Introducing ... Susan Olson and the Career Couseling Office!

Susan is one of my more dedicated blog followers, and was kind enough to write a lovely little blurb introducing herself and her office. Also to provide a kind of hilarious photo (someone's got a Mac with photobooth!)



YDS is one of only three theological schools in all of the US and Canada to have its own dedicated career counseling office. (For the answer to which other schools share this distinction, you'll have to come to S-116 to ask me in person!)

While the whole "advertising jobs and cajoling you into applying for them" part of a career counseling office is far off for most of you, we do have several services that might be of interest to you now---

*first and foremost career counseling---free & confidential. I can't solve your love-life woes, but happy to take on those thorny questions of career and calling. Included in career counseling is the option to take the Strong Interest Inventory or the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator and have these interpreted. (I even have super-fancy looking certificates that say I'm qualified to do this!) This is a great first step if your career plans are, shall we say, murky, or if those once-crystal clear plans change.

* resume workshops, offered by my able work-study student Michelle Boomgaard

* tons-o-books to check out--about career options, resumes, cover letters, test-taking. We also have a lovely collection of GRE flashcards (both math and verbal) for loan.

* opportunities to connect you with alumni/ae who are doing the types of things that you are interested in pursuing.


Sadly, I'm not able to help spouses find work, or help with employment while you're in school. Part-time jobs can be found advertised on (say with with me, you know the answer by now) dalemail.

Hope to see y'all soon, and let me be the 934th person to say, welcome to YDS. I've held many, many different titles in my time at YDS, but the most important one I have is the first one I received: alum. If your days on the quad are even half as life-changing and fun as mine were, you will be indeed very blessed.

Peace,
Susan Olson

One More Annand Mentor ...

Harlon L. Dalton has been a professor at Yale Law School since 1981. Faced with a legal system that reflects the aspirations of the mythical “reasonable man,” his scholarly ambition has been to reconstruct law so that it takes account of our many nonrational qualities, including our capacity to love without condition, hate without reason, desire to our detriment, and connect spiritually. To that end, he was a pioneer in imagining and establishing law and sexuality as an academic discipline. He was also a pioneer in the field of AIDS law. And he played a significant role in launching and nurturing critical race theory as a distinctive enterprise. In recent years he has taught “Law and Theology,” “The Formation of Lawyers,” and “Law and Human Flourishing.”

In the mid-1990's, he began to respond to a quiet but insistent call to ordained ministry. On January 4, 2003, he was ordained a priest by the Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut. Since his initial ordination in June 2002 (as a transitional deacon), he has served as the Associate Rector of the Episcopal Church of St. Paul & St. James in New Haven. He currently serves on several Diocesan bodies, including the Standing Committee, and is a member of the Commission on Ministry committee that oversees the initial stages of the ordination process.

Since July 2006, he has been a member of the YDS and Berkeley faculties as a Professor (Adjunct) of Law and Religion. He was a founding member of the Initiative on Religion and Politics, and at present is conducting a survey of New Haven’s houses of worship that explores how they see and understand themselves as religious institutions (i.e. what do they do? why? how?).

During the Fall Semester of 2008, he led an Annand formation group for the first time. It proved to be a an enjoyable and enriching experience that allowed him to integrate his interest in formation with his interest in contemplative spiritual practices. He is living proof that we people of faith are works in progress. We are constantly in the process of being formed and reformed; done; undone, and made new. Thanks be to God!

More Annand Program Mentors

Here are the final two mentors we’ll be profiling on the blog before classes begin. They still represent only a small sampling of who’s available for spiritual direction through the Annand program. Remember, no matter your faith tradition (even if you’re struggling to figure out where you stand on faith!) the Annand program is free and available to all students.

The Rev. Dawn Stegelmann is an Episcopal priest who was ordained in February 2009. She is the curate at Trinity Church, Southport, CT. She graduated from YDS/BDS in 2008. A grateful beneficiary of the Annand Program, she has a special interest in spiritual direction, pastoral care and healing ministries. She has spent years as a facilitator of small groups for men and women. Topics have included spiritual formation, parenting, bereavement, marriage, life-threatening illnesses, suicide and aging. A 20-year resident of Darien, CT, Dawn is a wife and mother of three sons. She loves the outdoors, international travel, reading and writing.


