2025 CBTE Gathering Schedule
This is not going to be your average conference. In fact, we aim to be quite the opposite. We have designed our time together to allow for content delivery, group discussions, questions, and two significant “unconference” sessions.
Detailed Schedule
For a detailed schedule including plenary, breakout and session descriptions, click on each date below.
Thursday, November 13
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 4:00 pm | Check-in for participants staying at the Franciscan Renewal Center | CLC A/B |
| 5:00 pm | Check-in for Offsite Guests | CLC A/B |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner. All are invited to come enjoy a home-cooked meal. | Dining Room |
| 7:00 pm | Opening We want this gathering to be different than your typical conference experience. You will not find yourself running to the next session, having no time for discussion, or feeling like you’ve been hit by a firehose. We want you to rest, refresh, and reflect. We want you to ask great questions, engage in stimulating conversations, and ponder new ideas. Come meet our lead team, participate in an activity, and learn the agenda and objectives for our time together. |
CLC A/B |
| 8:00 pm | Reception We know that great conferences have great receptions. This simple reception will be great, it just won’t be fancy. Come meet your fellow conference participants. Let the conversations begin. |
CLC A/B & Outdoors |
Friday, November 14
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 am | Breakfast | Dining Room |
| 9:00 am | Plenary: Reimagined Future(s) of Theological Education Deborah Gin, Director of Research, Association of Theological Schools Today’s educational landscape is indeed changing rapidly, with many implications for theological schools. Is it time for a reset in theological education? Assuming this is even possible, what is the future of theological education that we need? In this session, we will consider findings and data from two ATS projects—the Alum/Mapping the Workforce Survey and the Pathways Non-Degree Programs Research Project—to reimagine the role of theological education in forming ministers and imagine three futures of theological schools, highlighting illustrations from CBTE schools. Presentation/Audience Discussion Groups/Questions |
CLC A/B/C |
| 10:30 am | Break | |
| 10:45 am | Plenary: Governance That Matters Amy Kardash, President, In Trust Center for Theological Schools What does a competency based theological school board look like? What should it look like? Governing boards must be laser-focused on mission fulfillment and institutional stewardship while supporting executive leaders as they navigate institutional change and guide transformation. This session explores leadership trends, board study data, and critical governance questions around mission, graduate success, and alignment with Church. Presentation/Audience Discussion Groups/Questions |
CLC A/B/C |
| Noon | Lunch | Dining Room |
| 1:00 pm | Plenary: CBTE and the ATS Standards of Accreditation James Moore, Director of Accreditation, Association of Theological Schools While the Commission on Accrediting’s Standards of Accreditation are modality neutral, the Commission provides Guidelines on CBTE (updated in June 2025) to provide counsel to institutions initiating or continuing CBTE programs. This session will examine these guidelines in light of educational theory and practice toward ensuring quality improvement in alignment with the Standards. Presentation/Audience Discussion Groups/Questions |
Francis |
| 2:30 pm | Break | |
| 3:00 pm | Unconference Session: CBTE Models This open session invites participants to identify various models of CBTE programs and engage in spontaneous group discussion around areas of common interest. |
Francis |
| 4:30 pm | Free Time | |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner | Dining Room |
| 7:00 pm | Free evening |
Saturday, November 15
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 am | Breakfast | Dining Room |
| 9:00 am | CBTE Program & Curriculum Design Breakout A: CBTE Curriculum Frameworks Breakout B: Writing Competencies & Performance Indicators Breakout C: Creating Valid Assessments Breakout D: Evaluating Program Outcomes |
St Barbara Tekakwitha Francis St Agnes |
| 10:00 am | Re-Grouping Discussion Return to the larger group and share the most compelling insights or unresolved questions from your topic group. Listen as other groups report back on their topics. |
Francis |
| 10:45 am | Break | Francis |
