TRC Workshops & Events

Preparing students for success begins with preparing ourselves. This workshop series invites faculty and staff to explore what it means to become student-ready educators by creating learning environments where every student can thrive. Drawing inspiration from Gary Gunderson's Leading Causes of Life, sessions will focus on one of the five life-giving principles—connection, coherence, agency, blessing (intergenerativity), and hope—and examine how these character values can shape our teaching, mentoring, and campus culture.

Rather than focusing solely on what students need to do to succeed, this series encourages us to consider how we, as educators, can foster belonging, purpose, resilience, and meaningful learning experiences. Each workshop will offer practical strategies, opportunities for reflection, and collaborative discussion that participants can immediately apply in their classrooms, departments, and interactions with students.

To complement the workshop series, faculty and staff will be invited to participate in a campus book club centered on Leading Causes of Life. The book club will provide space for deeper reflection on the five themes while exploring how they connect to character, vocation, initiative, and Campbell University's mission of preparing students for purposeful lives of leadership and service. Facilitators from across campus will guide conversations that encourage participants to integrate these principles into both their personal and professional lives.

More details coming soon!

Led by Dr. Adam English, Dr. Amy Hinkelman, and Jennifer Scully

Join us in a reading and discussion of the article The Spirit of Humanity: Contra Theologies of Death. This discussion will help connect how we can support our learners in developing coherence through calling. Come ready to learn, participate, and enjoy a breakfast sponsored by the Interfaith America grant.

Link to register: https://campbell.libcal.com/calendar/events/deut

If you would like to explore the reading beforehand it is available here:
Cochrane, J. R. (2015). The Spirit of Humanity: Contra Theologies of Death. Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, (152), 6. https://research.ebsco.com/plink/556c05dc-2257-3ff3-bee8-74c01071c585

Led by Dr. David Tillman and Dr. Justin Nelson

Agency is the capacity to decide and act. This session looks at how educators build that capacity in students, not through lecture, but by handing over real projects with real stakeholders and real stakes. It draws on work mentoring students through active community and policy projects, where students learn through the methods that can also be used to empower the wisdom of communities. Participants will practice simple participatory approaches that work in two ways: as classroom exercises that build skills, and as tools students can carry into their own work afterward. The session ties to the Hallmark of Initiative. “As a student cultivates initiative, there is a strong chance they will experience failure, and through it, learn the value and importance of resilience.”

Learning objective: Participants will practice one participatory method they can use in their own classroom, and identify one place in their teaching or advising where they can hand students a real problem before students feel ready for it.

Link to register: https://campbell.libcal.com/calendar/events/practicingagency

Join your colleagues in reading, Leading Causes of Life book by Gary Gunderson and Larry Pray. The text will be provided to participants with a request that you bring it back for the next cohort to use in the spring.

A small stipend will be available for registered participants who attend 4/6 meetings.

Register here: https://forms.gle/ocSfWJkNR9dYVx5u9

Additional resources related to this title include:

• Leading Causes of Life Initiative
• Annual CHRS Lecture Series
  Campbell University evening lecture by Dr. Gunderson, Annual CHRS Lecture Series, Tuesday, February 3, 2026.