Dean of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
The University of Chicago

To apply for the position, go to http://hr.uchicago.edu/employment/ and click on "staff and faculty positions" and "search postings" for Requisition Number 077650.

The University of Chicago, one of the nation's leading institutions of higher education and research, invites nominations and applications for the position of Dean of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. Reporting to the Vice President and Dean of Students in the University, the Dean of Rockefeller Chapel will have the intellectual, spiritual, and moral integrity and vision to meet the needs of a University community with diverse religious beliefs, interests, and practices.

The University

The University of Chicago opened in 1892, committed to excellence in both undergraduate and graduate education, an explicit policy of coeducation, and an atmosphere of non-sectarianism. An innovative leader in liberal education since its birth, the University provides an intellectually rigorous curriculum through small, faculty-taught courses that emphasize original texts.

Today the University of Chicago, academic home to more than 13,000 students and 2,100 faculty, consists of an undergraduate College, four Divisions (Biological Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences), six graduate professional schools (Business, Divinity, Law, Medicine, Public Policy, and Social Services Administration), a school of Continuing Studies, the Laboratory Schools (nursery-12), a University press, a professional theater, and a diverse collection of libraries, research institutes, clinics, centers, and museums.

The University employs approximately 12,000 people. The University is located in the Hyde Park/South Kenwood neighborhood, a racially and economically diverse residential community of 43,000 people on the shores of Lake Michigan, about fifteen minutes south of downtown Chicago. Approximately 62 percent of the University's faculty and a considerably large percentage of its students live in the neighborhood. Hyde Park has a strong tradition of ecumenism. The carillon tower of the University's non-denominational Rockefeller Memorial Chapel overlooks the neighborhood, where Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and other religious groups worship.

A commitment to diversity has profoundly shaped the course of research and education at the University throughout its history. From its beginning, the University was open to women as well as men, and the first black woman to earn a doctorate in the United States, Georgiana Simpson, earned it at the University of Chicago in 1921. One of the first black tenured faculty members at a major non-historically black University was the University of Chicago's Professor Allison Davis. The University's refusal to set quotas made it accessible to Jews in the mid-twentieth century when other elite institutions practiced discrimination. This early dedication to diversity - at a time when such a notion was radical - is one of the core beliefs that has guided the University to intellectual preeminence. Today, in recognition of the increasing and wide-ranging beliefs, practices and affiliations of members of the Chicago community, diversity has become a central part of University policy.

Chicago's ethos has always been comparatively more experimental than that of other universities, sometimes radically so. It has had a major impact on American higher education, opening new areas of scholarship (urban sociology, law and economics, literary criticism), inventing the four-quarter academic calendar, developing extension courses and programs for adults in the liberal arts, establishing a unique program of general education for undergraduates, and initiating a full-time medical school teaching faculty.

The University's contributions to scholarship and to society are grounded in the ability to test and develop new ideas in an atmosphere of inquiry and experimentation. Education and research at the University are driven by a focus on open, rigorous, and intense inquiry. Over the years, the University has remained committed to bringing students and faculty to campus who can benefit from and contribute to an environment of close examination of argumentation and imaginative analysis of complex problems from multiple perspectives.

A number of important changes impacting campus life have taken place at the University in the past decade. The University has established new academic departments, programs and majors, and numerous new buildings are being constructed, renovated and expanded, including the Regenstein Library and the current restoration of Rockefeller Chapel, which is nearing completion.

On July 1, 2006, Robert J. Zimmer became the 13th President of the University of Chicago. President Zimmer returned to Chicago from Brown University, where he had served as Provost since 2002. Prior to his position at Brown, Zimmer was a University of Chicago faculty member and administrator for more than two decades. As an administrator, Zimmer served as Chair of the Mathematics Department, Deputy Provost, and Vice President for Research and for Argonne National Laboratory. He was the Max Mason Distinguished Service Professor of Mathematics and is the author of two books and more than 80 mathematical research articles.

The Students

The University of Chicago community includes 4500 undergraduates from fifty states and 59 countries. There are 3900 graduate students in arts and sciences, and 3500 graduate professional school students. There are about 2000 students enrolled in off-campus programs, including the Graduate School of Business campuses in London and Singapore.

