Deepen your understanding of spiritual formation and critical theological reflection while you cultivate the requisite skills and arts of pastoral care.

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The Shaw Chaplaincy Institute offers a wide variety of academic and experiential programs for qualified individuals who seek further development of their spiritual care and compassionate leadership skills—from master’s degree concentrations to continuing education for nurses, physicians, lawyers, social workers, and current chaplains looking to enhance their caregiving skills. In recognition of the social structures, web of connections, interdisciplinary and faith traditions represented in sociopolitical life and community, we place curricular concepts in the context of real-life situations where service-learning connects students to a community of service.

In this program of graduate-level education, you learn to integrate knowledge from theological, psychological, and social science disciplines into the practice of pastoral care. We use an action-reflection method of learning that focuses on developing your professional identity and your pastoral skills. Intense involvement with persons in need and feedback from peers and faculty assist you in building self-awareness as both pastor and person. The action-reflection method creates the learning opportunity to theologically reflect on human situations, which leads to new understandings of pastoral service, self, others, and God. You also become more aware of the responsibilities of religious and spiritual leadership.

We are excited about the Shaw Institute Scholars Curriculum. With support from Rev. Dr. John Shaw and the Shaw Family, SCI engages the communities and institutions that stand to benefit from research in spiritual care, education in spiritual care theory and compassionate leadership practice, and multidisciplinary/trans-professional networking.

Our motto is Learn. Lead. Care.
The Institute’s curriculum and programming supports the formation of spiritual care leaders and spiritually interested learners empowered to engage the emotional, spiritual, physical, intellectual and moral needs of people.

“The people of God need skilled, caring professionals who know how to facilitate groups, engage suffering, understand trauma and grief and their complex socio-cultural roots, care for the dying, and bring real transformation and healing to such situations.”

Rev. Dr. Laurie Garrett-Cobbina
Shaw Family Chair for Clinical Pastoral Education,

CPE Supervisor, Director of Shaw Chaplaincy Institute