Annual Meeting
2026 Annual Meeting
Monday, July 27 to
Wednesday, July 29
Location:
Upper House in Madison, WI
Hosted by the SL Brown Foundation
The 16th Annual Meeting of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers will be held at Upper House in Madison, WI, hosted by the SL Brown Foundation.
Pricing Information
- Member Study Center or Partner Organization attendee: $375
- Spouse Track (reception, dinners & evening plenaries only): $90
- Non-member attendee: $475
Important Information
Meals: Your conference fee includes 5 meals: Monday’s reception & dinner, Tuesday’s lunch & dinner, and Wednesday’s lunch to go.
Lodging: Please note that you will need to book your own hotel accommodations. CCSC has reserved a block of rooms at a discounted rate at the Hilton Garden Inn (a 10-minute walk from Upper House). After registering, a booking link will be emailed to you along with links to other hotels in the area to consider. Please book your room as soon as possible as space is limited.
Non-members: If you are not currently a member study center or partner organization and are interested in attending the Annual Meeting, please contact our office at 434-296-3333.
Directions: Upper House is located in a larger building called University Square. Access Upper House’s front doors on the pedestrian walk-way called East Campus Mall. Once you enter the doors, go upstairs to the second floor and you will see the Upper House space when you reach the landing.
All registration fees are non-refundable after June 30. Thank you for your understanding.
Plenary Keynote Speakers
Meghan Sullivan
Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame
Meghan Sullivan is the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. She serves as Director of the University-wide Ethics Initiative and is the founding director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good (ethics.nd.edu). The university hub for research and teaching in ethics, the Institute includes the new Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C, Center for Virtue Ethics and the Notre Dame–IBM Technology Ethics Lab. The Institute is home to faculty program chairs, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and undergraduates and runs several residential fellowship programs for faculty, nonprofit leaders, and faith leaders.
Sullivan is deeply interested in the ways philosophy contributes to the good life and the best methods for promoting philosophical thought. She has served as PI for major grants to advance ethics and human flourishing, from agencies including the John Templeton Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, the Mellon Foundation, and the NEH. Time Biases, her 2018 book with Oxford University Press, offers philosophical guidance about how to navigate the puzzles that the passage of time poses to rational planning. It was featured in a 2021 New Yorker piece. In 2022, Sullivan published The Good Life Method with Penguin Press (co-authored with her teaching collaborator Paul Blaschko) based on a wildly popular introductory philosophy course she developed at Notre Dame called “God and the Good Life.” Since 2016, “God and the Good Life” has accompanied thousands of Notre Dame students through the process of developing a philosophical plan for their lives. In the past, Sullivan has collaborated with faculty in other departments to offer courses on NBC’s The Good Place, Ted Chiang’s science fiction, and Thom Browne’s fashion empire.
Sullivan is currently working on a book about the role of love in our moral lives. She is also directing a major grant project with scholars and nonprofit leaders to expand the love ethic, as well as a major planning grant considering the role of Christian thought in AI ethics. Sullivan will be a featured speaker at the 2025 TED Next Conference.
Sullivan has been honored with one of Notre Dame’s Joyce Awards for Teaching, with the Provost’s All-Faculty Team Award, and with the City of South Bend’s 40 Under 40 Award. In 2025 she joined the Board of Directors of Commonweal. Sullivan holds degrees from the University of Virginia (B.A.: Philosophy and Politics, Highest Distinction), Oxford (B.Phil: Philosophy), and Rutgers (Ph.D.: Philosophy), and studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (Balliol College). Sullivan enjoys cooking, building elaborate Lego sets, reading science fiction, and traveling the world. She cheers for the Fighting Irish and Virginia Cavaliers in all of their endeavors, and when they play each other she has a rational crisis.
Brad East
Associate Professor of Theology at Abilene Christian University
Brad East teaches theology at Abilene Christian University in West Texas, where he lives with his wife and four children. He is a theologian, professor, and author. He is also a co-host of the Mere Fidelity podcast. His scholarly interests lie in certain major Christian loci: the doctrine of Scripture (or bibliology), the doctrine of the church (or ecclesiology), the doctrine of the Trinity (or theology proper), as well as overlapping or offshoot topics, such as theological hermeneutics, the sacraments, political philosophy, war and nonviolence, and technology.
