Lecture Series: Race, Ethnicity and the Work of Spiritual Care Lecture: Session 1
Sponsored by the Fetzer Institute, this spiritual care lecture series treats the historical development and current work of African Americans and spiritual care in the US. The series is part of a pilot project to support and build networks for spiritual care providers of color and will focus on the expertise, compassion, and care African American chaplains bring to their work; their experiences as people of color in this work; and opportunities for everyone to unite in action around disparities in access to spiritual care.
We encourage participants to form their own organizational listening groups for the lecture series as we expect each lecture to generate many ideas that can be adapted to your own work spaces.
Session 1 will feature a discussion on how conversation circles can be used to support, network, and draw together chaplains of color to promote professional wellness and mutual uplift. We will be joined by:
Dr. Su Yon Pak, Senior Director and Associate Professor of Integrative and Field-based Education at Union Theological Seminary. In this hybrid faculty-administrator position, she envisions, creates and oversees the curricular and co-curricular work of the Office of Integrative Education including field education, clinical pastoral education, life-long learning, ministerial formation, and combined courses inside Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Prior to her current position, she was the Vice President for Institutional Advancement; and the Associate Dean for Student Life/ Director of Recruitment at Union.
Native of South Korea, Dr. Pak immigrated to NYC at the age of 10. She has since lived in Scotland where she worked at Shakti Women’s Aid in Edinburgh, a women’s shelter and center for women of color. In 1993, Dr. Pak made her home in NYC and received her doctorate from the joint Teachers College – Union Theological Seminary program in Religion and Education.
Rev. Kirstin Boswell, University Chaplain and Dean of Multifaith Engagement at Elon University. Prior to her work at Elon, Rev. Boswell was Associate Dean of Student Support Services at Brown University. Her former roles have included serving as Chaplain to the Institute and Director of the Office of Religious Life at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and theProtestant Chaplain at both Brown University and Bentley University and the Director of Operations for The International Association of Black Religions and Spiritualities at the University of Chicago.
Reverend Boswell Ford has served in congregational ministry for almost twenty years and is an American Baptist clergy person holding a Master of Divinity from The University of Chicago Divinity School. She is currently completing her PhD at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where her writing focuses on Womanist Theology and analyzing the call narratives of African American clergywomen.
This project will also publish an eBook soon.