This introductory chapter provides a framing of non-Christian students in higher education. It begins by providing data on the current contexts on the religious identities of college students. Additionally, the chapter examines the concept of Christian privilege and how religious discrimination is institutionalized in the organizational structures…

How do people navigate institutional life together amid deep differences? Existing work highlights the mechanisms that drive and challenge exclusion and polarization, but these theories do not account for the moral frameworks, both implicit and explicit, that guide action. My dissertation brings tools from cultural and interactionist sociology to…

This study explores how Christian educators in liberal arts universities understand the contribution of wonder-filled moments in their classrooms. As a transformative emotion, wonder and the related awe challenge education's prevailing objectification and instrumentalization, inviting students and educators to embrace an appreciative and open…

Alumni giving is a critical revenue stream for Christian liberal arts colleges that originated as Bible institutions. This dissertation presents an in-depth case study of alumni donation patterns, focusing on how the transition from Bible colleges to liberal arts institutions has influenced giving behaviors. The study examines demographic factors…

This article examines the locations of the 111 governing members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) and consider how these locations hinder evangelical Protestants from reaching their goal of engaging American society. We found that CCCU institutions cluster in cities in mid-sized metropolitan regions in the South and…

This research aims to examine the experiences of international students taking courses during the COVID-19 pandemic amidst lockdowns, self-isolation, and the closure of international borders. We interviewed 15 students, mainly from South Asia, attending university in Atlantic Canada who could not return to their countries of origin before the…

Building on the theoretical framework of social contact theory, this article explores what it means to feel a sense of belonging, and how colleges and universities can equip students to enter a diverse, fractured world with a mindset of hospitality. 12 Christian Colleges and Universities share insights and best practices from creative programs…

In this opening lecture for the 2022 Budapest Conference on "Building Community in Fractured Societies: Challenges for Christians in Higher Education," an overview is given of recent societal developments, (geo-) political, economic, ecological, sociological, psychological, and spiritual. A basic framework is presented on how to analyze…

The Christian practice of a shared meal, including shared hospitality, sacred meal, testimony and prayer, stimulates students' engagement to act on issues of justice in relation to classmates and the wider community. Integration between the teacher's personal faith and the pedagogical approach by redesigning teaching practices re-imagines the…

In the late 1990s, linguist Deborah Tannen argued that America had become an "argument culture" characterized by an adversarial frame of mind when approaching the world and the people in it. Recent events appear to have added apocalyptic fears (not entirely unfounded) to our adversarial approach. How can we talk to each other in such a…

The article acknowledges the limits of the categories of similarity and difference in undergraduate comparative religion courses. To challenge these limitations, including the potential for dualistic or "us/them" thinking, several pedagogical attempts to increase relationality in Christian-Muslim courses are explored. Relational methods…

Voluntary donation is the ethically acceptable method for whole-body acquisition for anatomy education worldwide. In Africa, educational institutions struggle with this since many people remain unwilling to donate their bodies due to the strong influence of cultural and religious beliefs in decision-making. As part of wider efforts to improve the…

Enrollments in religious higher education institutions have increased in recent years. Leaders of these institutions often cite students' desire to attend a college or university supportive of their faith as a reason for enrolling. However, limited research has been done on whether religious colleges and universities are more supportive of faith…

This hermeneutic phenomenological study sought to fill gaps in the literature surrounding women in the chief enrollment management officer (CEMO) position; on CEMOs in Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) institutions; on post-pandemic strategic enrollment management (SEM) in CCCU institutions; and on SEM concepts, planning, and…

This chapter starts by briefly decluttering how religion is defined through western theistic attributes, then explores students' Hindu experiences while centering a counter socio-religio-cultural narrative of lived religion. I look into systemic institutional misalignments stemming from white Christian supremacy and lastly, aspects of student…