In addition to editing Robert Jenson’s The Triune Story: Collected Essays on Scripture (Oxford University Press, 2019), he is the author of five books: The Doctrine of Scripture (Cascade, 2021), The Church’s Book: Theology of Scripture in Ecclesial Context (Eerdmans, 2022), The Church: A Guide to the People of God (Lexham, 2024), Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry (Eerdmans, 2024), and the forthcoming The Screen-Free Church: How Pastors Can Diagnose and Resist the Spiritual Costs of Technology (Baker, 2027). In addition to academic articles, his essays and reviews have been published widely in The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Comment, Commonweal, First Things, Front Porch Republic, The Hedgehog Review, Living Church, Los Angeles Review of Books, Marginalia Review of Books, Mere Orthodoxy, The New Atlantis, Plough, and The Point.
You can find out more, including links to his writing, podcast appearances, and blog, on his personal website by clicking the button below.
Schedule
This is a preliminary schedule – times and events are subject to change leading up to the Annual Meeting.
Monday, July 27
2:00-3:15 pm: Registration & Reception
3:30-4:45 pm: Session I Workshops
“Harnessing Awe and Wonder to Prime Curiosity and Transform the World” – Awe (the feeling of smallness and transcendence in the presence of the vast, mysterious, divine) and its close cousin, wonder (openness toward and embracing of mystery) have the power to inspire curiosity and commitment to academic work. They prime the imagination and the pursuit of truth, and thereby promote the flourishing of individuals, communities, and societies. The modern university, however, has in many ways lost this first love; prioritizing instead research outputs and hyper-specialization that can stifle intellectual and spiritual growth.
In this workshop, we will explore how awe and wonder might be restored as a pillar of academic life. What are sustainable pathways for experiencing awe and wonder? How might awe and wonder be harnessed within and across disciplines (e.g., arts and sciences) to yield questions and embolden pursuits that expand our knowledge of ourselves and the universe? What might these explorations reveal about what it means to be human? To reconnect components of our fractured universities? And to live in relationship with others and the Earth?
Presenters:
– Mia Chung-Yee: Resident Teaching Artist (Harvard University), Randall Distinguished Professor in Christian Culture (Providence College; 2026-27), Executive Director, The Octet Collaborative (MIT)
– Rick Lindroth: Distinguished Fellow, Lumen Center, SL Brown Foundation;
Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor (Ecology) Emeritus, UW-Madison
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“Three Foundational Ideas for Christians Working in the University” – This session for all CSC staffers suggests three “big ideas” from the Christian intellectual tradition that can help CSC staffers support Christians working in academic vocations. These are (1) the idea of the university, (2) Christian humanism and the university, and (3) the pluralism of the university. Discussion will reflect on these ideas and how they can be integrated into study center programming.
Presenters:
– Daniel Hummel: Director, Lumen Center, SL Brown Foundation
– Chris Armstrong: Senior Fellow, Center for Faith and Learning, Anselm House
– Emily Wenneborg: Director, Pascal Study Center
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“So You Want to Start a Fellows Program” – What is a study center-based fellows program, and how do you make one successful? This panel considers some of the variety of fellows programs that exist within the Consortium, while highlighting in-depth examples from Anselm House, Lewis House, and Upper House. The aim is a best practices and “lessons learned” conversation that helps you establish or grow a fellows program, no matter where you’re at in the program development process.
Presenters:
– Eric Carlsson: Director, Upper House Fellows Program, SL Brown Foundation
– Andrew Hansen: Program Director, Anselm House
– Derek King: Scholar-in-Residence, Lewis House
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“Seen and Heard: Design & Communications for Study Centers” – Most study center staff wear many hats, and “communications director” is just one of them. This workshop covers the fundamentals of design and communications strategy built for small to medium-sized study centers, giving you practical tools and principles to build a polished, consistent presence without a dedicated marketing & communications team.
