Free and Open to the Public with Advanced Registration

Breakfast and lunch served

This is a free, day-long conference hosted by the Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in conjunction with Vanderbilt Divinity School’s office of Admissions, Vocation, and Stewardship as well as other co-sponsors throughout the university. Keynote and workshop presenters will lead attendees in a lively exploration of the moral and the theological components of their feminist, womanist, interfaith, queer, decolonial, and liberationist approaches to moral leadership. 

The conference features two keynote speakers: 

• Lama Rod Owens, black queer Buddhist and author of Love and Rage: The Path to Liberation through Anger

• Yara González-Justiniano, assistant professor of religion, psychology and culture at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and author of Centering Hope as a Sustainable Decolonial Practice: Esperanza en Práctica

It will also feature several workshop leaders in the areas of restorative justice, moral imagination, spiritual leadership, interfaith dialogue, and nonviolent practice and liberatory practice. What these speakers all have in common is a commitment to restoration and transformation, conversation, and respect for human dignity and distinctiveness. 

Prospective and current students, as well as alumni and the general public are welcome to attend. 

Conference Schedule

8:00 breakfast

8:30 am-9:00 am: Opening remarks 

9 am-10:00 am: Keynote by Lama Rod Owens with graduate student interview

10:00 am -10:30 am: Table conversation on keynote 

10:30 am-10:45 am: Break; move to workshop rooms

10:45 am-12:15 pm: Workshop Section One 

1. Spiritual Leadership with End-of-Life Doula Jill Schock, VDS Alumna

2. Social Cohesion Amidst Religious Difference led by members of the Vanderbilt University Student Interfaith Council Malak Elmessiry, Davis Glen Ellis, Namrah Ajmal, and Ethan Morris

3. Info session on the Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership and the Vanderbilt Interprofessional Student Moral Leadership Fellowship led by Director of the Student Fellowship Dr. Laine Walters Young and Co-Director of the Student Fellowship and Graduate Assistant Mediatrix Kisienya

4. Moral Imagination and Interfaith Conflict led by the Director of VDS Lifelong Learning and Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Aaron Stauffer

12:15-12:30 pm: Break: Move back from workshops for lunch 

12:30 pm Invite people to make a plate and find a seat

12:45-1:45 pm: Keynote on Sustainable and Community-engaged Hope by Dr. Yara González-Justiniano 

1:45-2:00 pm: Break, table conversation, move back to break out rooms

2:00-3:30 pm: Workshop Section Two 

1. Cultivating a Nonviolent Heart led by Dr. Phillis Isabella Sheppard, Director of the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Social Movements, Vanderbilt University

2. Transformative Change through Liberatory Practices led by Dr. Ashley Brown, Director of the Vanderbilt University Student Center for Social Justice and Identity

3. Restorative Justice led by Travis Claybrooks, CEO of the Raphah Institute and Dr. Graham Reside, Convener of the Prison and Carceral Studies Concentration at Vanderbilt Divinity School and associate professor of Ethics and Society

4. Narrative Circle led by Dr. Hasina Mohyuddin, Assistant Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University

3:30 pm-3:40 pm: Break, table conversation, move back to main room 

3:40-4:00 pm: Reflection Integration "for the road”