FEATURED PROFILE: Jigna Shah, MA
By Helen McNeal, Senior Advisor to the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab
In February 2020, two recent graduates of the University of Chicago (UChicago) — a Muslim woman and a Hindu man — presented their collaboration, A Meeting of Two Seas, at the IMPACT Conference[1] at Arizona State University. A Meeting of Two Seas had been produced annually for three years by the two undergraduates with the support of the Hindu Student Sangam and the Muslim Students Association at UChicago. With each year having a different theme, such as “featuring the work of Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh mystic poets who spoke out against orthodoxy, fundamentalism, and injustice”, the project invited the participation of a variety of student artists. Hosted at UChicago’s Rockefeller Chapel,[2] all students were invited, and the event was followed by a buffet dinner and open conversation. The challenge? Getting the hundreds of attendees to want to go home at the end of the evening! (This was, of course, just before the coronavirus pandemic put all such fulfilling events on hiatus.)
This highly successful, grassroots program is but one of the many innovations taking place under the guidance of Jigna Shah, Assistant Dean of Rockefeller Chapel and Director of Spiritual Life at the University of Chicago.
Talking about difference
Jigna is the first to admit that such interfaith initiatives take careful tending and support. “These two young people came together to work on a project of this magnitude, for the first time. Through the process of working together over these three years, they have become close friends. At times, because they were friends, they found it hard to talk about differences for fear of offending the other. My role was to help them see that to honor the process of creating something together, they needed to talk about differences and work through the issues. And they did.”
For anyone who knows Jigna Shah, it’s not surprising that she would be the one to shepherd the creation of such an innovative interfaith project. When asked about her own faith, she readily shares her pride in her Hindu faith roots. She also shares that she relates more to today’s generation with its growing focus on being more spiritual than religious and more encompassing of the richness of many faith traditions. Put simply, she says “I am not a none. I am an all.”
My role was to help them see that to honor the process of creating something together, they needed to talk about differences and work through the issues.
Born into a family that was devoutly Hindu, her parents modeled an approach to spirituality that made it acceptable to be both deeply religious and to have that faith informed by one’s personal experience of other traditions. Her recognition and valuing of spiritual differences was honed during her own undergraduate years at New York University (NYU). Under the inspiration and mentorship of Stephen Polniaszek while working at NYU’s Student Life Office, she worked closely with others of different faiths and traditions. She participated and held leadership positions in various religious and spiritual student communities. She also served as a founding member of NYU’s Spiritual Diversity Advisory Board. Even after graduating and taking a different job, she continued to be involved in the work of spiritual diversity and student life. Being a part of student formation was rewarding work she didn’t want to give up.
From New York to Chicago
When marriage meant a move to Chicago, she found an opportunity to work at the University of Chicago’s Office of the Reynolds Club & Student Activities. Responsible for a team that oversaw the activities of student groups, she happily delegated the oversight of many groups to others on her team but realized she preferred to keep the student spiritual groups for herself. In so doing, she found that she was doing a lot of mediation between groups and helping the students see how important it was that they learn to be “global citizens.” This global citizenship meant helping the students learn how to be open and respectful of the beliefs of others while still holding to their own.
Through her work with student spiritual groups, Jigna also came to be on the Religious/Spiritual Advisory group for the Rockefeller Chapel led by the former Dean. In 2011, Elizabeth Davenport, then Dean of Rockefeller Chapel, proposed that the University of Chicago needed a Spiritual Life office and asked Jigna to be its first director. The Spiritual Life office was chartered to “speak to the complex and often contradictory issues related to religious and spiritual practice in today’s world.” The office “provides support to members of the campus community of any religious affiliation or none, and also to those who seek spirituality beyond the strictures of particular traditions.” A perfect match for Jigna’s interest and passions, and something she had already been doing for years, she leapt at the chance to establish a place that could bring spirituality to life for today’s students and the University of Chicago community.
She was doing a lot of mediation between groups and helping the students see how important it was that they learn to be “global citizens.”
In addition to the performances of A Meeting of Two Seas, Jigna and her team have brought a number of innovations to the University of Chicago. A few examples include:
- Spirit Week – a chance for students to experience the spiritual practices of others and to expand their understanding of traditions different from their own. “Spirit Week celebrates the coming together and the working together of different traditions,” Jigna said. “It’s an opportunity to work on religious literacy, for students to get a taste of learning about different faiths. It creates space for hard conversations and celebrations.”
- The Spiritual Life Collective – an academic year long program in which students first reflect on their values, then undertake difficult conversations that put those values into practice and, finally, they put together and implement a plan, from start to finish, on a project that illustrates what they have learned.
- Ask Lucy – “a lemonade stand” in the midst of the campus marketplace where students can approach religious advisors from various faith traditions staffing the table and ask any question, from the mundane to the profound.
- Lunch with Faith Leaders – students can sign up to come and participate for an informal and intimate group lunch, in the dining hall, with one or more faith leaders.
- Trivia Night – A religious literacy game night where students can test how much basic knowledge they have of other traditions.
- Speed Faithing – like speed dating but a series of short conversations centered around one’s identity, sense of being and where they find meaning with students from various traditions and backgrounds, in an easy, accessible, non-threatening environment.
- SOUPport – a series of difficult conversations over a warm bowl of soup. The topics are generated by the struggles and themes brought to the Spiritual Life team’s attention by students. This could include topics like multiple religious belonging, the pressure to succeed, struggling in a relationship, or coping with pressure about career choices.
While many students perceive taboo around religion, Jigna and the team in the Spiritual Life office are often the preferred choice for some students seeking support and guidance. Instead of going to the counseling office, some come first to the Spiritual Life office as it is less intimidating to talk about the struggles they are trying to navigate in relation to their or their parents’ faith.
Not your grandmother’s chaplain
There is little question that Jigna defines the model of the 21st-century campus chaplain, yet she is quick to note that hers is not the traditional chaplaincy background. Instead of a Master of Divinity, she has a Master’s degree in Higher Education. The common link with chaplaincy? The emphasis on “formation.” In the language of education, this is referred to as “identity development,” which is what Jigna’s training focused on. This emphasis, combined with her own openness and prioritization of accessibility, make her ideally suited to a chaplaincy role on a large, thriving campus.
“I think about my kids and the world I want them to live in. Children are great teachers and they see difference as normal. In my work, I want to keep that spirit alive and nurture it as the way that young people, and others in the campus community, see difference. Our role is to help them to see that every single person is unique and so being different IS normal. Recognizing, acknowledging and respecting diversity on an individual level, is the first step to being inclusive and in community with one another, through which one can learn with and from others, and perhaps even embrace and celebrate those differences.”
[1] The IMPACT National Conference is historically the largest national gathering of student leaders, administrators, faculty, and nonprofit staff committed to engaging college students in service, activism, politics, advocacy, and other socially responsible work.
[2] Rockefeller Chapel is the spiritual and ceremonial center of the University of Chicago, and a major performing arts center for the Chicago community. Resembling a medieval cathedral in appearance and size, it hosts festivals and ceremonies of many world religious traditions.
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Learn more about this article’s author, Helen McNeal, here.
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