Annual Meeting
Study center staff, board members and partner organization representatives gather each year to share best practices and encouragement and to hear stimulating lectures to enhance their vision and work.
About the Annual Meeting
In the beginning, the Annual Meeting was our primary function. Over a decade later, it remains one of the central services of the Consortium, not to mention a highlight of the year for many center directors and staff.
The gathering, which takes place during the summer, includes a few keynote addresses designed to enhance our common vision and work; a lot of workshops, most of which are offered by center staff for center staff; and a healthy helping of free time to facilitate informal conversations and connections that are every bit as valuable as the sessions themselves.
You will hear academic experts addressing cultural and scholarly topics and center staff summarizing and reviewing their work with students and faculty, as well as outside experts addressing practical management issues such as fundraising, strategic planning and legal issues related to non-profit organizations.
2023 Annual Meeting
Monday, June 26 at 3 pm to
Wednesday, June 28 at 12 pm
Anselm House
Minneapolis, MN
Pricing Information
- Member Study Center or Partner Organization: $330
- Non-member Attendee: $465
- Pre-conference: $100
The 13th Annual Meeting of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers will be held at Anselm House in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Anselm House moved into a new facility in October 2022 with a more centrally-located campus presence, named Melrose Station. This new 21,000 sf location strategically positions Anselm House for greater visibility, community and growth for future generations at the University of Minnesota. The facility offers ample space and flexibility for the Annual Meeting’s different components and is conveniently situated near many of the U of M’s attractions.
Important Information
Non-Members & Non-Partner Organizations: If you are not currently a member study center or partner organization, and are interested in attending the 2023 Annual Meeting, please contact our office at 434-296-3333.
Lodging: Please know that you will need to book your own hotel accommodations.Once your registration is complete, you will receive an email to acknowledge your registration and a link to CCSC’s block of rooms at The Graduate Hotel at a discounted rate. All registration fees are non-refundable after June 2, 2023. Thank you for your understanding.
Pre-Conference
Forming the Moral Life at the Multiversity:
A Directors’ Seminar with Oliver O’Donovan
Sunday, June 25 at 6 pm to
Monday, June 26 at 3 pm
Anselm House
Minneapolis, MN
Pricing Information
- Pre-conference: $100
This year the Consortium of Christian Study Centers, in partnership with Anselm House and the Joseph & Alice McKeen Study Center, is hosting a pre-conference seminar for Christian study center executive directors. Our featured guest and interlocutor will be Oliver O’Donovan, Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh and a recent Gifford Lecturer. Registrants will receive advance readings for the seminar.
Please note: This seminar is designed for executive directors of CCSC member centers. Executive directors may also request for one additional staff member—a Program Director or equivalent—to join with them or attend in their stead.
Registration for the pre-conference is available on the Annual Meeting registration form.
Annual Meeting Featured Speakers
Plenary Keynote Speakers
Margarita Mooney Clayton
Associate Professor Department of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary
Founder & Executive Director of the Scala Foundation
Margarita Mooney Clayton is currently an Associate Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, having served as faculty at institutions of higher education since 2005. She is also founder and executive director of Scala Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring American culture through beauty, liberal arts education and religion. As a woman whose work lies at the intersection of the social sciences with philosophy and theology, she excels at encouraging students, readers, listeners, and audiences to think about important questions in culture, education, faith, femininity, suffering and vocation in new and different ways. Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor-at-large of National Review, has written that “the world needs more Margarita Mooney [Clayton].”
Oliver O’Donovan
Professor Emeritus, Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at The University of Edinburgh
Oliver O’Donovan held teaching posts at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and Wycliffe College Toronto before becoming Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology and Canon of Christ Church at the University of Oxford in 1982. He was Professor of Christian Ethics & Practical Theology at Edinburgh from 2006 to 2012. Ordained as a priest of the Church of England, he was an active participant in ecumenical dialogue and a past President of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics. He has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 2000, and a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy since 2009. He has held several distinguished visiting lectureships and delivered the Gifford Lectures at St. Andrews University in 2021.
He is the author of The Problem of Self-Love in Saint Augustine (Yale 1979), Begotten or Made? (Oxford University Press, 1984), Resurrection and Moral Order (Eerdmans, 1986), On the Thirty-Nine Articles (Paternoster, 1986), Peace and Certainty (Eerdmans, 1989), The Desire of the Nations (Cambridge University Press, 1996), Common Objects of Love (Eerdmans, 2002), The Ways of Judgment (2005), Self World and Time (2013), Finding and Seeking (2014) and Entering into Rest (2017).
Additional Plenary Speakers
Ruan Bessa
Calvin Seminary PhD Candidate
Ruan Bessa was born in south Brazil and immigrated to the United States in 2015. He holds a BS in Theology from Baptist Colleges of Paraná, Brazil and a ThM in Philosophical Theology from Calvin Theological Seminary. Before entering his PhD studies in 2019 he worked as a Training Manager at B Virtual, an online proctoring company serving universities, colleges, and businesses across the country and the globe. He is currently a PhD candidate at Calvin Seminary where he also works as a research and teaching assistant. He translated Oliver O’Donovan’s book Resurrection and Moral Order to Portuguese (forthcoming) and is working on his dissertation entitled “The Ethical Illumination of the Gospel: The Relationship Between Scripture and Ethics in the Work of Oliver O’Donovan.”
Perry Glanzer
Professor of Educational Foundations at Baylor University
Perry Glanzer (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is professor of Educational Foundations at Baylor University and a Resident Scholar with Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. He has also coauthored authored, or edited over a dozen books including: Identity in Action: Christian Excellence in all of Life; Christ Enlivened Student Affairs; and The Outrageous Idea of Christian Teaching. In addition, he has written or co-written over one hundred journal articles and book chapters on topics related to moral education, faith-based higher education, and the relationship between religion and education. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Christian Scholar’s Review and edits their Christ Animating Learning blog. His primary scholarly and teaching interests pertain to moral education and the relationship between Christianity and education.
Sarah Schnitker
Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Baylor University
Sarah Schnitker (Ph.D., University of California, Davis) studies virtue and character development in adolescents and emerging adults, with a focus on the role of spirituality and religion in virtue formation. She specializes in the study of patience, self-control, gratitude, generosity, and thrift. Schnitker has published more than 75 peer-review articles and edited chapters, and she has procured more than $10 million in funding as a principal investigator on multiple research grants. Schnitker is an Associate Editor for Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, an Editorial Board member for the Journal of Research in Personality, and a co-editor of the forthcoming Handbook of Positive Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality.
Testimonials
It was a very encouraging and inspiring time! I appreciated hearing a wide variety of examples of study center programming, but even more valuable to me was the opportunity to make and strengthen connections with colleagues at other study centers. A highlight for me was the “spiritual history tour” of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, highlighting the role of Christians and Christian organizations at key moments in the university’s past. – Emily Wenneborg, PhD, Executive Director of Pascal Study Center at the University of Illinois
I was encouraged by the strategic insight of some of the sessions, like the one on ‘Is a Secular University a Contradiction in Terms?’ Clearly, some of the centers recognize their opportunities and resources for affecting their host universities, at a time when the academy is feeling vulnerable. – John Sommerville, Duke University’s Center for Christianity and Scholarship
Join Us
June 26-28, 2023
Anselm House
Minneapolis, Minnesota
