MinneEncounter MinneEncounter Fellows Program A program of the Collegeville Institute in partnership with the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas What MinneEncounter Is MinneEncounter is a year-long cohort program for emerging Minnesota leaders who navigate religious diversity in their work and communities. Eight fellows will meet monthly at the University of St. Thomas and gather for two residential retreats at the Collegeville Institute. Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies The Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of interreligious relations and understanding. The center collaborates with the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, to promote the public understanding of interreligious relations through dialogue, encounter, and civic engagement. MinneEncounter is designed and led by the Jay Phillips Center in partnership with the Collegeville Institute. What Fellows Will Do Fellows build relationships through facilitated practices: storytelling, dialogue, peer coaching, contemplative reflection, and other first-person methods drawn from leading interfaith and dialogue programs. Each session pairs hands-on method practice with reflective assessment and includes an intergenerational lunch exchange with undergraduate interfaith leaders from the Jay Phillips Center. Fellows also pursue a self-authored applied project in their own context, supported by $1,000 in project funding. What Fellows Walk Away With A lasting network of religiously diverse leaders and practitioners across Minnesota whom they know personally and can call on Firsthand experience with a range of methods for dialogue and relationship-building across religious difference Deeper self-awareness as a leader who engages religious diversity A concrete project they designed and carried out in their own context Up to $2,700 in stipend, $1,000 project fund, plus accessibility support Who This Is For People whose work or community life puts them in rooms where religious, spiritual, and secular differences are present, whether or not they chose that role and whether or not they think of it as “interfaith work.” You might be a pastor, an HR manager, a teacher, a nurse, a nonprofit director, a team lead, an entrepreneur, or a city employee. What matters is not your title or sector. What matters is that you find yourself responsible, formally or informally, for how people across different backgrounds relate,and you want to get better at it. We are specifically looking for people across religious, spiritual, secular, non-religious, and unaffiliated orientations and lifestances. No particular tradition or background is expected or preferred. We attend to the composition of the cohort as a whole, seeking diversity across professional sectors, geography within Minnesota, and forms of leadership. MinneEncounter selects fellows based on three primary considerations: Situational fit. Leadership can be formal or informal, present or potential. We care about the situation you’re in, not your title, credentials, or prior experiencewith interfaith work. You already, or show the potential to, encounter religious, spiritual, secular, or worldview diversity in your work or community, and you hold some form ofresponsibility in that context. Readiness for encounter. You are prepared to show up, listen, tell your own story, disagree, and build relationships across real difference. We value self-awarenessand relational courage over expertise or polish. Capacity to commit. The cohort model depends on consistent participation. Fellows should be able to attend the full program year, including two residential retreatsand six-monthly sessions. What Makes This Different MinneEncounter is not a course, a certificate, or a leadership training program. It is a sustained commitment to building genuine relationships with specific people across religious, worldview,and lifestance difference, in a setting designed for depth. The primary investment is time and a commitment to encounter. The primary outcome is a network that lasts. The kind of network thatholds when Minnesota communities face hard moments together. Program Schedule and Logistics Application Timeline Application opens February 28, 2026 Deadline March 31, 2026 Review period April 2026 Offers extended By May 15 Program Year Opening Retreat (Collegeville Institute) August 23–25, 2026 Monthly Sessions (University of St. Thomas) 9:00 AM–1:10 PM Fall 2026 September 22, October 20, November 17 Spring 2027 February 16, March 16, April 20 Closing Retreat (Collegeville Institute) May or August 2027 (TBD) Financial Support $200 per monthly session (6 sessions) – personal stipend $1,200 Two retreats – personal stipend $1,500 Applied project funds $1,000 Supplemental accessibility funds are available by request to offset costs such as childcare, travel, or lost work time. How to Apply The application is open to Minnesota residents. No prior experience with interfaith work or dialogue is required. The application includes basic contact information, three short-answer questions, and the name of one reference. Application deadline: March 31, 2026 (11:59 PM Central Time) Apply Here If you prefer to submit a paper PDF version of the application, please contact Hans Gustafson at hansgustafson@stthomas.edu for the PDF. Why MinneEncounter The name draws on layered meanings rooted in the language and landscape both institutions share. Minne carries the Dakota mni (water), from Mni Sota Makoce, “the land where the smoky, cloudy waters reflect the clouds,” a reminder that our identities, traditions, and relationships are rarely clear. They are fluid, layered, and always reshaping themselves, especially as we encounter others. It carries the Norwegian and Swedish minne (memory), naming the practice of honoring the stories, histories, and intergenerational wisdom that shape who we are. Memory here is not nostalgia but an ethical commitment: what the Hebrew tradition calls zakhor (זכר), a form of re-membering that brings the past into the present as a living responsibility. To speak from lived experience, and to stay open to what is still unformed. It names Minnesota itself as the particular place where this work is grounded, shaped by Indigenous and immigrant histories, by rivers and lakes, and by the neighborhoods and communities that call this land home. MinneEncounter names what each cohort is: a miniature encounter of messy commitments, a small group practicing across real difference what they will carry outward into their communities. Encounter, both verb and noun, is the heart of the program. Not a conversation about difference. Not a training in how to manage it. An encounter with specific people whose lives, traditions, and commitments are different from your own, with the willingness to be changed by it. Program Leadership Hans Gustafson, Ph.D., Director, Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies, and Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences, University of St. Thomas Mary Elmstrand, M.Div., Managing Director, MinneEncounter Fellows and Interfaith Fellows programs, and Adjunct Professor of Theology, University of St. Thomas Aizaiah Yong, Ph.D., Executive Director, Collegeville Institute Minnesota Advisory Council Karin Aguilar-San Juan, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, American Studies, Macalester College Pooja Bastodkar, Past President, Hindu Society of Minnesota Danielle Clausnitzer, Ph.D., Adjunct Faculty, Augsburg University, and Assistant Director, Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality Rabbi Barry Cytron, Ph.D., Founding Director, Collegeville Institute Multireligious Fellows Program Fajr DeLane, Executive Assistant, Collegeville Institute Rev. Tom Duke, Ph.D., Past Executive Director, St. Paul Area Council of Churches, and Co-founder, Minnesota Multifaith Network Jennifer Kilps, Ph.D., Network Executive, Minnesota Multifaith Network Bill McDonough, S.T.D., Professor Emeritus, Theology, St. Catherine University (interim chair) Jake E. Nagasawa, Ph.D., Assistant Professor (NTT) of American Studies, Macalester College Anant Rambachan, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, St. Olaf College Tamim Saidi, M.Div., Pharm.D., Resident Scholar, IRG, and Muslim Chaplain Bob Shoemake, M.Div., Senior Fellow, Center for the Common Good, University of St. Thomas Martha E. Stortz, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Augsburg University Strategic Program Advisors Tonje Kristoffersen, Director, Kirkelig Dialogsenter Oslo (Church Dialogue Center Oslo) and Co-founder, DialogPilotene Marianne Moyaert, Ph.D., Professor of Comparative Theology and Hermeneutics of Interreligious Dialogue, KU Leuven Benjamin Sax, Ph.D., Head of Programs and Jewish Scholar, Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS), Baltimore Partners MinneEncounter is a program of the Collegeville Institute in partnership with the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas.
