| Our Collaborative Connections
Collaboration and partnerships are part of CDSP's DNA. Whether between individual faculty teaching in related areas of the curriculum, between scholars within the GTU's academic areas, between CDSP and other GTU schools, or with other seminaries, institutions, dioceses and the wider church, collaborative initiatives consistently enrich the academic life of the school and strengthen its administrative infrastructure.
History
Our history as a founding member of the GTU continues to shape the seminary's ethos of collaboration. The richness of interactions between faculty and students from many traditions within the GTU predisposes CDSP to view collaboration as a positive, fruitful endeavor, and to embrace its opportunities rather than being daunted by its challenges.
Shared Academics
The GTU operates a system of open cross-registration among all the member schools, and extending to the University of California at Berkeley. Most GTU classes are populated by a mix of students from different faith traditions, to the enrichment of all concerned, and CDSP students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of course offerings throughout the GTU in order to broaden their theological and ministerial horizons. Like other schools, we balance this breadth and diversity by requiring students to take certain core courses on denominationally-specific topics "in-house" and in sequence, with their cohort group.
Beyond the normal, informal sharing of faculty that the GTU system of teaching promotes, CDSP last year entered into a more formal arrangement with the Franciscan School of Theology to share a New Testament Professor. Dr. Garrett Galvin taught the introductory course in two sections, and the experiment succeeded in enabling both schools to fulfill a core curriculum requirement at a time when the chairs in New Testament at both schools remain vacant. Other possibilities on the horizon include sharing a Professor of Church Music and a Professor of Pastoral Theology.
Shared Staff Positions
In an effort to confront the unavoidable financial challenges of maintaining an academic infrastructure during difficult economic times, CDSP has been pro-active in exploring partnerships with the GTU in the administrative arena, for the sake of economies of scale as well as mutual enrichment. Currently the GTU, CDSP and Pacific School of Religion share an information technology department and a Chief Financial Officer. Conversations are under way about the shared administration of housing and food services, as well as facilities maintenance. We hope that even closer relationships with our partner institutions, as well as greater efficiencies in operations, will result from these efforts.
School for Deacons
The School for Deacons is a preeminent program for the education and formation of deacons in the Episcopal Church. It is an institution of the Diocese of California, with close connections to the contiguous dioceses of El Camino Real and Northern California and also, since it has been located on the seminary campus for a number of years, with CDSP. It provides a weekend program of study leading to a Bachelor of Diaconal Study degree, and several CDSP faculty members have taught at the School. Online courses for diaconal education are offered through CALL.
Joint Seabury/CDSP DMin in Congregational Development
The creation of a new, focused DMin program in congregational development was an unexpected and very recent opportunity resulting from the difficult financial situation of Seabury Western seminary. In partnership with Seabury, CDSP has added a degree program that enhances our core curricular strengths, which we would never have been able to initiate alone. The first cohort of students began their studies in June 2009, and will arrive on the CDSP campus for their first January elective week in 2010.
National and international student body
CDSP has always attracted a small but significant number of overseas students, whose presence among us enriches the community's life greatly. An exchange program with Cuddesdon Hall in Oxford regularly brings an English student to Berkeley and allows one of our students to spend a year in England. A less-structured program with a seminary in Japan is less often used. In recent years we have been blessed with international students from Kenya, Nigeria, Hong Kong, Cameroon, Brazil, the Philippines, and Canada in various degree and certificate programs, and they have brought a welcome set of perspectives from the global Anglican Communion.
ERD, EES, SCOM, Beatitudes Society
CDSP has close ties with Episcopal Relief and Development, the Episcopal Evangelism Society, the Seminary Consultation on Mission, and the Beatitudes Society. Each of these groups supports our students in their learning about mission, evangelism and social justice, particularly through providing funding for mission and ministry projects, travel and cross-cultural experiences, and by presenting events that broaden horizons. Currently our student from Cameroon and five of her classmates are back in Cameroon for several weeks, working on a variety of grant-funded projects to assist that very young diocese with ministry development, particularly among women and children. On their return, the whole CDSP community will benefit from the experiences and insights they will be able to share.
Living Stones
As part of CDSP's growing commitment to providing and supporting theological education in rural and underserved areas, as well as our involvement in developing new models of urban ministry in the Diocese of California, we are partners in the Living Stones collaborative, and an active member of the Ministry Developers' Collaborative. Two of our students will be among the first group to study for the new Certificate in Ministry Development offered through MDC., while in their final year of seminary.
CALL and Easton Hall Conference Center
Throughout the year local, regional and national church groups of all kinds visit us for meetings and consultation, making full use of Easton Hall Conference Center's excellent facilities. In January the campus overflows with guests for CALL's Epiphany West conference and associated classes, but at almost any time of year we welcome visitors from around the country and the world.
|