The Rev. Jane Stickney, ordained in 1977, spent the first ten years of her ministry were in the United Church of Christ. Jane understands and is open to working with students from reformed and liturgical traditions. An Episcopal priest since 1987, she has served in large and small parishes. Jane received an STM in Spiritual Direction in 1987 from the Center for Christian Spirituality at General Theological Seminary, and served on the General Theological School’s summer staff as a small group supervisor between 1991 and 1997. Jane has served as an Annand Mentor since 1994 and became the coordinator of the program in 2005. Her husband is a UCC pastor and interim ministry specialist. They have a married daughter and a grandson. Jane is a weaver [Ed. note: of some incredible stoles!] and has taught in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program at Wesleyan University: Psychology, Spirituality, and Celtic Art. She is interested in the value of creativity in a healthy spiritual life, writing, “This is an issue I often raise with students as they try to balance all the demands of life at Yale and as they look to their professional lives in the church.”

Who's Who: Julie Kelsey

Julie Kelsey is an Episcopal priest ordained in 1997. She has served churches in urban and suburban settings, most recently at Grace and St. Peter's Church in Hamden, CT (2001-2008). [At right, a photo of Julie Kelsey, an unnamed academic, and one terrific hat.]

Julie is our Assistant Dean of Students for Pastoral Issues. That means that when you start freaking out because it seems that YDS isn't living up to your hopes and dreams... or because you don't think YOU are living up to YDS's expectations, head for her office (now across from the candy bowl and Mike G.). And don't wait for your molehill to grow into mountain! The sooner you go, the better you'll feel. [A YDS grad herself, Rev. Julie K. feels your pain.]

If you have an idea for an activity that might strengthen the school, talk to her too! Last year in answer to student requests, we started Holy Happy Hour [Ed. Note: Comma, Batman!], a monthly opportunity to meet with faculty in the commuter lounge to ask questions and have conversations in an informal setting. Look for notices of HHH later this fall.

Julie is also a lecturer in the Practices and Principles of Preaching course and a mentor with the Annand Center. She has offered spiritual direction for years – which is a good reason to seek her out. She'll help you with translating psychological language into theological language, and connecting what you're learning at YDS with Sunday worship and daily life.

Julie is one of the founders of Chapel on the Green in New Haven, a weekly service for people who spend most of their time on the Green, some of whom have no other home. You can find her there Sundays at 2pm.

In addition to all of this, Julie has led bereavement groups for adults and for children ages 6-12. She is a mother and grandmother who loves hiking, reading, writing, theater and music.
[Julie wrote her own bio for the blog, which I really appreciate. Parentheticals are my own goofball additions. -Kate]

Annand Program Mentor Bios

I've previously posted info about the Annand Program, and I hope at least some of you new students are thinking seriously about joining one of the small groups that will start in the fall. Again, my experience was great; the group I joined was a wonderful support system to have, and our leader introduced some little rituals and reflections that created a prayerful space in the middle of a busy week.

To sign up for one of these groups, you'll email Jane at AnnandATyaleDOTedu (replace the caps with punctuation, of course!), and she'll meet with you briefly to talk about your goals and interests. ETA: Jane will post a sign-up sheet for these interviews on the door of her office/meditation room during BTFO. "Interviews" will start on August 31st and continue through September. Jane is happy to answer your questions over email, but you must make an in-person appointment with her to be matched with a mentor and group. (Don't worry, no one will be turned away; Jane just cares about who you end up with!)

We thought it would be fun to introduce some of the people who you might be paired with in these small groups, so here are bios and photos of a few of them. This is NOT an exhaustive listing of folks associated with the Annand Program! We'll be posting more mentor bios in the weeks to come. (Ed note: These bios come directly from the mentors themselves, and were not edited for content, grammar, or ridiculousness.)

