CSU's Faith Based Engagement History
Below is an ongoing timeline of the recent faith and belief efforts at Colorado State University. The groups, programs and policies named before 2021 existed rather independently of one another. In 2021 a pathway began to centralize and scale-up efforts to focus greater attention on religious, spiritual and secular identities and promote constructive engagement across those differences. This resulted in the creation of the task force for the Exploration of an Interfaith and Belief Program at CSU, which has paved the way to the current incarnation of CSU’s Multifaith & Belief Initiatives.
Our Task Force Members
Jody Donovan
Assistant VP for Student Affairs
Laura Nelson
Food for Thought Lead, Interim Lead for Multifaith and Belief Initiatives
Rye Vigil
Lead for Student Success Education and Systemwide Collaboration, SCALED – CSU
Assistant Vice President, Inclusive Excellence
John Henderson
Associate Dean of Students
Elizabeth Sink
Lead for CSU’s Multifaith & Belief Initiatives, Vice President for Student Affairs
Faculty and Administrator, University Honors Program
Presidential Fellow
Susan Hua
Interim Executive Director for Inclusive Excellence
Meet Our Interns
26-27 Multifaith and Belief Interns
Izzy Lalouete is studying Psychology and will graduate in Spring 2027. “I currently study Buddhism through a close-knit Sangha in Colorado Springs. Interfaith work connects closely with my values of compassion, courage, curiosity, and integrity. As an MFBI intern, I’ll have the opportunity to facilitate conversations across differences, engage with diverse student communities, and help create spaces where people can learn from one another while remaining respectful and constructive.”
History of the Multifaith and Belief Initiatives
Fall 2025
Our Neighbor's Faith
Fall 2025
“Our Neighbor’s Faith” community event focused on the “Emissaries of Divine Light.”
Fall 2025
New Honors Seminar
Fall 2025
Beginning in 2015, the Key Communities give space to an ongoing seminar that supports a living learning community called “Multifaith & Belief Engagement.” Ten years later, the Honors Program offers an ongoing seminar, “Bridging Differences of Belief: Religious Pluralism in Action.” This new seminar offers an investigation into pluralism, understood as active engagement with diversity towards a positive end. We will learn pluralistic communication skills such as active listening, storytelling, empathy and self-care. We will practice those skills in meaningful encounters with people of differing religious, spiritual and secular beliefs as a way to build social cohesion and bridge divides.
2025
Initiatives Graduate first Students
2025
Local artisan, Anne Aspen of Woventalestoles, crafted beautiful stoles to honor our first graduates.
From left to right: Brooke Privat, Leah Rohlfs, Amanda Edwards, Miranda Morris and Geddy Jackson.
Summer 2025
Interfaith America's Leadership Summit
Summer 2025
Beginning in 2015, the Key Communities give space to an ongoing seminar that supports a living learning community called “Multifaith & Belief Engagement.” Ten years later, the Honors Program offers an ongoing seminar, “Bridging Differences of Belief: Religious Pluralism in Action.” This new seminar offers an investigation into pluralism, understood as active engagement with diversity towards a positive end. We will learn pluralistic communication skills such as active listening, storytelling, empathy and self-care. We will practice those skills in meaningful encounters with people of differing religious, spiritual and secular beliefs as a way to build social cohesion and bridge divides.
Spring 2025
Our Neighbor's Faith
Spring 2025
“Our Neighbor’s Faith” community event, focused on the Baha’i Faith.
Spring 2025
Students Travel to "Religious Pluralism and Democratic Institutions" Conference
Spring 2025
In late February a cohort of students involved in the Multifaith and Belief Initiatives and CSU’s Center for Public Deliberation traveled to Utah for a conference, “Religious Pluralism and Democratic Institutions,” at the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University. The Student Conference focused on the role that religion plays in a flourishing society, empowering students to be active agents in their communities, increasing their abilities to engage in civil discourse and to be a voice for religious pluralism. In small groups, students brainstormed solutions and present on real-world application of these pluralistic ideas.
Fall 2024
New Interns and Newsletter
Fall 2024
Beginning in fall 2024, we brought on our first Multifaith & Belief Interns to assist in outreach, programming and communications. Students earn upper-division credit within their disciplines for their internship experience. We also began a (fairly) regular newsletter for our multifaith community.
Spring 2024
Our Neighbor's Faith
Spring 2024
“Our Neighbor’s Faith” event series launches in collaboration with the Fort Collins Interfaith Council.