| 11:00 am | Breakout Discussions: Breakout A: Supervision Models Breakout B: Delivery & Financial Models Breakout C: Emerging Practices in Mentoring Breakout D: Student Engagement |
Francis Tekakwitha St Barbara St Agnes |
| Noon | Lunch | |
| 1:00 pm | Re-Grouping Discussion Return to the larger group and share the most compelling insights or unresolved questions from your topic group. |
Francis |
| 2:00 pm | Unconference Session: Open Topics Unconference sessions emphasize emergent learning, participant ownership, and the collective intelligence of the group rather than expert-led instruction. This session is divided into three parts: planning, group discussion, and re-grouping discussion. Part 1: Planning Participants suggest topics they’re passionate about or curious to explore, then collectively decide which sessions to hold through voting or informal consensus. Everyone has a voice in shaping the group discussion topics; you might find yourself proposing a topic or advocating for someone else’s interesting idea. Examples:
|
Francis |
| 2:30 pm | Break | |
| 3:00 pm | Unconference Session Part 2: Group Discussion Join an unstructured small group with no formal presenter, allowing for dynamic exchanges of ideas, experiences, and perspectives. Share your experiences, ask questions that have been nagging you, challenge assumptions, or simply listen and absorb. You might find yourself facilitating a conversation, sketching ideas, or discovering unexpected connections between your work and others’ perspectives. |
Francis Tekakwitha St Barbara St Agnes |
| 4:00 pm | Unconference Session Part 3: Re-grouping Discussion Return to the larger group and share the most compelling insights or unresolved questions from your topic group. Listen as other groups report back on their topics, looking for threads that connect to your own conversation. You’ll likely leave with new contacts, fresh ideas, and more questions than you started with – which is exactly the point. |
Francis |
| 5:00 pm | Free Time | |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner | Dining Room |
| 7:00 pm | Next Steps for CBTE | Francis |
| 8:00 pm | Closing Reception As casual as the first reception, but this time with faces that are now familiar and hopefully a few of which are in your contacts list. |
Francis |
Sunday, November 16
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 am | Breakfast | Dining Room |
| 10:00 am | Checkout |
Abbreviated Schedule
Thursday, November 13 |
||
| 4:00 pm | Check-in for participants staying at the Franciscan Renewal Center | CLC A/B |
| 5:00 pm | Check-in for Offsite Guests | CLC A/B |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner. All are invited to come enjoy a home-cooked meal. | Dining Room |
| 7:00 pm | Opening | CLC A/B |
| 8:00 pm | Reception | CLC A/B & Outdoors |
FRIDAY, November 14 |
||
| 8:00 am | Breakfast | Dining Room |
| 9:00 am | Plenary: Reimagined Future(s) of Theological Education | CLC A/B/C |
| 10:30 am | Break | |
| 10:45 am | Plenary: Governance That Matters: Boards, Executive Leaders, and Competency-Based Theological Education | CLC A/B/C |
| Noon | Lunch | Dining Room |
| 1:00 pm | Plenary: CBTE and the ATS Standards of Accreditation | Francis |
| 2:30 pm | Break | |
| 3:00 pm | Unconference Session: CBTE Models | Francis |
| 4:30 pm | Free time | |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner | Dining Room |
| 7:00 pm | Evening options: Free evening | |
SATURDAY, November 15 |
||
| 8:00 am | Breakfast | Dining Room |
| 9:00 am | CBTE Program & Curriculum Design Breakout A: CBTE Curriculum Frameworks Breakout B: Writing Competencies and Performance Indicators Breakout C: Creating Valid and Reliable Assessments Breakout D: Evaluating Program Outcomes Achievement |
St Barbara Tekakwitha Francis St Agnes |
| 10:00 am | Re-Grouping Discussion | Francis |
| 10:45 am | Break | Francis |
| 11:00 am | Breakout Discussions Breakout A: Supervision Models Breakout B: Delivery & Financial Models Breakout B: Emerging Practices in Mentoring Breakout D: Student Engagement |
Francis Tekakwitha St Barbara St Agnes |
| Noon | Lunch | |
| 1:00 pm | Re-Grouping Discussion | Francis |
| 2:00 pm | Unconference Session on Open Topics. Part 1: Planning | Francis |
| 2:30 pm | Break | |
| 3:00 pm | Unconference Session. Part 2: Group Discussion | Francis |
| 4:00 pm | Unconference Session. Part 3: Re-grouping Discussion | Francis |
| 5:00 pm | Free Time | |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner | Dining Room |
| 7:00 pm | Next Steps for CBTE | Francis |
| 8:00 pm | Closing Reception | Francis |
SUNDAY, November 16 |
||
| 8:00 am | Breakfast | Dining Room |
| 10:00 am | Checkout | |