director of field education, HDS
Fee: $30
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

The prevalence of boundary violations among religious leaders and the fallout for their communities continue to be a significant problem in almost every religious tradition. The denominations and other institutions that our students serve more and more require them to demonstrate training in "boundary awareness." This one-day workshop relies heavily on materials developed by FaithTrust Institute and will include basic issues of what appropriate boundaries are and how religious leaders can best maintain them. We also intend to expand on the focus of the FaithTrust material to include the role religious leaders play who follow in the wake of a previous leader's violations in the community. The course will combine viewing video, discussion, and case studies.

Schedule: This workshop has been canceled for the 2012 January term
Facilitator: Meredith Cartwright (MTS), member of the Ontario Bar, argued and won "same sex" pension benefits in the province of Ontario, participant in the "sharia law" debate in Canada, taught "Law and Sexuality" at University College, University of Toronto
Fee: $30
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

Should public-school classrooms be assigned to Muslim student groups for Friday prayers, if female students are required to participate at the back of the room in segregated seating? Should Sikh students be allowed to carry kirpans to Friday night football games?

This is a case study workshop in advocacy and argument using a moot court model for nonlawyers. Students will practice speaking and reasoning on their feet in a formalized adversarial setting, listening carefully to competing ideas, responding verbally to conflicting points, and judging verbal contests. This workshop is designed to provide participants the space and forum to practice verbal, reasoning, and presentation skills that they will use as citizens and leaders. Participants will be assigned roles as advocates and adjudicators to argue and decide cases of conflicting rights concerning religion, sex, children, public space, and public dollars. Roles will be randomly assigned and participants may well have to argue points of view that they may not agree with personally.

Law and legal reasoning skills will be introduced to facilitate participation, but there will be no outside research required or allowed. As an instructor, I used moot courts successfully with University of Toronto undergraduates for a number of years and know that moot courts are challenging and fun. I had a number of students who were not used to speaking up in class or in public tell me that the moot court workshop helped them find their voice and gain confidence.

Schedule: Tuesday, January 17, and Wednesday, January 18, 10am–3:30pm (with 90-minute break for lunch)
Facilitator: Karen D. Harris (MDiv), lecturer at Humboldt State University, Arcata, California. Classes taught include "Hindu Texts," "Spiritual Traditions of India," "Philosophy of Yoga," "Religion and the Body," "Women in Religion," and "Introduction to the New Testament."
Fee: $30
Minimum Enrollment: 5
Deadline for Enrollment and Payment: November 30, 2011

With one in ten American adults engaged in the practice of yoga, and many teachers instructing students in spiritual practices such as meditation, devotional chanting, and the study of scripture, yoga studios are fast becoming dynamic spiritual communities. In this class we will explore possibilities for ministerial leadership in the context of the twenty-first-century yoga studio.

Schedule: This workshop has been canceled for the 2012 January term
Facilitators: Cheryl Giles, Francis Greenwood Peabody Professor of the Practice in Pastoral Care and Counseling, and Maritza Hernandez, associate dean for enrollment and student services, HDS
Enrollment Note: Course filled
Fee: $1,100 plus airfare

This seven-day, co-curricular study trip to the Dominican Republic is an immersive opportunity to study Spanish and increase students' cross-cultural understanding of the role of faith and religion in the Caribbean and in particular to gain understanding of the religious complexity of the Dominican Republic today. InteRDom, an initiative of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and its sister institution Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) will host participants. GFDD and FUNGLODE are nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations dedicated to the collaboration between organizations in the United States and the Dominican Republic with an aim to generate research, enhace public understanding, design public policies, devise strategies, offer capacity building, and foster exchange in the areas crucial for the social, economic, and democratic development of the country, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

InteRDom will set up a seven-day schedule of Spanish classes, seminars, site visits, and service learning activities that will allow us to engage with various aspects of the Dominican Republic's culture and its people. At the beginning and end of each day, we will meet as a seminar facilitated by our faculty leader, Cheryl Giles. We will also meet with the group three times before we leave in January to discuss logistics and a common reading list, and again at least once upon our return for debriefing.

Please note that we are applying for a number of grants in order to cover the educational costs of the trip, with student participants covering their travel expenses only. However, we will not know if the funds will be granted until the end of November, so participants will need to be prepared to cover all expenses for themselves. Cheryl Giles and Maritza Hernandez will hold an information session on Monday, September 12, 2011, at 10am in the conference room located on the Divinity Hall ground floor next to the Student Services Resource Center. Come and learn more about this exciting learning opportunity.

Due to limited space this course is open to HDS students only.