Presenters:
– Brian Beatty: Director of Marketing & Communications, SL Brown Foundation
– Maddy Sutherland: Creative Services Manager, SL Brown Foundation
– Dan Daugherty: Executive Director, Alcuin Study Center
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“All Things Grants” – A moderated conversation with leaders with seasoned experience in writing grants. Covering topics ranging from how to manage a project based on the grant deadline, to reading a foundation’s 990, finding new grants, to handling reporting when the project does not go as planned, this will be a time tailored to your questions. Come ready to inquire, trouble-shoot, and brainstorm around grants.
Presenters:
– Carolyn Wyse: Federal Aid Coordinator, Wisconsin DNR; Former Grant Writer, Wisconsin Historical Society and Boy’s and Girls Clubs of Dane County
– Helen Troutman: Development Project Manager and former Grant Writer, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
– Karen Foster: Manager of Prospect Development, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Moderator:
– Joshua Hall: Director of Operations, SL Brown Foundation
5:15-5:45 pm: Dinner
6:00-7:30 pm: Keynote I - Brad East
“The Happiest Places on Earth: Translation, Vocation, and Integration at Christian Study Centers” – Study Centers have a unique role in relation to secular colleges and universities. They create hospitable spaces for Christian students to integrate faith with what they are learning on campus, to pursue how God might be calling them to good work as adults, and to translate—or have translated for them—what the gospel might mean for daily life, both in the present and in the future. This good work makes Study Centers very happy places, but just for that reason it is hard to describe what they do, or what their precise mission is, relative to academic scholarship on one hand or church ministries on the other. This talk will explore how to name and elaborate the nature of this work, why it is so needed today, and how others, including on Christian campuses, might learn from those engage in it.
Brad East
Associate Professor of Theology at Abilene Christian University
Tuesday, July 28
8:15-8:45 am: Morning Prayer
9:00-10:15 am: Session II Workshops
“Created to Create: Lino Print Workshop” – Learn the basics of relief printmaking in a hands-on workshop! This introduction to linoleum block printing will explore imagery from creation as participants are guided through the process start to finish. You will learn how to transfer a drawing, safely carve with gouge tools, ink a block, and create finished prints to take home. No previous experience required – materials provided.
Presenter:
– Kate Austin: Arts & Special Projects Coordinator, Upper House Commons, SL Brown Foundation
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“What Might Study Centers ‘Steal’ from Summer Camps?” – Bill and Griff met at a summer camp in 1986 (and Tee Gatewood was there, too!). Since then, both have spent significant time at a variety of summer camps. Through those experiences, they discovered several commonalities that make camp ministries so effective—and realized those same principles apply beautifully to ministry on the college campus. Come and join us for an engaging dialogue and conversation!
Presenters:
– Bill Boyd: Founding Director, Oxford Lodge Christian Study Center
– Griff Gatewood: Executive Director, Wake Forest Study Center
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“Neutral Observer or Prophetic Voice? The Mission of Christian Study Centers in a Politicized World” – How should Christian Study Centers’ commitments to student formation and inclusive Christianity relate to the importance of bearing prophetic witness on important moral and political issues? To what extent might “thinking Christianly” include taking moral stances on contested issues? This interactive session will draw on the experiences of Anselm House amid the political tensions in Minneapolis, as well as the experiences of Center leaders at the University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin, to explore how Centers live out a Christian witness in turbulent times.
Presenters:
– Joy Fea: Director, Upper House Commons, SL Brown Foundation
– Andrew Hansen: Program Director, Anselm House
– Rick Ostrander: Executive Director, Michigan Christian Study Center
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“We Get the Job Done: Best Practices for Study Center Operations”
Presenters:
– Bill Wilder: Executive Director, Center for Christian Study
– Tee Gatewood: Executive Director, Study Center at State
– Mary Sievers: Operations Manager, Pascal Study Center
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“Short Film as Catalyst for Thoughtful Conversation and Connection” – Short film is a beautiful and intriguing way to break down the barriers that get in the way of true human engagement, and nobody knows short film the way Windrider does. They’ve done the hard work of curating and cataloging the films, and it’s all available to CCSC members for free! Alcuin Study Center has used them for years as a way of cultivating relationships and encouraging thoughtful discourse.