Spring 2024
Official Logo and Spotlight Video
Spring 2024
We adopted the official logo and began to disperse swag throughout our community. Students from CSU’s Collegian put together a spotlight video promoting the work of the initiatives.
Spring 2024
Student Facilitators
Spring 2024
First student facilitators trained in spring 2024, continuing onward. Currently, 14 students have been tooled up and have led Food for Thought conversations.
Spring 2024
Intergenerational Food for Thought
Spring 2024
Once a semester, we hold an Intergenerational Food for Thought event that is open to community members of various beliefs. A 1-to-1 ratio of students to community members is maintained to encourage deep cross-generational exchanges.
Fall 2023
CSU Inspire
Fall 2023
Elizabeth Sink’s Inspire Talk, “CSU is Building Bridges Across Differences of Belief,” at CSU’s 2023 Inclusive Excellence Symposium. Opening remarks by President Amy Parsons. Elizabeth Sink’s talk begins at 13:30.
Summer and Fall 2023
Pivoting, Piloting, and Fundraising
Summer and Fall 2023
Pivoting from the un-funded proposal, the VP for Student Affairs decided to make an official home for the work of this task force under the Dean of Students. Using considerable feedback, the task force decided to name these initiatives “Multifaith and Belief,” aligning with the Multifaith Partners group, the student council, and complimentary academic courses.
During summer of 2023 financial support from the Division of Student Affairs and CSU’s Multifaith and Belief Advancement Fund was given for Elizabeth Sink to continue this exploratory work through professional development, sizing up fundraising needs and launching a campaign, and working with partners to facilitate the annual “Meal of Gratitude” and pilot a new program, “Food for Thought.”
Spring 2023
Task Force's Proposal to the University
Spring 2023
In the spring of 2023, the task force put forth a proposal to the university. The proposal was not selected for funding.
Spring 2023
“Food for Thought” dinner and interfaith dialogue events begin
Spring 2023
The “Food for Thought” event series provides free dinner and student-facilitated interfaith and belief conversation. Student participants develop skills in inclusive dialog and relationship building with people who may believe differently from themselves. This events ensures a proselytization-free zone (no one attempts to convert anyone) where students can build community and learn from each other’s experiences. Folks of all beliefs and no beliefs are welcome. Get a brief glimpse of the impact of “Food for Thought” in this CTV coverage or view our poster.
August 2022
Initiating Conversations with Units Across Campus and the Greater CSU Community
August 2022
During Fall of 2022 and Spring of 2023, the task force initiated conversations with several units such as International Student and Scholar Services, Academic Success Coordinators, ASCSU, Community for Excellence, several units within the division of Student Affairs, CSU’s Professional Development Institute, LSC’s Leadership, Inclusive Excellence Symposium, Athletic Support Services, Housing and Dining, as well as several academic units and centers on campus, and many collaborative partners in the broader community.
July 2022 – May 2023
Initial Presentation and Interest Survey
July 2022 - May 2023
The work of this task force has progressed in a number of different ways: an initial presentation to (then) Interim President Dr. Rick Miranda, Dr. Albert Bimper, President’s Chief of Staff; Dr. Hughes, and Dr. Cipriani in July of 2022 which resulted in support to continue exploring this concept by expanding outreach to students, faculty, staff, and community members; benchmarking conversations with peer public institutions pursuing interfaith and belief work; 30+ presentations and listening sessions; and a survey continuing to garner wide-reaching feedback from a variety of demographics of the CSU community and beyond. Here are the results of that survey.
February 2022
Task force for the Exploration of an Interfaith and Belief Program at CSU is formally charged
February 2022
The Task force for the Exploration of an Interfaith and Belief Program at CSU was charged in February 2022 by VP for Student Affairs, Dr. Blanche Hughes and was later endorsed by Dr. Kauline Cipriani, VP for Inclusive Excellence.
The charge of this task force was to: “Explore the need, desire and feasibility of the development of a CSU program that focuses greater attention on religious, spiritual and secular (non-religious) beliefs. Potential focuses of this program might include: promotion of identity exploration, well-being, and cooperative engagement across differences.”
August 2021
Presidential Fellow Begins a Formal Exploration of this potential Initiative
August 2021
As part of her 2021-22 Presidential Fellowship, Elizabeth Sink, faculty in Communication Studies, mentored by Dr. Blanche Hughes, Vice President for Student Affairs, began a formal exploration of this potential initiative.
2017-2020
Spiritual Care Services
2017-2020
CSU collaborated with UC Health and Columbine Health to establish a chaplain residency program. CSU offered Spiritual Care Services for the university community from 2017 to 2020, until funding was cut for the program due to covid.
