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The conference offers insights and experts into how competency-based education is being used in theological schools.

For 121 years, Central Seminary, based in Shawnee, Kansas, has continually adapted to the ever-changing world. The seminary is now looking for its next vice president of academic affairs and dean of the faculty. The person will serve on the president's leadership team and serves as the seminary's primary academic officer. 

Members of the In Trust Center for Theological Schools elected two new members to the Board of Directors and re-elected three other directors. 

Many theological school board members see their work as a calling. Dr. Karen Sawyer, a doctor of physical therapy and theological school board member, talks about why.

Young adults don't see mental health the way older generations do. Research by the Springtide Research Institution shows what young people are thinking and how religious leaders can help.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is launching a new initiative to help Christian pastors strengthen their abilities to proclaim the gospel in more engaging and effective ways. The ultimate aim is to foster and support preaching that better inspires, encourages, and guides people to come to know and love God and to live out their Christian faith more fully.

Lilly Endowment is inviting eligible organizations to apply for funding to help interested parents and other caregivers share their Christian faith and values with their children.

Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded the In Trust Center for Theological Schools a $7.5 million continued support grant to provide funding for the operations of the center for a three-year period. (September 2022)

The In Trust Center for Theological Schools was awarded a $590,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help further coordinate the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. (September 2022)

Mental health is a struggle that clearly touches the world, ad there are ways that theological educators can help ease the stigma that prevents people from seeking assistance.

The In Trust Center will work with the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) during the next five years to coordinate the initiative.

ATS' Graduating Student Questionnaire provides a variety of insights, including a note that student indebtedness appears to be dropping.

Wycliffe College created a blog that has found ways to bring prospective students and others to engage in the college and its work.

The In Trust Center is pleased to present its 2020 annual report.

The chief executives of voting-eligible member schools of the In Trust Center recently elected four new members and re-elected two continuing members to serve on its board of directors. The heads of 103 institutions cast ballots, representing 59 percent of eligible voting members of the In Trust Center.

Have you seen mental health issues grow on campus due to the pandemic? How are you responding or planning to respond?

The In Trust Center for Theological Schools is pleased to announce the appointment of Matthew J. Hufman as the new vice president for communication.

COVID-19 has taken a toll physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. For some people, it’s leading to a sense of hopelessness.

A list of articles from Beyond the Pandemic and a featured article from the Summer 2020 issue.

List of theological schools that have posted their fall academic plans online.

I join my colleagues at the In Trust Center in denouncing racism and supporting #BlackLivesMatter. I am personally sad and angry. And yet I am also hopeful.

It’s the big question school decision makers are asking: What to do about reopening school in the fall? Some theological schools have already made a decision, while others are waiting for more information.

To help school leaders and faculty make sense of the complex issues surrounding the decision, Inside Higher Ed has published an article by Edward J. Maloney and Joshua Kim, “15 Fall Scenarios,” that lays out many of the options. 

For employed academics — especially with those who have school-age children — working from home can be hard. Here are two items that came across my desk this week.

The In Trust Center continues to collect resources that may be helpful to the administrators and boards of theological schools during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some that have come across our desks in recent weeks.

The staff of the In Trust Center has been collecting resources, and directories of resources, to help theological schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Below is a curated list of what we have discovered.

The chief executives of voting-eligible member schools of the In Trust Center recently elected one new member and reelected two continuing members to serve on its board of directors. The heads of 77 institutions cast ballots, representing 40 percent of eligible voting members of the In Trust Center.

A series of articles on theological education from EthicsDaily.com recently caught our attention. Here’s a quick summary.

If your school is in transition now, or if you've recently completed a leadership change – or even if you are not even considering one – the issue of leadership transition ought to be a part of regular board discussions. Organizational succession planning is the board's work.

One of the questions that admissions officers regularly field from potential students is, “Do you have an online program?” And it’s not just younger, presumably more tech-savvy students who are asking the question either — nor is it just students who live in other cities or on other continents. At the non-residential seminary where I work, most students live locally. But the idea of fighting traffic after work to take classes a couple nights a week is a hard sell. So they ask: “Do you have an online program?”

