Course Descriptions
Field Education
Clinical Pastoral Education
This course is for Starr King students engaged in part-time or full-time Clinical Pastoral Education. Participate in ministry to persons in crisis and engage in individual and group reflection. Didactic sessions draw together theoretical material from theology, the behavioral sciences, and pastoral care. Students learn to integrate theological understanding and knowledge of behavioral science with pastoral functioning. Upon completion, a written evaluation from the program supervisor will be placed into the student’s permanent file. Discuss CPE with your advisor and then faculty. Final evaluation from CPE supervisor needs to be sent to faculty by the last day of the semester to receive credit. Students are responsible for applying for and securing a place in a CPE program. Please check the SKSM Student Handbook for more information.
This course is taken for variable credit (between 1-10 credits)
Relates to SKSM Threshold 5 and MFC Competency 2.
Session
Summer 2019
Instructors
Course Type
Field Education
Location
No Location
Course ID
FE-4012
Faculty Approval Required
No
Units
1-10
Community Field Work
Field work describes an involvement in community work for up to 15 hours a week with the ongoing support of a mentor. Community Field Work includes work in gender, racial and economic justice, queer activism, disability advocacy, immigration issues, environmental responsibility, civil liberties protection, HIV response, youth at risk, peace building, participating in a fundraising campaign for a non for profit or grassroots organization, chaplaincy, teaching and more. Students should discuss the field work opportunity with their advisor before making arrangements with the professor. Student and community mentor will discuss and sign a learning agreement at the outset of the field work experience. Midterm and final student/mentor evaluations will also be required by midterm and the end of term. All forms are available on the SKSM website. Please see Student Handbook and Contextual Education Handbook for more information.
This course is taken for variable credit (between 0.5-5 credits)
Relevance for specific SKSM thresholds and MFC competencies varies according to the nature of a student’s field experience.
Session
Summer 2019
Instructors
Course Type
Field Education
Location
No Location
Course ID
FE-4063
Faculty Approval Required
No
Units
.5-5
Congregational Field Work
Fieldwork is an opportunity to put into action the theory learned in the classroom. Working in a congregation gives the student a chance to develop their unique pastoral voice while navigating complexities of a congregation’s history, culture, systems and ethos. Fieldwork placements may include: teaching a religious education class for children or adults, working with a youth group, serving on a pastoral care team, participating in a stewardship campaign and more. Evaluation is based on Zoom conversations with professor, mid-term and final evaluations. This course is for M.Div. students. Depending on the focus of the Field Work, your project may relate to Starr King thresholds 1, 2, 5, 6, 7,
8 and MFC requirements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. This is taken for variable credit between .5-3 credits.
Session
Summer 2019
Instructors
Course Type
Field Education
Location
No Location
Course ID
FE-4053
Faculty Approval Required
No
Units
.5-3
Immersion
ChI Chaplaincy Electives
For joint-program students participating in Chaplaincy Institute (ChI) courses as part of the Interfaith Studies Certificate. Students enrolling in ChI electives earn credit based on the total number of courses completed in a term. The following electives are offered in Summer 2019: Eco-Ministry (June 3-8), Spiritual But Not Religious (June 11-12), Science and Spirit (June 13-15), Healthcare Chaplaincy (July 15-17), and Being with Dying and Death (July 18-20). Some additional coursework will be conducted online.
ChI electives are only for students who have been admitted to the SKSM-ChI joint program and are not available to other SKSM students or to students from other GTU schools. This course does not count toward residency requirements. Relevance for SKSM thresholds and MFC competencies varies by elective.
Session
Summer 2019
Instructors
Course Type
Immersion
Location
Off-site
Course ID
SPFT 1120
Faculty Approval Required
No
Units
1-7
ChI Ministry Basics 3
For joint-program students participating in Chaplaincy Institute (ChI) modules as part of the Interfaith Studies Certificate. In this course, areas of focus include: projection, transference and countertransference, spiritual care and addiction, ministry with the ill and dying, grief and loss, trauma-informed care, ministerial boundaries, dreamwork, and self-care in ministry. The ChI curriculum incorporates lecture, dyad/small group work, various art modalities, and site visits to deepen our many ways of learning and integrating new awareness.
This course is only for students who have been admitted to the SKSM-ChI joint program and is not available to other SKSM students or to students from other GTU schools. This course does not count toward residency requirements. Meets Aug. 19-22 + additional online coursework. Relevant for SKSM thresholds 1, 2, and 6; MFC competency 3.
