Director of Programming, Fully Alive Chicago

Department
 

DIV Divinity: Staff

About the Department
 

The University of Chicago Divinity School is a space and a community dedicated to some of the most important, most exhilarating, and most humbling questions of humanity. The School is animated by two impulses seldom found together: by the critical study of religious traditions, objects, and ideas, and by the implications of those traditions and ideas for how faith might be practiced, life might be lived, and community might be realized. The conjunction of these approaches in a Divinity School situated at the very center of one of the world’s great research universities has produced many scholars, teachers, leaders, and ideas that have had a profound effect upon the possibilities for thinking about religion, and thereby a profound effect upon the world.

'Fully Alive Chicago' is a cohort-based peer learning program for religious leaders and their congregations, funded by the Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative. Through a curriculum of retreats, workshops, consultations, and coaching, clergy and their faith communities will explore, exercise, and enhance their ability to connect, communicate, and teach their life-giving wisdom, both within their spaces of worship and beyond their walls.

Job Summary
 

The Director of Programming is responsible for developing the curriculum for 'Fully Alive Chicago,' a cohort-based peer learning program for religious leaders and their congregations, funded by the Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative, which will support clergy and congregations as they evaluate, reimagine, strengthen, and extend their preaching, teaching, and communication practices.

Responsibilities

• Develops goals and strategies for strengthening the practice of preaching/teaching and listening/responding.

• Designs and staffs retreats for clergy, and workshops for congregants and community leaders.

• Recruits speakers, coaches, and other practitioner/interlocutors to lead events and to serve as resources for participants.

• Leads program promotion, participant recruitment, and representing the program at funding agency’s activities.

• Collaborates with the grant program’s principal investigator on program evaluation, research, and redesign.

• Provides specialized professional expertise in program management. Implements plans for educational programs and initiatives and acts as a liaison between the program and program participants.

• Plans and develops program objectives and/or content. Researches and identifies trends and needs and establishes program directions accordingly.

• Develops and administers program budgets and recommends or makes budgetary recommendations.

• Serves as a key resource for program information. Resolves problems or questions referred by program staff, University administrators, or other contingencies.

• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications
 

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

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Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

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Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Experience:

• Significant experience in congregational leadership, in the study and practice of preaching, and in training others to preach.

Technical Skills and Knowledge:

• Lively and meaningful connections with a wide variety of clergy and congregations, and the willingness to build even more of these.

Preferred Competencies

• Theological curiosity.

• Practical creativity.

• Commitment to sustained public engagement.

• Commitment to collegiality and peer learning practices.

Application Documents

• Resume (required)

• Cover letter (required)

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family
 

Administration & Management

Role Impact
 

Individual Contributor

FLSA Status
 

Non-Exempt

Pay Frequency
 

Biweekly

Scheduled Weekly Hours
 

10

Benefits Eligible
 

No

Drug Test Required
 

No

Health Screen Required
 

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
 

No

Posting Statement
 

The University of Chicago is an