Supervisor: Beatrix Weil
Email: weilb@rhodes.edu
Number of Positions: 1
Description of the position:
The Interfaith RSA will coordinate events that encourage interfaith engagement and exchange among students. The RSA will research successful college campus interfaith events and practices; adapt best practices to Rhodes’ campus culture; generate their own interfaith engagement activity ideas; and plan, run, and assess interfaith exchange activities on campus. The RSA will also interview students of different faith traditions (including students who are intentionally secular in worldview) to assess the needs of different communities on campus. Following that needs assessment the RSA will create programming, events, and practices to meet those needs.
Benefits to the department and to the college:
These are tense and troubled times, with conflict often arising among the lines of religious difference. As a liberal arts college and as a Presbyterian-affiliated college, Rhodes is committed to students learning from one another about our diverse world. Interfaith engagement creates opportunities for connection, understanding, and empathy, and is an important part of our students’ maturity and development. The Interfaith RSA will benefit the Office of the Chaplain by finding out information about students’ religious needs and acting to meet those needs. They will benefit the college by providing opportunities for our students to understand one another better.
Responsibilities of the position:
The Interfaith RSA will be responsible for running strong interfaith programming that result in greater connection and exchange among Rhodes students. The RSA will also be responsible for assessing the needs of different religious communities on campus and finding creative ways to meet those needs.
Applicant requirements:
The key qualities for successful interfaith leadership as articulated by Eboo Patel in Interfaith Leadership: A Primer, are grit (resilience), relatability, commitment to pluralism, and craft (a track record of successful interfaith relationships). Applicants do not need to practice any particular religious tradition, but they must be have already taken concrete steps toward maintaining their own spiritual well-being, and they must be committed to the idea that religious diversity makes us a stronger community. Applicants must have a history of successful relationships with people from religious traditions different from their own, with no “ends” such as conversion as a desired outcome of the relationship. Applicants should have excellent event-running skills and strong social skills.