2016-Ongoing
“Better Together Day”
2016-Ongoing
“Better Together Day” is a celebration of positive engagement across diverse beliefs. Folks of all beliefs and no beliefs are welcome. Participants role model belief-inclusivity in the student plaza. Regular activities include “spiritual playdoh,” giant jenga with interfaith prompts on each brick, great conversation as well as coffee and lemonade, donuts, brownies, and much more. The event offers the invitation to “Come make a friend who believes differently than you do!”
2016
Faculty member, Elizabeth Sink, delivered a CSU TedX Talk, “Interfaith Cooperation: An Invitation for All Beliefs”
2016
Sink’s presentation describes how the interfaith movement is helping to dissolve the ever-rising tide of religious extremism present in society today, particularly on college campuses. She highlights an example of interfaith education, cooperation, and service making a positive impact on students in her “Multifaith & Belief Engagement” seminar.
2016
Multifaith & Belief Student Council
2016
This student-led organization was created by a 2016 Bill in ASCSU (student government). The ASCSU decision was to add Senators with a variety of identities to have represent their groups, including all the cultural Centers and the MFB Council.
The CSU Multifaith and Belief Council emerged from an Honors project and was established by students, including Rachel Scharn in 2016. They wanted to establish a way for Faith and Belief organizations to collaborate and support the university community.
2015
Multifaith & Belief Engagement Living-Learning Community and Seminar embedded in CSU’s Key Communities
2015
This living-learning cohort, comprising 36 first-year students, weaves both academic and experiential-learning with residential-based programs, to promote healthy practices for people who orient around religion differently. The goal of the course is to promote religious, spiritual, and secular (non-religious) identity exploration, education, well-being support, and advancement of skills to promote constructive engagement across differences.
2015-2016
Danforth Chapel Revisioning Board
2015-2016
2014-2019
Faith, Belief, and Religious Observances Subcommittee
2014-2019
This group of professionals from across the university, operated for several years (ending in 2019) under the former VP for Inclusive Excellence, Mary Ontivaros. They worked to establish CSU’s Religious Holidays and Religious Observances Policy, and accommodation policies for CSU employees and students. This group was also responsible for creating CSU’s Faith, Belief and Religious Observances Calendar.
2014
CSU/Geller Center Host Interfaith Dialogues
2014
Goal: Creation of an ongoing interfaith discussion group to facilitate understanding among religious and spiritual thought leaders and other interested individuals in the Fort Collins area. A call was put out for “A wide diversity of religious and non-religiously affiliated participation is desired, including, but not limited to: Muslims, Jews, Christians (all denominations), Gnostics, Confucianists, Rastas, Hindus, Shintos, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Taoists, Bahá’ís, Atheists, Humanists, Agnostics…” And it was met with great success. Read the Collegian’s coverage of the dialogue series.
2014-2019
Interfaith Friendsgiving / Meal of Gratitude
2014-2019
In the spirit of unity, this annual event was a joyous gathering across traditions, faiths and beliefs, for delicious food and conversation. It provided an opportunity for a group of diverse students and community members to work and serve together across lines of faith and belief differences. Every year the meal is completely kosher with vegan, gluten-free and lactose-free options. In 2019, to make the event as inclusive as possible, the name was changed to “Meal of Gratitude,” the menu was expanded outside the bounds of a traditional Thanksgiving celebration and the date moved into December. Hundreds of folks joined together over the years for feasting, fellowship, and interfaith connection.
Frequent sponsors of the event included CSU’s Hillel, Lutheran Campus Ministries, the Center for Spiritual Development (The Geller Center), the Fort Collins Area Interfaith Council as well as CSU’s Multifaith & Belief Engagement students.
- CSU Source’s coverage (2015)
- Early event history overview (2016)
- CTV’s Coverage video (2018)
- Denver News (2019)
1990s
Multifaith Partners
1990s
For many at CSU, faith exploration and spiritual development are integral to their success and transition to college and there are many organizations within the Fort Collins community that intersect with students’ belonging. Therefore, for over 40 years the Division of Student Affairs at CSU has maintained working partnerships with these faith-based student-serving organizations with the goal of open communication, clarified expectations, and mutual support. This group was original named United Religious Directors Association (URDA)
Currently, this group meets 3x each year and has nearly 20 different faith groups represented from a variety of belief traditions. If your belief-based group (all are welcome, including groups of no belief) would like more information on this group, please connect with john.henderson@colostate.edu.