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Dr. Sudarshan Kapoor, Professor Emeritus of Social Work Education & Peace Studies at CSU Fresno, CA, will conduct a 4-week series on "Mahatma Gandhi and Building a Just Peace" on Zoom beginning the first Monday in May. The cost is $100 for the entire series plus $25 application fee. You can also join individual Zoom sessions for $25 each. Learn more.
"Life is not a contest or a conquest.
It is a struggle and a quest to find
the best in each and every one of us."
~ Sudarshan Kapoor
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President Gerald Grudzen will interview Dr. Kapoor on April 24 at 4 PM PDT on Zoom as a free introductory presentation for this series. | |
Religion & Science Program | |
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New Religion and Science Program Cohort Starting in Mid-June 2023.
New Faculty Members:
Recep Dogan Ph.D, adjunct professor of Islamic Studies at Charles Stuart University, Australia, is now also an adjunct lecturer in the GMU Religion and Science graduate degree program. He will focus on the Islamic contributions to religion and science.
Reginald Nalugala, Ph.D., of Tangaza University will also be joining the program as an adjunct lecturer. Dr. Nalugala received his doctoral degree in International Development from Oxford University, UK.
Twenty students from Africa and India are already enrolled.
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Prison Chaplaincy Degree and Certificate Programs | | |
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A $10,000 grant has been received from the Callaghan-Pierog Family Foundation, Inc., to help support the GMU Prison Chaplaincy program. GMU graduate and Board Member, Thomas James, was instrumental in obtaining this funding.
Applicants to the program may be able to receive a needs-based scholarship.
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Courses include:
TH425 Ministry to the Incarcerated: The problems of the incarcerated will be explored in this course, taught by the instructor who is an ordained minister, a nineteen-year police veteran, and a prison chaplain.
TH427 Prison Minister: Chaplain and Volunteer Ministry to the Inmate: This course will provide a step-by-step examination of the basics of ministering to the incarcerated by studying the prison inmate, the crisis in the U.S. criminal justice system, the history of the penal System, and the modern prison setting.
TH430 A Study of Prison Culture: The minister/chaplain will be introduced to prison ministry as a form of prisoner empowerment through a comprehensive examination of prison culture.
Learn more.
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GMU's Provost, Dr. Mary Ann Cejka, coordinated the development of a Strategic Plan from the Long-Range Planning Committee for the future growth of Global Ministries University. The plan is being finalized this month and will be presented to President Grudzen upon approval of the committee. Stay tuned!
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Love does not come to an end.
~ I Corinthians 13:8
Dear GMU Community,
In December of 2019, I began a labor of love, assuming the position of Provost at GMU in response to the invitation of GMU President Gerald Grudzen several months before. I had proverbially big shoes to fill: Dr. Mike Conley and Jean Conley had together served GMU in multiple administrative roles for many years. Both these pros coached me in the earliest months, passing on to me the responsibilities pertaining to the work of Provost. I also owe a good deal to then-Registrar Gail Schultz, who patiently schooled me in some of the “nuts and bolts” of GMU’s inner workings. Ever since then, I’ve been blessed to work with a most capable and dedicated university staff, faculty, and board.
Three years and four months later, we’ve witnessed changes and growth at GMU; weathered a pandemic together; prayed and dialogued over major decisions; and completed a long-range planning process. Meanwhile, over the past few months, I’ve sensed that love is calling me to make more space in my life for writing projects that seem increasingly urgent as the years go by, and for aging family and friends who need, want, and deserve a greater share of my attention. My final day as GMU Provost will be March 31st.
I will remain an active and engaged member of GMU’s faculty, teaching Peace Studies courses, and in the future I hope to be useful in other ways, depending upon the university’s needs and my own availability.
“Love does not come to an end,” and so it is with my love for this bold, inclusive, boundary-challenging school, for those who brought it into being, and for all who continue to make it thrive.
With much gratitude,
~ Mary Ann Cejka, M.Div., M.S., Ph.D.
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AI is here. Now what?
You may have noticed a lot of buzz in the media lately about something called ChatGBT. It debuted in November, 2022, and is the latest in a series of products utilizing artificial intelligence (AI). It presents some concerns for higher education (that’s us!).