University of Chicago students are active in over 400 recognized student organizations and countless informal groups, working together to create a vibrant and dynamic student life. Students come together around a variety of interests from the arts to political action, cultural and ethnic organizations to community service. In addition to the many religious student organizations described below, the University has a growing culture of civic engagement and social justice that is cultivated and supported by the University Community Service Center, Human Rights Program, and Rockefeller Chapel. Over twenty-five hundred students participate in community service each year, some in single day long service programs, others through intensive community internship programs. Although the University does not take a position on specific social justice issues, it works to facilitate and encourage student engagement in a wide variety of the challenges facing the world.

Approximately 56% of the undergraduate student body lives on campus. Chicago's 38 undergraduate houses are distributed among the 10 residence halls in the college house system. Home to between 40 and 104 students, each house forms a distinct community whose character emerges from its location, its Resident Heads, and the students. Five of the larger residence halls are home to faculty Resident Masters whose purpose is to foster community at the residence hall level. While most graduate and professional school students live in the neighborhood and surrounding communities, a number of them choose to live in the greater Chicago area.

Rockefeller Chapel

Completed in 1928, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel is named for the University's founder, John D. Rockefeller. Today the Chapel serves the University, a secular institution, together with its surrounding community, through educational, social, and interfaith activities. The Chapel is a focus for the essential life of campus, a place where significant life passages are marked. In addition, it sustains a long and distinguished tradition in the performance of organ, carillon, orchestral, and sacred choral repertoire. Few other institutions in Chicago, sacred or secular, provide the same range and quality of cultural programming.

Services

University ecumenical services are held in the Chapel on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. (except during the four weeks between summer convocation and the arrival of new students in September). Holy Communion is offered on the first Sunday of the month as part of the ecumenical service. All other Sundays, communion is celebrated in the Chancel following the Organ Postlude. Religious education classes are also available. Morning prayer is held Monday-Friday at 8 a.m.

The Chapel Choir sings at the weekly Sunday services. Organ, choir and carillon recitals, which are frequent and open to all, will resume once repairs to the Chapel's instruments are completed. Special services are held throughout the year in observance of significant religious and national holidays and anniversaries.

There is also a diversity of religious groups in the neighborhood of the University that welcome the participation of students, staff and faculty in their programs and worship.

During the Fall, Winter and Spring quarters, every Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. a brief worship service is held in the Joseph Bond Chapel on the main Quadrangle. The service is co-sponsored by the Divinity School and Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, and planned by the Associate Dean of the Chapel and a student-led worship committee. Students, faculty, and staff serve as preachers, and the services are open to all.

Interreligious Center (IRC)

This long-awaited new space, transformed from Rockefeller's converted cavernous basement and completed in 2006, provides a place of worship, prayer, and meditation for every member of the University's diverse religious and spiritual community. IRC was created to support the vital religious life of all students, particularly those previously without a permanent campus location. Form followed function to the utmost here: IRC's physical design is the product of interfaith conversations between the architect (a noted designer of religious facilities) and members of the University's religious student organizations. This open dialogue among faith-based groups helped inspire the open floor plan of the Center, and it is what gives students the unique opportunity to understand and share faith with people from all beliefs and backgrounds.

The IRC consists of two octagonal-shaped rooms dedicated to Hindus and Muslims, a great room that serves as a fellowship or meeting space for up to 75 students, and two additional meditation or study spaces. Students from any of the University's 35 religious communities, Campus Ministries and student-run religious associations and interfaith groups, can use the space - night or day, year-round - for any holiday, festival, celebration, or service.

Music

Embraced within the Chapel are two magnificent musical instruments -- the carillon and Skinner organ - both of which are integral to the Chapel's architecture and its spiritual and musical heritage. The carillon and organ are world-class exemplars of their kind. Heard at every University ceremony, they are woven into the memories of thousands of University alumni and their families.

The E.M. Skinner Organ

Built into the Chapel in 1928, this regal organ is one of two remaining masterworks of the American organ-builder E.M. Skinner, whose instruments are considered the finest examples of 20th century romantic organs built in America. The Chapel organ includes four manuals and 126 stops on two separate consoles. Its bay of pipes, located in the Chapel chancel, is a work of art in itself and is an integral element of the interior architecture of Rockefeller. Much-needed and extensive repairs to the organ are nearly finished and should be completed by early 2008.

