Program Director for Multifaith Engagement

Position Title:

Program Director for Multifaith Engagement

Position Type:

Fixed Term (Fixed Term)

Hiring Range:

$37.31 - $44.79 per hour; Compensation will be based on education, experience, skills relevant to the role, and internal equity.

Pay Frequency:

Hourly

A. POSITION PURPOSE

The Program Director for Multifaith Engagement (PDME) is charged with supporting programs and relationships that support the development and nurturing of the spiritual life of the SCU community, especially those from diverse religious/spiritual traditions and students who identify as religiously unaffiliated. The PDME supports the Center’s efforts to create and implement programs that foster multi-faith awareness and community-building on campus and support interfaith worship and community. The position will collaborate extensively with other Mission and Ministry partners.

Note: this is a full-time fixed-term position that ends on June 30, 2027. While there may be opportunities in a variation of this role beyond that date, that will not be known until likely May 2027. Interested candidates need to understand they are committing to this role with the likely outcome that it ends and is not renewed.

B. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Oversees and executes programming to foster student development, especially religious, interfaith, and unaffiliated students
  • Creates opportunities for students to practice their religious traditions by offering opportunities for prayer, scripture/sacred text study, meditation, worship, and service, in collaboration with Center for Spirituality and Faith interns and with the leaders of student religious organizations
  • In collaboration with the Center for Student Involvement, provides leadership, guidance, and mentorship to all faith-based registered student organizations
  • Coordinates the celebration of religious holidays (e.g. Welcome Weekend Havdalah, Passover Seder, Ramadan Iftars and Eid Banquet, Holi festival, Diwali celebration, Sikh holidays, among others), in collaboration with the leaders of student religious organizations
  • Promotes interfaith and intercultural understanding, relationships, and community life
  • Supervises interfaith interns and equips them with bridge-building skills to cultivate relationships with students, faculty, and staff on a spiritually diverse campus
  • Collaborates with student organizations to design events for the campus community, including dinners, cultural programs, and service projects
  • Creates dialogue and engagement opportunities for students who are religiously unaffiliated and desire spiritual growth
  • Works with Mission and Ministry’s Retreat Team to develop, promote, and deliver retreats that offer opportunities for all students – including religiously unaffiliated students – to explore spirituality, meaning, and purpose. Draws on expertise and wisdom, as well as spiritual practices and sacred texts from diverse traditions to contribute to these retreat experiences

• Develops students' holistic formation through intensive mentorship and pastoral care
  • Pastorally supports students, regardless of religious affiliation, during crises, spiritual accompaniment, and general mentorship
  • Fosters particular in-depth leadership development for student leaders, employees, and volunteers to foster their learning and formation in spiritual leadership
  • Accompanies students in the challenges they face in collaboration with CAPS and other university support units

• Support outreach of programs to SCU students
  • Communicate with faculty to coordinate classroom visits for program outreach
  • Communicate with departments to coordinate presentations or table about programming
  • Support and organize student recruitment information sessions
  • Pilot new recruitment and invitation opportunities.
  • Develops and executes pilot programming that engages students in active outreach and service

• Coordinates student engagement data and program evaluation
  • Supports the collection of student engagement data for all CSF programming
  • Implements best practices established by Mission and Ministry to document events, programs, evaluations, and follow-up

• Supports the Director of CSF in maintaining partnerships, both on and off campus
  • Supports the CSF’s inclusion and support of faith-based student organizations
  • Supports relationships with local religious communities to make referrals for worship, as needed
  • Supports relationships with religious bodies and interfaith organizations that resource students and advance interreligious education (e.g. Hillel of Silicon Valley, Pacifica Institute, the Healing Mountain)

• Manages all operational and financial aspects related to the portfolio
  • With the support of operations staff, leads the effective operation of program activities
  • Manages annual allocated program budget development, reporting, and forecasting
  • Hires, trains, and supervises student employees and interns
  • Supports fundraising efforts and donor cultivation

• Contributes to the broader work of the Division
  • Consults with constituent programs to further align them with SCU’s Jesuit, Catholic mission
  • Supports the creative infusion of faith and spirituality throughout Mission and Ministry and broader campus programming
  • Regularly attends and participates in Ignatian programming and spirituality and faith events offered by other Division programs, including some events that may be held outside of regular business hours
  • Regularly attends and participates in SCU campus-wide, staff-wide, and academic programming events to represent Ignatian Spirituality and Spiritual Diversity perspectives, to form relationships to support engagement with Ignatian Spirituality, and to inform Ignatian Spirituality programming, including some events that may be held outside of regular business hours

• Executes other tasks as assigned

C. GENERAL GUIDELINES

• Recommends initiatives and implements changes to improve quality and services
• Identifies and determines cause of problems; develops and presents recommendations for improvement of established processes and practices
• Maintains contact with customers and solicits feedback for improved services
• Maximizes productivity through use of appropriate tools; planned training and performance initiatives
• Researches and develops resources that create timely and efficient workflow
• Prepares progress reports; informs supervisor of project status; and deviation from goals
• Ensures completeness, accuracy and timeliness of all operational functions
• Prepares and submits reports as requested and required
• Develops and implements guidelines to support the functions of the unit

D. QUALIFICATIONS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The items below are representative of the knowledge, skills, abilities, education, and experience required or preferred.

