Chaplaincy’s Liaisons Programs Extend Impact Across Campuses
Shortly after the Israel-Hamas War broke out last fall, the University Chaplaincy organized an event for students on the Boston Health Sciences campus. Designed in collaboration with Snaggs Gendron, director of the Office of Student Wellness, and her team, the October 20 event gathered about two dozen students from a range of religious and cultural backgrounds, with the shared goal of reflecting on the situation in the Middle East.
Protestant Chaplain Dan Bell recalls that afternoon, including how all the attendees sat in a large circle in a classroom in the Medical Education Building. “Emotions were raw, tears were evident, and a heavy tension was palpable,” says Bell.
Some participants shared poems as part of the program and took turns acknowledging their feelings in the face of what Bell termed “human suffering and seemingly endless global crisis.”
As tense as the gathering was, that Harrison Avenue classroom was exactly the “difficult space where we as Tufts’ chaplains needed to be,” says Bell. The chaplains present did not attend as representatives of their individual religions, he notes, but “as an embodiment of compassionate listening and care, which is common to all spiritual traditions.”
A key objective for the event: to reaffirm to those gathered that they—as future clinicians, dentists, and other healthcare professionals—shared a commitment to respond to suffering by offering their kindness and skills in the service of healing others.
That October 2023 reflection event was one offering sponsored as part of the University Chaplaincy’s campus liaisons program.
Taking inspiration from partnerships that colleagues from Counseling and Mental Health Service have established across the university’s campuses, each member of the University Chaplaincy serves as a liaison to one or more of the graduate and professional schools. In addition, the chaplains serve as liaisons with Athletics, Tisch College, and the identity centers.
In their roles as liaisons to the schools, programs, and centers, the chaplains aim to build and deepen their relationships with students and colleagues across Tufts, in order to share the University Chaplaincy’s resources as widely as possible.
Community and Connection
A critical element of the liaisons’ effort, says University Chaplain Elyse Nelson Winger, is feedback from the schools and campuses.
“The impact of relationships cannot be minimized, especially in times of crisis and loss,” says Nelson Winger. “We strive to learn from our colleagues on different campuses what their interests and needs are, and how they want to engage. We don’t want to do anything in a vacuum because co-creating programs is the most generative way to extend our impact as a multi-faith chaplaincy.”
Prior to the formal establishment of the campus liaisons programs in 2021, individual chaplains had long had more informal cross-Tufts connections. But for the chaplaincy to be truly effective, says Nelson Winger, the team needed to build relationships intentionally across the entire university. The liaisons program has provided a structure for “regular connection and community,” she says, which is critical for a team that is called to serve all parts of the university—not only the Medford/Somerville campus.
The liaisons’ programming and offerings follow a range of formats and topics. Working with school-based partners on the Boston campus and at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, liaisons have co-sponsored panels, lunch-and-learns, and retreats. Topics covered have included, among others, self-care and resilience—issues that speak to what the chaplaincy is all about.
“We bring our specific takes and sometimes individual practices, but we're united in wanting to foster helpful conversation around themes that are important for well-being,” says Nelson Winger.
Last March, Jules Bertaut, a second-year master of public health student studying biostatistics and epidemiology, attended a chaplaincy-led retreat at the Rolling Ridge Retreat Center in North Andover, Massachusetts. In addition to the break from academics and personal responsibilities afforded by the event, Bertaut also valued the retreat’s focus on graduate students.
“A big factor in me deciding to go was that it was a retreat specifically for grad students,” Bertaut recalls. “We were all from different programs—history, engineering, nutrition—but it was nice to be with other folks at a similar stage of life.”
Responses to School-Specific Needs
On the Grafton campus specifically, former Humanist Chaplain Walker Bristol worked with veterinary social worker Eric Richman to develop a resource in support of Cummings School students volunteering with the school’s Pet Loss Support Hotline.
And this July, Bell and Richman, along with Hindu Chaplain Preeta Banerjee, organized a mobile teatime at Cummings School’s veterinary hospitals. The team wheeled a new “care cart” through the hospitals’ corridors, greeting residents, clinicians, and staff with iced tea, lemonade, cookies, and homemade chocolates.
“Whether it is hosting lunch-and-learn programs focused on nurturing personal wellness, dropping in on debriefs with the helpline student volunteers, or talking about honoring the religious and cultural values of pet owners facing the need to euthanize their beloved animal companions, there is no shortage of ways to be a supportive presence in Grafton,” says Bell.
At the Fletcher School, Banerjee has worked with Cynthia Rubino, director of student affairs, to curate gatherings as a response to the Israel-Hamas War. Events designed to hold, in Banerjee’s words, “collective space for grief and lament” have included Steeped Conversations (a lunch-hour break with tea and cake) and Soup for the Soul, as well as meditation sessions offering a respite from the busyness of the academic year.
According to Nelson Winger, the role of the chaplain is to “find the most expansive ways possible to build community, support, and insight.” The liaisons program reinforces the chaplaincy mission, which is rooted in spiritual care, multifaith engagement, and education around faith and social issues.
Nelson Winger takes care to emphasize that while the chaplains serve distinct spiritual or philosophical communities, they are trained to be resources for people of all backgrounds—including those without a faith tradition.
“I was drawn to chaplaincy in a higher education setting because its diversity of disciplines, people, and perspectives inspires me,” she says. “And to be as attuned as possible to people’s spirits, minds, and interests, I need to be out there. As a team, we expand our own thinking about what this work is about and what our community is about when we make the time to show up, build relationships, and see where the synergies are greatest.”
In thinking back in particular to the October 2023 reflection event, Bell makes an observation that illustrates the continuing need for the liaisons’ effort—while also sounding a hopeful note about the power of making the time to show up for others.
“Nearly a year later, I imagine the same tension and tears would be felt in that room today,” says Bell. “Yet, with the help of our chaplaincy’s presence among Tufts students in Boston, I know that the room would also be filled with the mutual respect and support of a dedicated community of healers.”