The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Carillon

Seventy-two bells comprise the carillon, which was dedicated to the memory of John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s mother and considered the masterpiece of the English foundry of Gillett and Johnston. Housed in the tower of the Chapel, it is the second-largest carillon in the world, containing an 18 1/2-ton bell, the Great Bourdon Bell. The smallest bell weighs 10 1/2 pounds. The mechanical action of the Rockefeller Carillon is largely unchanged from the earliest, late 15th century carillons, and its sound is unmatched by electronically controlled carillon instruments. This magnificent instrument is integral to the Chapel's and the University's heritage; its much-needed repair is also well underway and should be completed by the spring of 2008.

The restoration of the Skinner Organ and the Rockefeller Carillon herald a new chapter of musical performance at Rockefeller Chapel. They are part of a long-term vision for music at the Chapel that includes the addition of a smaller Baroque instrument. This second instrument will solidify the Chapel's position as a center for organ performance in the Midwest, and will attract musicians from around the world for recitals, master classes, and international competitions.

The Choirs

There are three choirs affiliated with the Rockefeller Chapel: Rockefeller Memorial Chapel Choir, which performs at Sunday worship services weekly as well as several concerts a year; the Motet Choir, a chamber choir; and the University Chorus, which is made up of University and neighborhood members and performs a few concerts a year.

Community Events

In addition to being the center of religious activity for the wider University, the Chapel creates programming of interest to the entire community. World- renowned musicians, clergy, scholars, performers and activists challenge the University to envision more expansively the role of religion and the bounds of the sacred. Elie Wiesel, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sister Helen Prejean are among those who have spoken at the Chapel.

Professional performances are sponsored by the Chapel and by other organizations, such as the Chicago Presents series, which provides programming ranging from chamber music and early music to gospel revues. Art and photography exhibits, fundraisers for area causes and other special events are included in the Chapel programming

Weddings, concerts, and community celebrations also take place in the Chapel, and high schools from all over the South Side have held graduation ceremonies there.

Holiday programs at the Chapel are intended to be as inclusive as possible and to create meaningful connections between students and the community. Each year the chapel hosts an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service that brings together University and community members of all faiths for a celebration of thanks. And children from across the community participate in the candlelight service on Christmas Eve.

Building Repair/Maintenance

The University has worked hard in the last twenty years to preserve its musical heritage. In 1987-1988 Rockefeller Chapel underwent extensive renovation to enhance the interior acoustical environment for musical and ceremonial performance. In addition to the repairs currently underway, there is also work being done to the Chapel Tower itself, including rebuilding the bell frames and the playing cabin (the suspended room that houses the instrumentalist).

The Dean of Rockefeller Chapel

Chicago's commitment to diversity importantly extends to the religious and spiritual life of the University community. As part of a non-denominational University, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel and its Interreligious Center provide a place where members of the University and wider community can express their need for ritual and community, reflection and renewal, whether through prayer, meditation, or musical performance, without the constraint of a single religious or spiritual orientation.

The new Dean of the Chapel will be charged with creating an expanded vision for religious life that importantly reflects the breadth and diversity of the University community. This will include a growing role for interfaith activities, including the Interreligious Center, together with fundraising efforts to support those activities.

The Dean's Staff

A total of eight staff members, full- and part-time, work with the Dean of the Chapel to assist with the many functions and services provided by the Chapel: Associate Dean of the Chapel; Assistant to the Dean for External Affairs; Chapel Choir Director; University Carillonneur; Assistant Carillonneur; Chapel Organist; Associate Chapel Organist, and Administrative Assistant and Wedding Coordinator.

Religious Student Organizations and Campus Ministries

The Chapel coordinates the many independent Campus Ministries affiliated with the University that serve students who wish to be part of a particular faith community.