Presenters:
– Dan Daugherty: Executive Director, Alcuin Study Center
– Michael Priddy: Director of Integration, Windrider Institute
– Bethany Kozachuk: Senior Producer, Windrider Institute
10:30-11:45 am: University Roundtable
A new addition to the Annual Meeting! Three pairs of study center voices will present differing views in response to questions relevant to today’s study centers. After each 10 minute presentation, enjoy conversation with other study center leaders at your table on the convictions and applications of these ideas.
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“The Reach of Study Centers” – Should study centers serve audiences beyond university faculty and students?
Presenters:
– John R. Terrill: Executive Director, SL Brown Foundation
– Edward Dixon: Executive Director, Center for Christianity and Scholarship
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“Apologetics: Yea or Nay?” – Is Apologetics still useful for students? Why or why not? Theological and philosophical reflections.
Presenters:
– Rob Gregory: Co-Executive Director with his wife Sim, Joseph and Alice McKeen Study Center
– Mike Weaver: Membership Director, Consortium of Christian Study Centers
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“The Purpose of the University Is…” – Study centers often claim that they serve the university. If this is true, then it also follows that they understand the university. So what is the purpose of the university?
Presenters:
– Maggie Capra: Instructor, Upper House Fellows Program, SL Brown Foundation
– Emily Wenneborg: Director, Pascal Study Center
12:00-12:30 pm: Lunch
1:00-5:45 pm: Free Time & Excursions
State Capitol & Downtown Madison Tour
2:00-4:00pm
Take a tour of the iconic state capitol off of which the rest of the city literally gets its height. And then walk downtown Madison with President of Downtown Madison Inc., and friend of Upper House, Jason Ilstrup, to learn what makes our isthmus a unique place to live, work, and play.
Meet at Upper House Front Desk @ 1:30pm or 1:55pm @ State Capitol Rotunda. Consider bringing a hat, sunglasses, good walking shoes, and water bottle. Sunscreen and bug repellent will be provided.
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UW Athletics: Kohl Center Tour
1:00-2:00pm
University of Wisconsin-Madison is known for its D1, Big10 sports teams, and many of them play just down the street from Upper House. Along with UW Athletic Chaplain Matt Metzger, take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Kohl Center and LaBahl Arena—home to Madison’s basketball and hockey teams.
Meet at Upper House Front Desk @ 12:40pm.
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Leopold’s Legacy: Tour of the UW Arboretum
2:00-4:00pm
Led by Rick Lindroth—Lumen Center Distinguished Fellow and UW-Madison Distinguished Achievement Professor Emeritus in Ecology (University of Wisconsin-Madison)—visit the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, an enduring legacy of conservationist Aldo Leopold and the birthplace of restoration ecology. Learn why Aldo Leopold was one of the foremost conservationists of the 20th century, and how the Arboretum contributed to his development of the paradigm-altering “land ethic.” Get outside, clear your head, and stretch your legs! Experience habitats representative of the major ecosystem types of Wisconsin, including northern temperate forest and the world’s oldest restored prairie. Explore how climate and the activities of indigenous peoples shaped the ecology of the larger Madison area.
Meet at Upper House Front Desk @ 2pm. Consider bringing a hat, sunglasses, long pants, walking shoes shoes, socks, and water bottle. Sunscreen and bug repellent will be provided.
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Cheese Curd Crawl
2:00-5:00pm
Guided by a SLBF team member, hop from restaurant to restaurant in downtown Madison to taste and rate the best cheese curd offerings the city has to offer.
Meet at Upper House Front Desk @ 2pm or The Old Fashioned @ 2:30pm.
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UW Madison Spiritual History Tour
2:00-3:30pm
Contrary to popular belief, the foundations of the secular University of Wisconsin-Madison are deeply rooted by Christian convictions. Led by an SLBF (Upper House) team member, walk campus and learn the strong faith underpinnings that paved the way for ministries on campus today.
Meet at Upper House Front Desk @ 2pm.