-Kate

Judy Stone is a 1970 graduate of Yale Divinity School. She has been an active lifelong member of the Episcopal Church. She served as a Vestry member and coordinator of the Adult Discussion Group at Christ Church New Haven for 8 plus years. Judy continues to be a member of a Spirituality Group that has met weekly for 25 years, reading classics of Christian and other religious traditions. She has been part of a church choir for a number of years and preaches occasionally.

Judy recently retired from her career in social work, working with children and families. Midway in her career she earned a master’s in Social Work from UCONN in 1993 with a focus on casework and group work. She is intrigued with the connection between some of the therapeutic approaches from her training and traditional spiritual exercises. She finds groups especially helpful personally and professionally.

Judy is an avid gardener and co-ordinates a certified organic community garden at a local farm museum, and has a strong interest in ecology and sustainable agriculture. She enjoys hiking, travel, cooking and art work.

Bari S. Dworken is a lay leader serving in numerous roles at Congregation B'nai Israel in Bridgeport where she has been active for more than twenty five years. Bari has completed the Para Rabbinic Program of the Union of Reform Judaism and has been awarded a Keva certificate for continual advanced learning. A graduate of the first class of the two year Lev Shomea Spiritual Direction Program, she has served as a spiritual director for several years with individuals and groups and at YDS. She completed two units of CPE, worked as a part time On Call Chaplain at Bridgeport Hospital for 10 years, currently chairs the CPE Advisory Committee, and has published in the "Journal of Pastoral Care". She holds a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts and works as an Educational Consultant in Organization Development with not for profit groups and community organizations concentrating in the areas of team building, conflict resolution, diversity awareness and strategic planning. She recently retired from the faculty of the University of Connecticut. Bari is passionate about social action issues, interfaith study and involvement, learning from the natural world, traveling and "walking" with others on their spiritual journey.

Elaine Ramshaw has worked between the fields of theology and psychology all her adult life. She completed a three-year internship in pastoral psychotherapy at the Center for Religion and Psychotherapy in Chicago and a two-year practicum in spiritual direction at Connecticut’s Mercy Center. She enjoys spiritual direction more than psychotherapy because it’s focused more on growth, because you get to listen to people telling their story in their own personal language of faith, and because you don’t have to concoct treatment plans to satisfy the insurance companies. Elaine has a PhD from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, and she taught pastoral care fulltime in seminaries (United Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal) for 16 years. In 2001 her own cancer adventure and her eldest brother’s death led to her decision to choose Connecticut over fulltime seminary teaching. She still teaches pastoral care courses online, for several seminaries of different denominations. A Lutheran layperson, she also works part-time on a parish staff (not to mention the movie theater job!). She’s a single woman who finds family in friends, siblings, and godchildren (an adult goddaughter and a teenaged godson). Prayer comes most naturally to her when she’s sharing communion, singing, drawing, or taking the neighbor’s dog on long daily walks.

Who's Who: Lisa H., Reigstrar

Our registrar, Lisa H., likes to joke that the admissions office’s job is to get students in the door, hers is to get folks out – and hopefully with a degree. Sadly, I don’t have any grandiose metaphor in which I compare Lisa to a website. Testimonial: my general experience with her has been more than pleasant; before I even met her she was watching my back as I tried to register for a course at the Yale School of Management. (Which didn’t work out – please come talk to me about the SOM’s whacky academic calendar before you try to take a class there - but which Lisa would have made happen if I so desired.)

Lisa performs all the normal duties you’d expect from a registrar – her office is where you’ll pick up transcripts, notify the school if you change your student status, and process the paperwork you’ll need to take a class pass/fail. You’ll also come to Lisa’s office to keep your student ID valid – Yale requires that you have a little sticker showing when your ID expires.

In addition, Lisa would like everyone to know that she has an open-door policy. No appointments are required to stop by and chat with her. While you will have a faculty advisor assigned, and the first stop you make for life-related drama will generally be one of the deans, Lisa is a great option to bounce course-related ideas off of, and her knowledge of the school runs deep – before becoming registrar, Lisa was bookstore manager for years, which is where this photo comes from:

Lisa is on the right, and is not a zombie. Incidentally, the guy on the left is our tech/web services dude, Brock H. (no relations to Lisa). I’ve never met Brock in the flesh, so I cannot guarantee that he is not a zombie. (There’s a joke in here somewhere about tech people spending too much time with their computers, but I’ll let that one slide for right now. There's also a joke about meeting zombies "in the flesh", but it's Saturday and I'm officially not working. DIY, kids!)

Lisa would also like me to serve notice that, in addition to making sure you get appropriately registered for classes, she’s available for any conversations you’d like to have about hot air ballooning or whales. (Not even Google Image can really combine these two like Lisa can.)

-Kate

Introducing the Annand Program ...

The Annand program, sponsored by Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, runs a number of spiritual formation opportunities. Through the Annand program, you can participate in small prayer groups, individual spiritual direction, and go on retreat. Annand is headed by the Reverend Jane Stickney, pictured above. Over the next few weeks, Jane and I will endeavor to introduce you to a few of the mentors who partner with Annand to offer spiritual formation – either in groups or in one-on-one settings.

Jane writes:

Spiritual formation is a term you will hear often. It can refer to anything that is part of your spiritual growth and vocational development. Your whole divinity school experience will contribute to your spiritual formation. One of the great resources available to you at YDS is the Annand Program for Spiritual Formation. Funded by Berkeley Divinity School, but available to all Yale Divinity School students, the Annand Program provides small groups, workshops, retreat scholarships and spiritual direction. The First Semester Formation Groups are especially for first year students. You will want to sign up to be part of one of these groups lead by Annand Mentors. The groups meet once a week beginning toward the end of September. As part of a group you will get to know 5-8 students in a setting outside of classes. As well as supporting each other as you settle into school, you will pray together and learn about different methods of prayer and spiritual traditions.

While participation in the Annand program is required for Berkeley M.Div students, the program is absolutely NOT limited to Episcopalians. I have availed myself to the spiritual direction program; Sandra, who comes from a completely different tradition, has gotten funding to go on retreat with friends. I really don't know that I can recommend the Annand program enough -- my first-semester spiritual formation group was a great way to find support and meet some new folks I might otherwise have never gotten to know so well.

Check out more about spiritual formation programs at Berkeley here, Annand in particular here. You can email any and all questions to Rev. Stickney at annandATyaleDOTedu (replace caps with punctuation); in my experience Jane has always been lovely to deal with.

-Kate

The Most Important Blog Post Yet?

Yesterday I promised an entry comparing the YDS bookstore (very favorably) to a certain megalomaniacal web portal. Today, I deliver. Below, the words of Micah Luce, bookstore manager. (And a photo: Micah on the right, with two of last year's graduating seniors.)



They're dying! Independent bookstores everywhere are succumbing to the giant youknowwho.com and other such monsters. But not your Student Book Supply: the bookstore at YDS. Through the incredible support of our students, faculty, staff, and local New Haven-ite shoppers, the SBS lives on.

Serving YDS since 1938, the SBS provides not only your course textbooks, but also over 17,000 titles in theology, biblical studies, ethics, world Christianity, black studies, gender studies, etc. etc. etc.! Need a snack to get you through that 4pm class? We have it! A little too cold in Niebuhr during OT? Get a sweatshirt from us (also great for picking up dates on the local New Haven scene)! Feeling sick from nights up learning Hebrew vocabulary? We can pump you full of NyQuil or Tylenol. Want to eat a bit of popcorn for 75 cents on Friday afternoon? Swing by for that as well!

Even more, every student who chooses to pay a simple $25 annual membership due will receive 15% off of EVERY PURCHASE in the bookstore (sale items and stamps excluded).

Here at the SBS, we love you and want to support your studies, your research, your writing, and even your social life while at YDS. So please come by at any time (located immediately inside the entrance to the Divinity School) to browse, buy, or just hang out. We look forward to seeing you, and please write or call me at any time with questions.

