Dr. Dorothy Dean, Hastings College assistant professor of religion, has been selected to participate in the Council of Independent Colleges and Interfaith America multidisciplinary seminar, “Teaching Interfaith Understanding.”
Dean, who was nominated to attend by Dr. Kittie Grace, interim dean for Academic Affairs, is one of just 25 faculty members selected to participate in the seminar, which takes place in Chicago, Illinois, in June.
“I’m particularly excited about this opportunity because it will mean I can bring new knowledge and skills back to Hastings College to more effectively teach students in religion classes and work with our campus interfaith group, Seeking Understanding,” Dean said. “The end result will be to better equip Hastings College students to be global citizens.”
The seminar, led by Laurie Patton, president of Middlebury College, and Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America, will examine the substantial theoretical questions inherent in teaching interfaith understanding and explore the practical work of translating these ideas into courses.
Each day, the seminar will focus on a particular dimension of interfaith understanding, such as models of interfaith collaboration and pedagogies for teaching interfaith cooperation, and will include both theoretical and applied work. The seminar will blend discussions of case studies and syllabi, primary texts and scholarly readings and experiential activities such as site visits.
Hastings College is a four-year residential college that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. Discover more at hastings.edu.