Session
Summer 2019
Dates
8/19/19 – 8/22/19
Instructors
Course Type
Immersion
Location
Off-site
Days
M / T / W / Th
Course ID
SPFT
Faculty Approval Required
No
Units
1.5
ChI Spiritual Direction III
For joint-program students participating in Chaplaincy Institute (ChI) modules as part of the Interfaith Spiritual Direction Certificate. This course is the third of four classes in the 2019 program. The certificate is designed to inspire, nurture and educate those who are called to serve as Spiritual Directors in our increasingly diverse world. Our innovative program focuses on a combination of the study of world religions, an exploration of personal spirituality, and spiritual direction skills, all in a creatively infused context. Each intensive learning course focuses on the development of practical skills and competencies for offering spiritual direction to persons of varying religious beliefs and backgrounds. This immersion in the arts of ministry combines pedagogies of theoretical, practical, and artistic learning. This course is only for students who have been admitted to the SKSM-ChI joint program and is not available to other SKSM students or to students from other GTU schools. This course does not count toward residency requirements. Held Aug 19-23. Relevant for SKSM Thresholds 1, 5, 6, 8; MFC Competencies 2, 3.
Session
Summer 2019
Instructors
Course Type
Immersion
Location
No Location
Course ID
SPFT-1497
Faculty Approval Required
No
Units
2
ChI Spiritual Traditions
Global Spiritual Traditions 1: for joint-program students participating in Chaplaincy Institute (ChI) modules as part of the Interfaith Studies Certificate. The first of a two-part series that introduces students to ChI’s core philosophy and learning approach as well as an introduction to World Religions and/or spiritual paths that have their origins in earth-centered, indigenous practice (Africa, Pagan, First Nation and other indigenous worldviews), as well as ancient Eastern philosophy and belief systems (Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism). While engaging with the world’s knowledge, beliefs, traditions, scriptures, and practices, the ChI curriculum incorporates lecture, dyad/small group work, various art modalities, and site visits to deepen our many ways of learning and integrating new awareness.
This course is only for students who have been admitted to the SKSM-ChI joint program and is not available to other SKSM students or to students from other GTU schools. This course does not count toward residency requirements. Meets Aug. 13-17 + additional online coursework. Relevant for SKSM thresholds 1, 2, and 6; MFC competency 3.
Session
Summer 2019
Instructors
Course Type
Immersion
Location
No Location
Course ID
HR 1100
Faculty Approval Required
No
Units
3
Intensive
ECO Core Intensive
Educating to “Create Just and Sustainable Communities that Counter Oppressions” (“ECO”) is a core goal of Starr King’s M.Div. and M.A.S.C. degree programs. In this required core intensive, M.Div. and M.A.S.C. students work together to form a framework for counter-oppressive spiritual leadership. We will ask: how can spirituality, ministry, and religious activism respond to the multiple and intersecting realities of injustice, suffering, and oppression in our lives and our world? What models of justice and sustainable community invite our commitment? Drawing on Unitarian Universalist and multi-religious sources, we will explore how in the midst of a world marked by tragedy, sorrow and injustice there remain abiding resources of beauty and grace that nourish resistance, offer healing and call us to accountability and community building. Reading and writing assignments to be completed before the course. Final paper. This course has a special focus on economic and racial justice addressed intersectionally. Relates to Thresholds #2,5,7 and 8 and MFC Competency #4. Please take within your first year.
Session
Summer 2019
Dates
8/19/19 – 8/23/19
Instructors
Course Type
Intensive
Location
No Location
Room
Fireside
Days
M / T / W / Th / F
Time
9:00am-12:30pm, 1:30pm-5:00pm
Course ID
RSFT 1017
Faculty Approval Required
No
Course Size
6 – 22
Units
3
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Leadership Along the Way
The rationale for this course is to develop one’s own life-regenerating leadership along the long arc of social change and transformation that existed before our time and will continue after us. We will explore ways of engaging and directing energy within an ecosystem so as to encourage diversity and distribution of leadership. This includes rediscovering our agency in challenging environments while leading in a way that honors the leadership present in any given moment, as well as the leadership that preceded and will follow such moments.
This course is in-person, interactive, and informed by Taoist, Zen, and Somatic praxis. Students will be expected to complete readings, reflections, and activities that will deepen their leadership practice.
Relates to SKSM Thresholds 1, 3, 5, & 7, and MFC Comps 3, 5, & 7.