There are close to 40 campus ministries and student-run religious organizations, including interfaith groups that provide students with opportunities to practice and discuss their beliefs. The Dean of the Chapel helps these groups meet their spiritual and religious needs by assisting their individual group efforts and helping to create a fully-integrated religious community that includes all faiths. Religious organizations on campus include:

Asian American Students for Christ
Baha'i Association
Bethel Christian UC
Buddhist Association
Campus Crusade for Christ
Catholic Campus Ministry (Calvert House)
Chabad Jewish Center
Christian Business Students Association
Christian Science Fellowship
Destino
Episcopal Campus Ministry (Brent House)
Graduate Christian Fellowship
Hillel Center for Jewish Campus Life
Hindu Society (Bhav Bhakti)
Interfaith Dialogue
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Jewish Business Students Association
Jewish Graduate Students Association
Jewish Law Students Association
Jewish Medical Students Association
Korean-American Campus Ministry
Latter-day Saints (Latter-day Saints Student Association)
Lutheran Campus Ministry (Augustana Lutheran Church)
Muslim Law Students Association
Muslim Students' Association
Orthodox Christian Fellowship
Pritzker Christian Fellowship
Quaker House
QueerReligious
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel Sikh Students Association
Thomas More Society (Catholic Law Students)
Unitarian Universalists
United Protestant Campus Ministry
University Church
Vineyard Prayer Group

Opportunities and Challenges for the New Dean

The Chapel continues to be a dynamic place where religion, spirituality and the search for meaning play a crucial role in learning. The Dean of the Chapel will provide support for students and other members of the University community in their quest for religious and spiritual meaning, promote a lively and robust interfaith dialogue, and further the understanding of religious diversity on campus.

The Dean of Rockefeller Chapel provides leadership and strategic direction for the broad range of services and programs offered through the Chapel, balancing internal and external demands on use of the Chapel space, including the Interreligious Center, and overseeing a $0.5 million budget with many and diverse sources of revenue, including the Chapel endowment.

As the religious leader of the campus community, the Dean will also be a welcomed colleague at the Divinity School. It is frequently the case that the Dean will teach in the Divinity and/or the College curriculum, and the Dean is on occasion engaged by the School's M.Div. students as a teaching pastor for a field education placement at the Chapel, or as advisor to a senior ministry project.

Specific duties include:

• promoting the Chapel as a pluralistic space, publicly available for the liturgical needs and practices of every faith community;
• overseeing/leading weekly religious services attended by a mix of faculty, staff, students and members of the wider Chicago community;
• coordinating the many Campus Ministries and religious student organizations (RSOs), and helping to facilitate interreligious and interfaith communication and activities;
• serving at many University services and official functions, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter celebrations, and memorial services;
• providing a humane, compassionate, and empathetic presence for members of the University community, especially in times of personal and public crisis and spiritual need;
• enhancing communication and coordination between the counseling functions of the Chapel and the Campus Ministries, and the area Deans of Students and the University's Student Counseling and Resource Service;
• working with the Director of Choirs, who is jointly appointed by the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel and the Music Department and who conducts the three choirs affiliated with the Chapel;
• attracting musical performances, and expanding speakers' series and other programs and special events to the Chapel, building audiences from the wider Chicago area and beyond;
• fostering the Chapel's connection to and collaboration with the Greater Chicago community in matters of social activism, and inspiring greater University involvement in volunteerism and community service.
• clarifying and strengthening the connection between the Chapel and the Hospital Chaplaincy;

The new Dean will:

• oversee liturgical practices and deliver sermons that provide intellectual stimulation and speak to the broader concerns and interests of an academic community;
• provide spiritual and religious leadership that speaks to people of all faiths, thus making the Chapel a place of true religiosity while letting others express their differing views, including atheistic views;
• strengthen relations with the surrounding community by being sensitive to neighboring churches "competing" for congregations and continuing to work with each of the congregations in the Hyde Park/Kenwood Interfaith Council (HPKIFC) to support and coordinate interfaith activities throughout the area;
• work with the Campus Ministries in providing appropriate responses to controversial and potentially volatile events on campus;
• give voice to and help articulate an ethical response to incidents of social injustice, both local and global, and provide humanistic and moral reflection and guidance to individuals and the community as a whole.

Qualifications

The University welcomes applicants from any faith community. It is expected that candidates will have educational credentials and professional experience commensurate with the duties of the position.

Nominations, inquiries and applications may be directed in confidence to Sage Search Partners, Patricia Herzog, Partner: pherzog@sagesearch.com.
The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer.