CALL FOR CHAPTERS – At the intersections of everything: Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Identities and the Professionalization of Higher Education
Book Overview
Co-Editors: Dr. J. Cody Nielsen & Dr. Amer Ahmed
Description, scope, content, and purpose
Over the past thirty years, higher education’s support of Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Identities has struggled. For many, the 9/11 moment that might have catalyzed greater support and inclusion of marginalized religious identities, especially Muslims, has come and gone. Efforts have been made in small pockets through program initiatives sporadically, yet much work remains to be done for institutions to comprehensively address these identities in ways which address the campus climate.
Although isolated in nature, a growing movement amongst professionals seeks to professionalize and institutionalize support for religious, secular, and spiritual identities once and for all. These professionals which have endeavored to build support offer unique vantage points throughout the field of higher education which need be collected and intertwined. Thus, we invite practitioners and researchers alike to share their stories from the field and help us all see their vantage points.
This edited volume will focus its efforts on a narrative understanding of why religious, secular, and spiritual identities remains one of higher education’s under supported identity areas and how higher education can and must find ways to support its full inclusion through institutional policy and practice. The call to professionalize this work and bring about institutionalized policies and practices comes from a need to support the whole campus climate, and is likely to intersection with issues of racial justice and decolonization.
Every single unit and “area” of higher education holds intersection with religious, secular, and spiritual identities. Thus, this volume will begin to tell a “360 degree landscape” of the entire field of higher education and its efforts to provide inclusion. Practitioners will provide details regarding their own units and specializations and how intersections exist and why effort to include religious, secular, and spiritual identities as a part of their areas work is so important.
Audience
The primary audience for this text is researchers exploring religion, spirituality, and (inter)faith in higher education. These researchers include but are not limited to university faculty, graduate students, public policy analysts at research centers/ think-tanks / professional organization (e.g., Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Public Religion Research Institution, American Educational Research Association, and Association for the Study of Higher Education). The volume will also serve as an excellent textbook for faculty teaching graduate courses in educational leadership, higher education, and student affairs programs. In addition to teaching
faculty and researchers. It will also be of interest to student affairs educators, particularly those that work in religious and spiritual life, multicultural affairs, diversity, equity, and inclusion. The text could also be used in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in sociology and/or
religion. Authors should expect to submit in total up to 7,500 words per chapter and no less than 3,000 for a final chapter.
Tentative Table of Contents
- Potential authors are in parentheses after the chapter title.
- Foreword
- Introduction to the topic of the by a scholar with name recognition
- Preface (J. Cody Nielsen & Amer Ahmed)
- The preface will be a statement from the editors addressing the “Why” and the “What” of the text. Implications for the field will be highlighted, including overviews of each chapter.
- Section 1 – Historical Foundations
- Chapter 1: Literature Review and History of Religious, Secular, and Spiritual identities in higher education.
- Chapter 2: Emergent Intersections. Where do we stand today with religious, secular, and spiritual equity and how does it intersection with anti-racism and decolonization efforts on campus.
Section 2: At the Intersections of Everything
Each of these chapters Examples of Chapters may come from a variety of areas and units included but not limited to housing and residential life, career services, admissions, international students, office for student affairs, Diversity and Inclusion Offices, GBLTQIA centers, student unions and activities, first year programs, orientation, dining hall services, departments of human rights, multicultural offices, and health and wellness. Included will be at least one chapter on professional
consulting and professional associations.
Afterword (1,000 words)
Appendix (1,500 words)
Extra words (2000 words)
Length
The estimated word count for the finished manuscript will be determined by the number of authors and units that are a part of this volume. We expect two volumes in total for the completed project and upwards of 40 different units and areas to be covered.
Author Manuscript Timeline
May 1, 2021 Call for Authors
June 1, 2021 Authors selected
October 1, 2021 First draft of chapters due to editors
January 1, 2022 Edited Feedback to authors
February 15, 2022 Revised drafts due to editors
May 1, 2022 Manuscript completed and submitted for publication
Manuscripts should be submitted to Dr. J. Cody Nielsen
(j.cody.nielsen@convergenceoncampus.org).