Session 1

(3:30–5:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 21)

1A Continuing the Conversation around Mental Health and Well-Being
Rameya Shanmugavelayutham, Adjunct Faculty, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace
Opus 2

This workshop is designed to be an open, conversational space for those who want to dig deeper on the subject of mental health and how we can care well for students and for ourselves in the midst of a very challenging season.

1B Making the Move from Lag to Lead: Admissions Prospect/Applicate Management at CTSFW
Matthew Wietfeldt, Assistant Vice President of Admissions, Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne
Opus 1

In 2018–19, the Admissions Office of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne (CTSFW) moved from working in a “Student Information System” (SIS) and off of spreadsheets into a robust “Customer Relationship Management” tool (CRM). There was a steep learning curve and a mindset realignment. Nevertheless, through hard work and teamwork across departments, the CRM has not only allowed Admissions to move from lag-focused recruitment and admission to lead-focused, but it has become the management system for the entire campus. This new system also allowed CTSFW to study best practices for recruitment and admission management as it worked to build out the CRM for us. Join this session and learn what this change looks like at CTSFW and what it could look like at your school.

1C Collaborative Course Review: Quality Initiatives for Ensuring a Great Class Experience
Josh Bailey, Program Director, Graduate School of Theology, Oklahoma Christian University
Opus 4

Several years ago, our faculty achieved special certification for teaching in the online environment as we launched our latest degree program. Although there was an initial consistency throughout the program, inconsistencies among courses crept in over a short amount of time that led to student frustrations and challenges with enrollment persistence. To help address this, a collaborative course review process was implemented two years ago that has quickly proven to increase adherence to program standards and greater student satisfaction. In this workshop, we will discuss how to bring together faculty and staff to systematically and objectively review each of your courses in a positive way that generates conversation and creative thinking. Participants will have the opportunity to step through a sample Course Review session using a provided evaluation rubric and will discuss how a similar process could be implemented at their own institutions.

1D Imagining Futures for Enrollment in Theological Education
Michael Hemenway, Director of Design and Data Science, The Association of Theological Schools
Opus 3

The world of theological education is changing fast. In this interactive workshop, we will engage a process for exploring the impact of these changes on enrollment management and imagining possible futures for enrollment in theological education. How can methods like participatory narrative inquiry, active sensemaking, or complexity mapping encourage us to invite the wisdom of those directly impacted by the system into how we imagine and design our possible futures?

Session 2

(10:45 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 22)

2A The Indigenous Practice of Lateral Kindness for Decolonial Student Formation
Anne Carter Walker, Interim Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, Director of Theological Field Education, Phillips Theological Seminary
Opus 2

Many theological schools struggle to bring disparate marginalized communities together for collective formation that both recognizes their communities’ particular gifts and struggles and cultivates an overall ethos of belonging. Even in the midst of our best efforts to cultivate connection in communities of difference, lateral violence often arises among marginalized communities and undermines student success and the cultivation of a formational community. This workshop will present a vision for decolonial student formation that both holds difference and cultivates belonging. It will introduce participants to practices of lateral kindness derived from Indigenous cultural wisdom and will teach practices of lateral kindness that participants can take back to their own settings for theological education.

2B How Changes at the Institutional Level Affect Recruiting and Admissions: Variations in Learning Modalities and Creating Relationships
DeNeen Collins, Director of Recruiting and Admissions, Christian Theological Seminary
Opus 3

The results from the November 2022 ATS Peer SPAN meeting found that 70% of institutions responded that they have seen changes at their institutions during the past year—addressing the funnel approach to how these changes affect recruiting and admission. This workshop will provide: information on how to create messaging and meaningful relationships in the recruiting/admissions process (including the funnel approach—how/when/what to communicate—to communication), how to create relational connections in all ways (in person, virtual, phone, and email) to meet prospects, the importance of a communication strategic plan to ensure no student/lead/prospect/applicant falls through the process, and how to identify when to nurture or delete prospects. All will result in stronger retention and less admissions melt.

