News

Assistant Dean of Students Nathan Hardy, when planning for the next workshop of the Colman Program, said his philosophy centered around a quote he once heard Professor Margaret Mitchell, Shailer Mathews Distinguished Service Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature, say: “Never leave your students with a world that is finished.” Now, Assistant Dean Hardy is committed to ensuring that the fellows of the Colman Program have the place to develop both the philosophy and means to teach these worlds.

“Everyone who leaves this school, regardless of what they go on to do, is a teacher in some way,” reflected Assistant Dean Hardy when discussing the values of a program centered around the considerations and ways to teach the study of religion in a variety of settings and contexts.

During the session, Professor Rosengarten reflected on the challenges of cultivating meaningful discussion in the classroom. “We do not live in a world where [discussion] is done well,” said Professor Richard Rosengarten, Associate Professor of Religion and Literature. “Teachers are a direct and immediate conduit to addressing that.” This was the second workshop of the Winter Quarter for the “John C. and Jane Colman Program for the Craft of Teaching, Leadership, and Service.”

Hosted by Professor Rosengarten, the workshop centered around seminars and discussion. The session served as a microcosm of the program’s larger aims: helping PhD students at the University of Chicago Divinity School develop both philosophical and methodological tools for teaching.

The Colman Pedagogical Fellowship traces its origins to the 2011–2012 academic year, when then–Divinity School Dean Margaret Mitchell launched the initiative in response to graduate student interest in more field-specific training in teaching. While the University already offered general pedagogical resources, the Divinity School recognized the need for a program tailored to the distinctive challenges of teaching religion.

From its earliest form, the program sought to provide structured opportunities for graduate students to reflect on the craft of teaching. Early versions of the fellowship functioned as a certificate program requiring participants to attend a series of introductory and advanced workshops focused on topics such as course design, lecturing, leading seminars, and designing assignments.

Over time, the program evolved to reflect changes both within the academy and within the Divinity School itself. In 2019–2020, the program expanded with the introduction of Inclusive Pedagogy Fellows, shifting the initiative from a largely student-led structure to one supported more directly by faculty and staff. More recently, the fellowship has moved toward a cohort model, bringing together a group of PhD students from across the Divinity School’s various areas for a year-long arc of workshops, conversations, and mentorship.

Today’s cohort includes students ranging from the second to seventh year of their doctoral studies, representing a broad spectrum of fields and interests. The cohort structure encourages interdisciplinary exchange and intergenerational conversation, allowing students at different stages of their academic careers to reflect together on what it means to teach.

The program’s workshops address many of the core questions that shape pedagogical practice: how to design a syllabus, structure a lecture, lead a productive seminar discussion, and create assignments that meaningfully support student learning. Fellows are also encouraged to consider how teaching intersects with broader questions of leadership and service.

For Divinity School PhD student Taylor Barnhill, the fellowship offers an opportunity to bridge the gap between ideals and practice. “This is a step toward integrating ideals of teaching and being able to put them into practice,” Barnhill said. “We get a variety of ideas on how to frame a syllabus or craft a lecture.”

Barnhill also noted that some of the most valuable conversations have focused on the practical details of teaching. “Some of the most useful conversations have been on the nitty-gritty of how to actually do these things,” he said. While the University of Chicago is widely known for its research strengths, the fellowship provides space for graduate students to develop the pedagogical side of their academic formation.

That process culminates in a project in which fellows craft a philosophy of teaching and leadership statement. The project encourages students to articulate their understanding of how learning happens, how their teaching practices support that learning, and how they evaluate the success, or failure, of those practices.

Yet the fellowship’s goals extend beyond preparing students for university classrooms. As Assistant Dean Hardy emphasized, the skills cultivated in the program are transferable to a wide range of professional paths. Whether graduates go on to teach in universities, secondary schools, religious communities, or public-facing roles, the ability to communicate ideas, facilitate discussion, and foster learning remains essential.

In this sense, the Colman Program is not simply about preparing future professors. It is about cultivating thoughtful educators capable of guiding others through unfinished worlds, spaces of inquiry where questions remain open and conversations continue.