ChatGBT, like other forms of AI, is a “bot” that collects data from all sorts of sources—social media, Wikipedia, open web resources, and much, much more—and is able, through machine-assisted analysis of billions of websites, to produce written materials that appear to be generated by real people, real writers, but aren’t. So, for example, you can ask ChatGBT to write a description of mayonnaise or peacocks or the weather in Siberia, and it’ll do its best to produce an essay on the subject, based on all the available data that’s out there on the web. Scary. And these bots are now getting so “smart” that they write like real people, in natural writing styles, using the language correctly, most of the time.
Last week I attended a webinar on the subject for theological librarians. The presenter, Steve Jung, Associate Director of Library Services at Hope International University, discussed the ethical concerns related to ChatGTB and similar services for academia. Is use of ChatGTB to write a paper considered plagiarism? Can you steal from a machine? As Jung pointed out, a resulting paper will bring together information and ideas from multiple sources, but the ideas and concepts generated won’t be yours. No research or original analysis from you, the student, took place. You weren’t learning much about critical thinking, gathering information yourself, formulating your thoughts, or contributing your unique perspective to the academic conversation.
In short, use of something like ChatGBT might be appropriate for creating a paragraph or two on a website about how to plant tulip bulbs or unplug a toilet. But for an academic paper? Not ethical. Don’t do it.
Having issued this warning about the use of AI in academic settings, let me explain that this new phenomenon may indeed have beneficial attributes and potential value that we haven’t yet imagined.
Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield, in a recent posting, puts it well:
In response to those of you who are fervently against this [AI], I thank you and hear your healthy concerns. Please understand that this technology is being birthed whether we like it or not, so it would beseech those of us within the spiritual community to have open communications with the tech/AI world in order to create bridges of love and compassion into this unknown territory which will be on the forefront of many of our lives before we know it.
We live in a world of impermanence, and we must learn to dance with it. That means meeting times of great change with an open-hearted curiosity and loving awareness. Through this, rather than pushing away that which we deem shadow, we can infuse every aspect of our ever-changing lives with the light of love and consciousness.
AI tech is a new seed planted in the garden of humanity which will grow larger every passing moment, and rather than letting it grow completely unfurled, I would rather us nourish it and help guide its growth with curiosity, love, mindfulness, and compassion.
Kornfield, Jack. Facebook, 24 Mar. 2023, m.facebook.com/jkornfield/. Accessed 25 Mar. 2023
Questions? Comments? Let me know…
~Judy Clarence, M.L.I.S., GMU Librarian
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Jean Conley, Director of the Global Ministries University Center for Celebrant Training, created this program close to fifteen years ago. It has been her pleasure to provide the tools needed to conduct both professional and personal rites of passage, such as wedding ceremonies and funeral services.
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PCS 508 - The Gospel of Thomas Goes Public
Presented by Dr. Shirley Paulson
BEGINS APRIL18, 2023
7:30 PM to 8:30 PM EDST
(meets every Wednesday for seven weeks)
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PCS FORUM: Women's Priestly Ordination in the Catholic Tradition with the Focus on the Subversive Praxis of the Roman Catholic Women Priests
Presented by Rev. Dianne Willman and Dr. Jakub Urbaniak
APRIL 20, 2023, 1:00-2:30 PM EDST FREE on ZOOM
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PCS 606 – Nonviolence in Spirituality and Practice
Presented by Rev. Dr. Phillis I. Sheppard
BEGINS TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2023 at 7PM EDST
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The Women's Ordination Conference is in its seventh year of offering the Lucile Murray Durkin Scholarship, a $2,200 scholarship for women and non-binary people discerning priestly ordination—primarily in the Catholic tradition and secondarily in other denominations—and pursuing theology studies. The application process is open, and applications are due by April 29, 2023. | |
Once again, the three Abrahamic Faiths have holy days occurring in close proximity in April. Pesach or Passover is commemorated from April 5 to April 13. Western Christian Easter is celebrated on April 9 and Eastern Orthodox Easter is celebrated on April 16. Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, is observed from April 21 to April 22. Learn more from the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies. | |
"One Day": 3000 Muslims, Christians, and Jews from around the world join in song for an end to war. | |
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We rise, humbly hearted
Rise, won’t be divided
Rise, with spirit to guide us
Rise!
In hope, in prayer, we find ourselves here
In hope, in prayer, we’re right here...
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