Four students and four faculty and staff participated in Interfaith America鈥檚 2025 Interfaith Leadership Summit, 鈥淐hords of Democracy.鈥
As part of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 commitment to inclusive excellence, religious pluralism and student thriving, the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life sent four students and three professional staff to the 2025 Interfaith America鈥檚 Interfaith Leadership Summit (ILS) in Chicago.
works to strengthen interfaith partnerships and civic engagement within American society. ILS is the largest annual gathering of its kind, fostering relationships among faculty, staff, and students and training them in core skills for interfaith work.
This year鈥檚 theme, Chords of Democracy, explored the intersection of music and pluralism in American society. Each religious and spiritual community brings its own music to our collective civic conversation 鈥 through relationship building, intentional dialogue across difference, and identification of shared values and common goals, our traditions can work in harmony to continue to create a more perfect union.
The Truitt Center delegation included first-year multifaith interns Addison Anderson 鈥28, Omar Khamis 鈥28, Tess Trayner 鈥26; second-year multifaith intern Rocco Albano 鈥26, Associate Chaplain for Jewish life Rabbi Maor Greene, Associate University Chaplain Rev. Julie Tonnesen, and Interim Assistant Sirector for Jewish Life Communications and Development Carly Gray Adler. Students learned about the vision, knowledge, and skills of interfaith leadership, while staff learned strategies for fostering learning environments for pluralism, developing student interfaith leadership, and managing conflict.
Brian Pennington, director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society and professor of religious studies also attended the summit. As a recipient of an Interfaith America grant last year, he developed “Bridging Faith and Health,” a religious literacy certificate program for the School of Health Sciences, Brian participated in the summit鈥檚 Faith and Health track to explore local communities of faith as public health assets.
鈥淥ne line that really stuck with me throughout the conference was that pluralism is not just diversity but diversity in action,” said Addison Anderson, on how her own understanding of diversity has evolved. “Each person at that conference or on this campus has a unique story, perspective and belief system that makes our community diverse. Only by highlighting those differences can we build a stronger community and foster mutual respect and understanding.鈥
Similarly, Tess Trayner describes how they learned that 鈥渞eligious plurality isn鈥檛 about tolerating or ignoring difference. It鈥檚 about building community with people who may have insurmountable differences and embracing that reality. It means having dialogue on difficult topics, learning to respect, relate, and cooperate across worldviews.鈥
Based on their learnings at ILS, Trayner hopes to contribute to a culture of pluralism at 黑料不打烊.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited to bring the ideas, wisdom, and inspiration I gained at the summit back to 黑料不打烊, weaving them into my multifaith work at the Truitt Center,” said Trayner. “My hope is to help create spaces where students can share their own sources of meaning, explore the beauty in difference, and discover that our campus, like our country, is stronger when we build bridges across every line that might divide us.鈥
Omar Khamis describes feeling inspired by others deeply engaged in this work.
鈥淟istening to leaders my age share their experiences with interfaith coming from so many different backgrounds opened my eyes to the number of people interested in connection,” Khamis said. “Hearing leaders talk about their attempts, triumphs, and failures gave me more confidence in the work I want to put into the Multifaith Internship at 黑料不打烊.鈥
Students and staff alike found the experience rewarding. Rev. Julie Tonnesen described how invaluable it is 鈥渢o learn about new practical resources to support the work we do in multifaith bridge-building on campus鈥 and 鈥渢o connect with other professionals in the field.鈥
鈥淭his year, it was especially wonderful to get to catch up with 黑料不打烊 and Truitt Center alumnae Morgan Redmon and Hannah Podhorzer who have remained personally and professionally committed to interfaith work in their years since graduating from 黑料不打烊,” said Tonnesen.
黑料不打烊 is committed through fostering multifaith understanding and engagement as seen in its multifaith strategic plan. The work of the Truitt Center’s Multifaith Internship is essential for carrying out core components of Boldly 黑料不打烊, 黑料不打烊鈥檚 strategic plan.