5:45-6:30 pm: Dinner
6:30-8:00 pm: Keynote II - Meghan Sullivan
“Ethical Formation in the Era of Powerful AI” – This talk will focus on challenges and opportunities for deepening our approach to AI ethics on campus. Powerful and widely commercially available AI applications raise profound ethical questions, not only about how to use these tools but also what it is to live a good life and to contribute to the common good. Colleges should be places for both professional and moral formation, and it’s important that our campuses embrace both efforts as AI reshapes our society. We’ll survey some of these practical and existential questions, introducing study center leaders to the DELTA framework for AI ethics. We’ll discuss opportunities to build co-curricular programs at your universities which encourage authentic ethical formation, push students to think more deeply about the ethical issues AI raises,and enable your campus to collaborate with other universities. Participants will leave with concrete suggestions for how to design programs that go beyond the basics to genuinely inspire and form students.
Meghan Sullivan
Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame
Wednesday, July 29
8:15-8:45 am: Morning Prayer
9:00-10:15 am: Session III Workshops
“Growing Pains: The Adolescent Identity Crisis of the CSC Movement” – “What’s a study center”? Perennial discussion around the (perhaps useful) ambiguity of our institutions is more than merely verbal: we are a new kind of institution that as yet has no consensus answer to: what do you want to be when you grow up? This panel will feature several centers offering their tentative visions for a Study Center of the Future, and aims to share ideas around how we might set our very long term strategic course, not just 3-5 years out, but far beyond.
Presenters:
– Vivek Mathew: Executive Director, Chesterton House
– Bryan Bademan: Executive Director, Anselm House
– Edward Dixon: Executive Director, Center for Christianity and Scholarship
– John R. Terrill: Executive Director, SL Brown Foundation
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“Response to Keynotes with Brad East and Meghan Sullivan”
Moderators:
– Derek King: Scholar-in-Residence, Lewis House
– Cassandra Nelson: Fellow, Lumen Center, SL Brown Foundation
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“The Do’s and Don’ts of Talking About Mental Health With College Students (When You’re Not a Mental Health Professional)” – How should Christian Study Center staff think about the apparent surge of mental health concerns among today’s college students? Are psychological problems a crisis of faith or an issue to be referred to mental health professionals? In this workshop we will engage these questions and offer suggestions on how to think about and respond to the mental health needs of students who enter Christian Study Centers. We will share information about prevalence rates of various conditions, demystify the mental health landscape, and provide concrete guidance on how to support the mental health needs of today’s university students.
Presenters:
– Julie Bolos: Director of Communications, Family Connect of Wisconsin
– Jacob Austin: Clinical Psychologist, Madison Behavioral Health
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“Meet the Partners: A Networking Opportunity” – Interns and study center staff are invited to this opportunity to network with CCSC’s partner organizations and to learn more about the student formation opportunities that they offer.
Presenters:
– Charity Wahrenberger: Internship Program Director, Consortium of Christian Study Centers
– Justin Hawkins: Internship Program Trainer, Consortium of Christian Study Centers
– Katie Cist: Manager of Student Engagement, Octet Collaborative
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“Fundamental Framework of Fundraising” – Let’s be honest, most people are not called to serve in a Christian study center because of fundraising. But what if I told you that once you can see fundraising as a part of your ministry/mission, it would change everything?
Join this session as we walk you through the Fundamentals of Fundraising and share with you the tools necessary in order to meet your annual fundraising goal. In this session, you will learn why donor relationships matter; how to best cultivate those relationships; the value of developing an annual case for support; expanding your fundraising team through volunteers; clarifying and growing a donor prospect list; developing strategies; and mapping out a strategy and plan.
Please join Chad Borgestad, Senior Consultant with the Focus Group as he shares a proven model of relational fundraising! www.thefocusgroup.com
Presenter:
– Chad Borgestad: Senior Consultant, The FOCUS Group
10:30-11:00 am: Book Presentation
11:00 am-12:00 pm: Executive Director Address
12:00 pm: Evaluations & Box Lunches
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.
2025 Annual Meeting in Charlottesville, VA
Testimonials
