The Vocational Formation Office (VFO) at Iliff offers comprehensive preparation for leadership through practical experience in Vocational Residency and Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).
Our programs aim to cultivate habits and practices for critical reflection, skills development, and the ability to navigate diversity and difference towards social justice and peace. Vocational formation at Iliff focuses on the development and expression of identity and purpose in community. Through our curricula, programs, and partnerships, we nurture capacities for practical-prophetic leadership, integrative reflection, vocational discernment, and active participation in a peer community of trust.
Cultivating Vocational Capacities Through Praxis
Vocational Residency
The Basics
- 9 months part-time
- 400 hours
- Based on student goals and priorities
Learning outcomes
- To cultivate capacities for embodying practical-prophetic leadership in community, including intellectual knowledge, emotional and spiritual awareness, situational skills and wisdom, relational and intercultural adeptness, and prophetic voice and action toward community transformation, care, justice, and peace;
- To practice integrative reflection (or knowing-in-action) in community by drawing upon one’s context in conversation with lived experience, social and cultural identities, relational and structural dynamics, and spiritual/religious traditions/values;
- To engage in vocational discernment and grounding practices to support increased understanding of one’s being and doing in community; and
- To develop shared commitments to—and sustain active participation in—a peer community of trust for mutual personal and professional formation.
Resources
Potential Sites & Supervisors
Want to host a resident?
VFO offers a Supervisor Discernment Meeting for those who are interested in hosting and supervising an Iliff resident. This informational meeting will share Iliff expectations of the site and supervisor, and provide an opportunity to ask questions. If you have never supervised an Iliff resident, or if it has been a while, we strongly encourage you to attend the session. Experienced Iliff residency supervisors may also attend. All are welcome. Please RSVP here, date and time are listed within the RSVP form.
Want to post a residency?
As you begin to think about a residency opportunity for one of our students, here are a few things to consider in creating a successful and enticing position:
Time:
- Enough hours weekly (400 hours over 30 weeks)
- Weekly supervision (1 hour/week)
- 9 months from September to May
Money:
- Ideally $19 an hour ($19 x 400 = $7,600)
- If monetary compensation is unavailable, are there other ways you can contribute?
Questions to ponder:
- What new opportunities or skills might be gained from an Iliff student in your setting?
- What new endeavors or projects might be exciting for an Iliff student to focus on in the next year?
We are happy to look at drafts of position descriptions and provide feedback to you before you post to the Professional (In)formation Network (PIFN). We also highly suggest coming to the Supervisor Discernment Meeting. Click here to RSVP.
Community Partners
Want to post an opportunity?
The best way to circulate positions/opportunities to Iliff students, alums, and community members is through the Professional (In)Formation Network (PIFN). Anyone can quickly create an account and then post an opportunity for viewing by those both within and beyond Iliff. To create an account: Simply click “Login” and then “Sign Up.” Your account will be approved (usually within 24 hours), and then one is free to post opportunities.
Vocational Formation Office Staff
Rev. Dr. Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi
Faculty Director
An Ordained Minister in the United Church of Christ, Kristina’s previous experience has included faith formation and intercultural pedagogies in higher education and the church, hospital chaplaincy, and denominational leadership. As Associate Professor of Leadership and Formation, she teaches in the fields of leadership theory and praxis, congregational and community formation and change, ministerial excellence, and practical theology and has served as a consultant in these and other areas to religious organizations around the country.
Erin Laurvick
Director of Programs
Ms. Laurvick holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Colorado Boulder and Master of Divinity from the Iliff School of Theology. Her background includes work within refugee resettlement and food insecurity non-profits, church ministries for children through young adults, corporate and higher education technology, as well as extensive experience in mentoring, organizational operations, and curriculum development.