The Association of Theological Schools

Academic Deans

The Chief Academic Officers Society (CAOS) meets annually for conferences that focus on academic administration, curriculum, academic leadership, teaching and learning, personnel, educational evaluation, and other issues that accrue to senior academic leadership in ATS schools. The meetings offer a combination of plenary addresses, panel presentations, small group discussions, and multiple workshops; they also provide opportunities for peer interaction and engagement.

CAOS meets for a one-day seminar in conjunction with the ATS Biennial Meeting in June of even-numbered years and, in non-Biennial Meeting years, for a three-day conference in March in various locations. CAOS is developing an ongoing curriculum for its meetings and maintains a secure list-serve on the ATS Web site for Internet-based questions and problem solving. For information or to join the list-serve, contact Linda Giehll in the ATS office.

Programs are planned by a peer-elected steering committee of seven members supported by ATS staff. The CAOS meetings involve approximately 100 to 125 participants.

School for New Deans

December 16 - 18, 2013 Pittsburgh, PA

Contact: Frances Pacienza

By application. Designed for academic deans in their first year or two of service, the school will provide new deans with important information and nurture the development of the skills that will make their work more effective and fulfilling. It will acquaint new deans with the resources available to theological schools through ATS, facilitate connections between academic deans serving within the distinctive world of theological education, and continue the process of formation into the vocation of the academic deanship.

African American Presidents/Deans (CEOs) and Chief Academic Officers' Meeting

January 6 - 7, 2014 Richmond, VA

By invitation. John Kinney, president of Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, will serve as host for the 12th annual meeting of African American Presidents/Deans (CEOs), and the newly added chief academic officers. The meeting is held annually to allow African American presidents, deans, and chief administrative officers the opportunity to discus areas of common interest and concern.

ATS/COA Biennial Meeting

June 25 - 27, 2014 Pittsburgh, PA

Contact: Mary McMillan

As changes transform the world that theological schools and their graduates serve, schools are rethinking how theological education is designed and delivered. The 2014 Biennial Meeting invites the leaders of member schools and related organizations to grapple with these changes and to think critically about how in the future their institutions will resource theological education in the most effective ways possible—ways that respond to the changing world, embrace innovation, promote collaboration, and offer truly sustainable solutions. Participants will share the time and the tools to think in new ways about new directions for their own institutions and about the resources—financial and otherwise—they might bring to the enterprise.

Chief Academic Officers' Meeting

June 25 - 27, 2014 Pittsburgh, PA

Contact: Linda Giehll

By registration. Workshops and plenary presentations integrated throughout the ATS/COA Biennial Meeting will offer professional development opportunities, a collegial network, and a context for nurturing the vocation of the CAO and visioning its future development.

Papers and Presentations