Session
Summer 2019
Dates
8/12/19 – 8/16/19
Instructors
Course Type
Intensive
Location
No Location
Room
Reading Room
Days
M / T / W / Th / F
Time
9:30-5:30
Course ID
RSED 2200
Faculty Approval Required
No
Course Size
6 – 12
Units
3
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Multi-religious Core Intensive
Multireligious Intensive: Amidst the Blessing of the Ancestors weaves teachings on organic multireligiosity from Ibrahim Baba (Dr. Ibrahim Farajae) with practices of ancestor reverence and healing. According to Ibrahim Baba, organic multiregliosity “interrupts practices of considering religions as monolithic, rigidly-separated traditions in conflict with one another [and] rather understands them as having complex and constantly-morphing relationships in successive generations and in ever-widening geographical and cultural contexts.”
This intensive focuses on embodying multireligiosity in personal practice, tending multireligiosity in spiritual leadership and public worship, and engaging multireligiosity toward countering oppression and cultural (mis)appropriation. The intensive also engages embodied practice around ancestor reverence and healing – in spiritual lineage and family / blood lineage – as a way of anchoring multireligious expression, countering oppression, and aligning to blessing. Each day of the intensive combines conceptual exploration of multireligiosity, embodied practice of counter-oppressive devotion and tending work in ancestral lineage ritual and repair. Course texts include multi-media selections from Ibrahim Baba, readings by Adrienne Maree Brown on intersectionality and emergent strategy, and Ancestral Medicine by Daniel Foor. Prior to the intensive, students are expected to complete select readings as well as to submit a reflection paper on personal experiences of multireligiosity and ancestral tending. At the completion of the course, students submit a second reflection paper weaving their learnings and experiences in the intensive.
This course relates to SKSM Thresholds 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and MFC Comps 1, 3, 4
Session
Summer 2019
Dates
8/26/19 – 8/30/19
Instructors
Course Type
Intensive
Location
Starr King Campus (Berkeley, CA)
Days
M / T / W / Th / F
Time
10am-6pm
Course ID
IDS 1400
Faculty Approval Required
No
Course Size
6 – 20
Units
3
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UU Ministerial Leadership
This CORE intensive course focuses on the theological foundations and habits of mind necessary to be a self-defined leader among Unitarian Universalists, either in congregations or in other UU settings. Students will have the opportunity to test their current skills in a series of real-world challenges likely to be faced in parish or community settings. The goal is to allow student the chance to confront possible issues while the stakes are low. Role playing, small group work and reflection papers will be required. This is a required course for the M.Div. program.
Relates to SKSM Thresholds 1 & 5 and MFC Comps 2, 5 & 7
Students must contact the instructor via e-email prior to enrolling in order to receive permission to register. Registration is contingent upon faculty approval.
Session
Summer 2019
Dates
8/19/19 – 8/23/19
Instructors
Course Type
Intensive
Location
Starr King Campus (Berkeley, CA)
Room
Fireside
Days
M / T / W / Th / F
Time
10am-6pm
Course ID
FTED 2100
Faculty Approval Required
Yes
Course Size
6 – 20
Units
3
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UU Polity
The Polity Intensive Class will happen June 19-23 at the site of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly in Spokane, WA. Students will discover the mechanics of governance by observing Unitarian Universalist polity in action. We will attend plenary sessions, business mini-assemblies and worship services, as well as meet together as a class to process our observations, learn the history of congregational polity in contrast to other polity paradigms, and thus locate our polity in its theological and cultural contexts. We will also use the case study method to dissect recent actions of the General Assembly, using video from previous General Assemblies. We will evaluate how polity acts as it is translated from the church to a national setting: informed by social justice, our polity can have global impact. The General Assembly this year will allow a new interpretation of Unitarian Universalist polity as a legacy, in its revisiting the General Conference, and as a vision of radical inclusion. The convention center will be a laboratory for our lived faith as it becomes bylaws: through these reflections we will develop strategies to translate our Principles and Purposes into action, to become more effective religious leaders, as well as resources for our congregations and communities. For Unitarian Universalists, democracy is in the details. Students will be responsible for their own travel, food, lodging, and General Assembly Registration.Students are evaluated through: Demonstrated preparation, class participation and final reflection paper 10-15 pages.
Session
Summer 2019
Dates
6/19/19 – 6/23/19
Instructors
Course Type
Intensive
Location
No Location
Days
W / Th / F / Sa / Su
Course ID
FTHS 4077
Faculty Approval Required
No
Units
1.5
Online
No courses found
Residential
No courses found
Residential Hybrid
No courses found
Thesis/Final Project
No courses found