Description

Since its founding in 1898, Northeastern University has developed an approach to experiential learning that is anchored by a cooperative education program which seeks to integrate study with professional work and community service.  Informed by this tradition—and focused squarely on both the challenges of public engagement and support for the next generation of knowledge makers—Northeastern’s Elizabeth Bucar and her colleagues developed “Sacred Writes,” a public scholarship initiative launched in 2018 with funding from the Luce Foundation. Sacred Writes trains, supports, and promotes emerging scholars of religion and theology, increasing their capacity to produce public-facing scholarship.  
 
Sacred Writes organizes and hosts an ongoing series of media engagement institutes that cover a wide range of topics, including: how to reach and effectively engage media outlets, building a public-facing intellectual and professional profile, using social media to promote and amplify scholarship, and assessing the personal and professional risks of public engagement. Guest speakers in the institutes include leading journalists and scholars engaged in public-facing work, and participants include advanced graduate students, non-tenured faculty, and scholars who are employed outside the academy. In addition to the institutes, Sacred Writes also facilitates collaborations between media outlets and religion scholars, drawing creatively upon the co-op model and giving emerging scholars access to publishing platforms and professional relationships that allow them to hone their voices for public scholarship.  
 
With renewed support from the Luce Foundation, Sacred Writes will develop four intersecting lines of work. First, they will develop and implement a program to “train the trainers” in their public scholarship curriculum. Second, they will host a public scholarship “summit” gathering at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion to discuss best practices for scholars engaging the public in issues related to race, justice, and religion. Third, they will convene four new 12-member cohorts for intensive online training sessions in 2023-2024. And, finally, they will produce two new Sacred Writes training modules on topics that specifically respond to the needs of scholars working at the intersection of race, justice, and religion. 
 
Recommendation: That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a two-year grant of $450,000 to Northeastern University to support “Sacred Writes,” a public scholarship initiative. 
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