Micah Luce
203.432.6101
micahDOTluceATyaleDOTedu (replace those caps with punctuation)

Check out the Student Book Supply's website for more info (and a larger version of the above photo), including hours and the senior gift registry.

-Kate

Who’s Who: Mike G. and Patricia O.

I have a lot of BTFO things to do today. I do not want to do them. Blog post!

In an effort to make sure you know who’s who on campus, I’ll be doing a “Who's Who” feature on the blog*, so you can put faces and names together, and not say anything embarrassing around Harry Attridge.

There’s nothing I love more than an extended metaphor. I think it’s the anthro major in me. (Next time you have a white board and 15 minutes, allow me to explain how getting into college is exactly like a series of football downs.) In fit of internet boredom, I haphazardly compared Mike G., Dale’s assistant/YDS’s saving grace, to the new search engine/awesome machine Wolfram Alpha. The more I thought about this one, the more I realized IT IS TOTALLY TRUE. Allow me to whiteboard this for you:

Above: Mike and Dale. Since, for some reason, men being friends evokes the same reaction from me as photos of newborn pandas, I’ll stick to noting that Mike is on the left and Dale is on the right.

Many similarities exist between Mike and Wolfram Alpha -- even beyond their remarkably similar color schemes. Wolfram Alpha is a little more difficult to find than other things on the internet, like, say, Google (see below); Mike’s desk is hidden behind a whole row of administrative people who make YDS happen. Much like Wolfram Alpha, Mike’s main job isn’t just to answer my increasingly goofy questions. While he’s happy to entertain almost any query, Mike’s real job is something else. Although I sometimes find this hard to believe, Mike doesn’t just sit around and wait for me to come and ask a thousand random questions. No, Wolfram Alpha is on a mission to make the world’s knowledge computable, and Mike is busy making YDS run smoothly.** Equally formidable tasks, to be sure.

Things you need Mike for:
- sending a Dale Mail
- finding lost and found items OR turning in my iPod to lost and found (thanks in advance)
- getting keys to things which are NOT your mailbox (offices, classrooms, etc.)
- getting Dale’s credit card for student activities purchases
- getting candy

I’ll assume you’re following me so far.

Now. Patricia O., YDS’s receptionist extraordinaire, is exactly like Google. Google is the reception desk at the front of the internet, a gateway of entry into a world of time wasting. Patricia’s desk sits right in front of the main entrance to YDS. Like Patricia, Google is ebullient, charmingly silly, and always happy to see you and say hi. Google changes up its design with the seasons; Patricia’s desk features seasonable decoration AND a sign telling you what’s going on at YDS today (really helpful in figuring out what random conference is taking place in Niebuhr at the moment). Google also manages my (e)mail (and the BTFO accounts, too) – and, as you’ve read here before, Patricia runs the YDS mail system and the commuter lockers (which I guess are GoogleDocs and Picasa in this scheme). You’ll meet her almost immediately, but here’s a photo of Patricia so you can be extra friendly:

Above: One of the few photos of someone from YDS that Dale is not in.

Things Patricia will happily help you with:
- getting a mailbox key
- getting a commuter locker
- figuring out where things are
- finding out what random conference is going on in Niebuhr today
- getting a paycheck (or join the 21st century and set up direct deposit, Denice!)
- getting candy (there seems to be a hold on LifeSavers during the summer, but I remain hopeful they’ll be back in the fall)

Up next: Micah L., the bookstore, and how they’re not anything like Amazon.com. (Because they are more awesome!)

-Kate

With thanks to Patricia and Mike, who allowed their Facebook profiles to be raided for photos. I was very tempted to use the one from Halloween a few years ago, but worried it didn't do either of you justice.

* Which is to say, I will probably do this a couple times, get bored, and then blog my way through August by whining more about the weather. (Sixty-three?!? In July?!?)

** Confession: I have the barest grasp on what Mike's job description is. Just like the particulars of Wolfram Alpha are clearly beyond me! This metaphor*** is brilliant!

*** Wait, is this a simile?