Knowledge

• Awareness of religious and wisdom traditions and current spirituality trends; knowledge of interfaith dialogue frameworks
• Understanding of spiritual/religious development stages for contemporary young adults and the capacity to implement programs to meet these spiritual developmental aspirations
• Familiarity with interfaith dialogue across a broad range of religious traditions
• Knowledge of trends in the spiritual and religious practices of young adults
• Experience in educational institutions required, preferably involving teaching experience or retreat experience focused on spirituality and faith formation for diverse student populations
• A comprehensive understanding of and professional involvement with the Ignatian and Catholic educational paradigm is desirable

Skills

• Strong verbal /written communication and influencing skills
• Superior ability to communicate with religiously and intellectually diverse audiences.
• Inter- and intra-culturally competent and skilled in working with and supporting students, faculty and staff from a wide variety of backgrounds and orientations
• Open, objective, innovative, and oriented toward understanding and responding to issues from divergent perspectives
• Outstanding organizational and project management skills
• Demonstrated competence in MS Office, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Suite, Adobe Acrobat Pro required

Abilities

• Demonstrated ability to provide pastoral and spiritual care for students
• Demonstrated high-level performance in organizational entrepreneurship and creativity
• Demonstrated high-level performance in successfully driving projects from inception to completion, including curriculum or program planning and implementation
• Excellent overall judgment combined with attention to detail
• Ability to consistently demonstrate a commitment to equity and respect in the workplace, a genuine desire to promote a supportive climate for all members of the SCU community, intercultural awareness, communication and understanding, and the ability to manage difficult and contentious situations
• Demonstrated high level record of building and managing effective connections with a range of constituencies to achieve success
• Availability to work variable hours when required to accomplish project goals
• Valid U.S. Driver's License preferred

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required

Years of Experience

• Minimum three years’ professional experience in relevant field
• Experience in pastoral care or chaplaincy desired

5. PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described below are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, the California Fair Employment & Housing Act, and all other applicable laws, SCU provides reasonable accommodations for qualified persons with disabilities. A qualified individual is a person who meets skill, experience, education, or other requirements of the position, and who can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.

• Considerable time is spent at a desk using a computer terminal
• May be required to travel to other buildings on the campus
• May be required to occasionally travel to outside partners, customers, vendors or suppliers Travel may include out of state destinations and include overnight stays
• Some evening and weekend events required

6. WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described below are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

• Typical office environment
• Mostly indoor office environment with windows
• Offices with equipment noise
• Offices with frequent interruptions

Telecommute

Santa Clara University is registered to do business in the following states: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Illinois. Employees approved to telecommute are required to perform their work within one of these states.

EEO Statement

Equal Opportunity/Notice of Nondiscrimination

Santa Clara University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, marital status, parental status, veteran or military status, physical or mental disability, medical conditions, pregnancy or related conditions, reproductive health decision making, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. For a complete copy of Santa Clara University’s equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policies, please visit the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX website at https://www.scu.edu/title-ix/.

Clery Notice of Availability

Santa Clara University annually collects information about campus crimes and other reportable incidents in accordance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. To view the Santa Clara University report, please visit the Campus Safety Services website. To request a paper copy please call Campus Safety at (408) 554-4441. The report includes the type of crime, venue, and number of occurrences.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Consistent with its obligations under the law, Santa Clara University will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants who wish to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact the Department of Human Resources ADA Team at hraccommodations@scu.edu or by phone at (408)554-4392. Please note: This contact information is intended for accommodation requests only. Resumes or inquiries about application status sent to this inbox will not be reviewed or forwarded. For resumes or questions regarding application status, please contact hrservicedesk@scu.edu.

About Us

Santa Clara University is a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California’s Silicon Valley, offering its 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master’s, Ph.D., and law degrees.

Santa Clara University does not sponsor work visas for staff positions. If hired, as a condition of employment with the University, individuals must provide verification of their identity and eligibility to work in the United States.

Santa Clara University offers a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees with programs and resources designed to promote and sustain personal health care, well-being, and the financial objectives of our employees and families. Visit our benefits page for more information.