2C Doing More with Enough: Building Capacity for New Student Engagement
Jessi LeClear Vachta, Director of Enrollment Services, Luther Seminary
Sarah Luedtke-Jones, Director of Student Affairs, Luther Seminary
Chenar Howard, Associate Director of Student Affairs, Luther Seminary
Opus 4

Join this interactive session to share ideas for bridging the admissions and student life gap and reducing summer melt. Increase staff capacity, lower staff stress, improve the student onboarding experience, and evolve your new student engagement strategy in scalable steps. Regardless of where you are beginning, you’ll leave this workshop with templates, prompts, and an action plan for your fall 2023 entering class. Three years ago, at the emergence of the pandemic, Luther Seminary’s Admissions and Student Affairs teams began putting their heads together to address summer melt, unsure of how they would meet the challenge of engaging incoming students without the proper CRM in place, no opportunity to bring students to campus for the traditional in-person orientation, no avenue for international students to be issued visas, and no way to offer assurances about upcoming fall course modalities. With a lot of experimenting (and even more help from colleagues), these departments banded together to build a model of virtual incoming student engagement that became a platform opportunity for building the school’s New Student Engagement initiative, now a mainstay for the student experience! Come ready to share your stories and wisdom as you build a plan for this fall!

2D Discerning Data: How the ATS Student Questionnaires Can Support Evidence-Based Interventions
Christopher The, Director of Student Research and Initiative Management, The Association of Theological Schools
Opus 1

Wondering how the Questionnaires can help your school improve serving its students? This workshop illustrates the value of student data and will empower member school personnel—whether new to the Qs or long-time users—to learn from, for, and with the students and graduates we serve.

Session 3

(2:45–4:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 22)

3A Continuing the Conversation around Formation
Susan Reese, Professor of Spiritual Formation, Kairos University
Jeff Sajdak, Dean of Students, Calvin Theological Seminary
Opus 4

This workshop will focus on our formation as persons as well as professionals. We will discuss practices that can help us pay attention to the rhythms of life even in the midst of chaos.

3B Institution-Wide Enrollment: Strategies for Investing Partners in the Work of Admissions and Retention
Tracy Riggle Young, Senior Director of Enrollment Services, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Opus 2

Admissions and enrollment officers know all too well the importance of using data to set and reach quantitative benchmarks. We are quick to measure our successes or failures through a number. When these numbers (FTE, headcount, number of new student admits) go up, we feel proud. When, these numbers go down, we feel deflated. Often missed, however, in this quantitative measure of success is the necessity of building sustained partners in the work of enrollment. No matter how large our quantitative gains, if our institutions do not feel connected to those gains, we will fail. Forging connections with faculty, alumni/ae, staff, current students, and leaders of partner organizations is essential to successful enrollment and retention work. This workshop will provide concrete strategies for inviting partners into this work (ambassador programs, institution-wide retention tracking and planning, faculty involvement in campus visits and application review, etc.). It will also provide attendees space to share enrollment best practices for this collaborative work.

3C Students Leading the Way: An Experiment in Gathering Student Feedback
Kevin O’Coin, Associate Director of Enrollment, ACTS Seminaries
Opus 3

This session reflects on data ACTS Seminaries have gathered from current students about their academic and co-curricular experiences as part of a newly-implemented current student feedback panel. A rationale for this information-gathering approach, how ACTS Seminaries has implemented it, and successes and challenges of the model will be covered. Participants will have the opportunity to share with one another what they have been learning from their own student bodies, as well as consider feedback mechanisms that match their own institutional cultures and systems. The target audience is anyone involved in the assessment, evaluation, implementation, and delivery of student services.

3D They Didn’t Teach Me This at Seminary: Making the Move from Parish Ministry to Institutional Leadership
Matthew Wietfeldt, Assistant Vice President of Admissions, Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne
Opus 1

Our seminaries and divinity schools do a great job of forming individuals to serve in various contexts and situations, focusing on parish or congregational ministry. Some of us are even lucky enough to get positions back at one, and even at our alma maters. One area often short-changed is leadership—especially leadership in organizations or institutions. The size constraints on many of our seminaries necessitate becoming a leader in an institution reasonably quickly. So, what should every new or aspiring leader know? This session will deal with leadership topics to help current and future leaders grow in their leadership skills.