In the May 2019 issue of Colloquy, Sarah Drummond reflects on the labor of the task force that is working on the redevelopment of the accrediting standards of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). 

If you are a leader in theological education, you are already familiar with overall trends in seminary enrollment. Usually, reports about enrollment are gloomy, with a half-hearted silver lining that suggests, “Well, at least we’re not the only ones struggling.”

In North America, shared governance is a central component of higher education. Yet plenty of research shows that shared governance is not clearly understood by many who are tasked with it.
 

Succession planning isn’t just for a school’s presiding officer. Having a plan for transition and succession that applies to the entire institution can reduce stress and avert ad hoc emergency decision making when change inevitably occurs. 

Following the tremendous response to the first annual conference on competency-based theological education (CBTE) held last November in Vancouver, Canada, plans for the second annual CBTE conference are well underway.

Schools are constantly trying to peer into the future, plan for change, and stay one step ahead of (or at least not too far behind) the next big thing – whatever that may be. Wise leaders know that schools, programs, and plans need to be re-invented every so often. 

What are the top concerns for the future of higher education as identified by board members serving at private, nonprofit colleges and universities across the United States?

The number of college-age young people is predicted to fall by more than 15 percent within the next decade. The potential effects on theological education are obvious — and daunting.

The leaders of member schools of the In Trust Center for Theological Schools recently cast ballots to elect one new member and re-elect one continuing member of the Center’s board of directors.

The illustration and type on the cover of Fuller Seminary's magazine pretty much says it all. Rather than an evocative photographic portrait, as usually graces the cover, this one sports a photoshopped bird – gold and in flight – which forms the first “I” in the 200-point Century Bold italicized title that reads: DIS RUP TION.

A recent informal survey conducted by In Trust found that of the 92 seminary presidents and chief executives who replied, 24 percent had taken a sabbatical. Both those who had and those who hadn’t said that it was hard to find the time to take the leave that they had been granted. In Trust followed up with telephone interviews with several presidents and found that they had worked with their boards to create a wide variety of arrangements.

In Trust recently published an article titled “Promising Professor vs. Prominent Pastor,” which pointed out that most theological schools hire CEOs who have moved up through the faculty ranks, while a third hire CEOs from leadership positions in their denomination or from the business world.

Freedom of speech is a big deal on university campuses these days. A recent spate of decisions by university administrators to permit (or forbid) various speakers to make speeches on campus has generated newsworthy controversy. Invariably, free-speech advocates argue that a university is a place for learning, critical thinking, and critical listening. Silencing an offensive viewpoint.

In a recent article in Inside Higher Ed, William G. Tierney, professor at the University of Southern California, posits the question of why university presidents resign or are fired. Using examples of recent high-profile presidential resignations, Tierney argues that commonly blamed factors are not the true cause of presidential downfalls. 

In the New Year 2014 issue of In Trust, Greg Henson and Gary Hoag provided data on charitable giving. Their conclusions, and their advice to schools, are still timely.

Every institution runs on confidence. Startups need investors to believe that their money won't be wasted. Banks need customers who trust that their savings won't be lost. Schools need students who are confident that the school will be around long enough for them to graduate. And the donors to these schools need to feel confident that their contributions are not being tossed into a black hole.

After a female faculty member was promoted into seminary leadership, a colleague stopped by her office to congratulate her. But he also asked, “Does this mean the school is in trouble?”  

It didn’t — but the colleague was assuming the theory of the so-called “glass cliff” might be at play.

Unanticipated financial setbacks sometimes become little deficits. And the response to little deficits can shape the course of a school’s future. What are the options? 

In the Catholic context, preparation for priestly ministry is guided by the Program of Priestly Formation. Theological educators of any denomination can benefit from reading this document, especially the section outlining the four elements of formation – spiritual, intellectual, pastoral, and human.

Theological school boards are responsible for all aspects of the school they serve, including the spiritual formation of their students. But how can boards know for sure whether spiritual formation is being adequately addressed?

“Most ministers who want to engage the working world will find that their theological school left them unprepared,” argues Chris Armstrong in “The other 100,000 hours,” an article in the New Year 2013 issue of In Trust.