Register your Early Interest for the 2021 ILI

Fill out our early interest form to be the first to know when registration opens for our August 6-8, 2021 ILI. We hope to be in person together next year, but we'll share more in spring 2021 about our plans for the 2021 ILI.

Registration for the 2020 ILI is closed, but we hope you can join us next year!

See below for details on the 2020 ILI schedule and speakers. We'll be recording parts of the ILI and sharing them on YouTube afterward.

Who is the ILI for? 

Any undergraduate student, graduate student, or educator at an undergraduate college or university within the United States is eligible to attend the ILI. Learn more about this year's programming and we'll share more this fall about our program offerings for 2021. Email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have questions or want to talk with an IFYC staff member.

2020 Virtual ILI Schedule

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Please note: All times listed are Central Daylight Time.
  • 10:00am - 10:30am: Orientation
  • 10:30am - 10:45am: Talk Better Together
  • 10:45am - 11:30am: Opening Plenary with Eboo Patel
  • 11:30am - 12:00pm: Break
  • 12:00pm - 1:15pm: Deep Dive Sessions
  • 1:15pm - 2:00pm: Unconference
  • 2:00pm - 2:15pm: Break
  • 2:15pm - 3:00pm: The Role Of Interfaith Leadership In Movements For Change

Eboo Patel, Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core

J.T. Snipes

Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville

Kaytlin Butler

Chaplain at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City

Olivia Elder

Criminal Justice Reform Associate at FWD.us

Student Deep Dives

For 2020, we are offering a session for students who are new or beginning interfaith work and one for those students who have more experience in the area. The choices are below:

Foundations of Interfaith Leadership

Best For: Undergraduate students new to interfaith work. All undergraduate students are welcome to join this deep dive.

Many students new to this work often ask: what do I need to know to produce change on my campus? This session will provide students with the essential information they need to understand the basics of interfaith action. Through discussion and activities, students will leave this deep dive with both new knowledge about interfaith cooperation and tools to utilize in their actions on campus.

Advanced Interfaith Leadership

Best for: Undergraduate students who have previously attended the ILI or have led and/or experienced interfaith work on campus.

For students with experience in interfaith engagement on campus, this session offers the opportunity to reflect and connect with their peers. By examining and analyzing different leadership approaches in this session, students will deepen their understanding of their own leadership style. Students should feel prepare to share some of their own stories and grapple with some of the challenging aspects of engaging religious diversity on campus.



Educator Deep Dives

For 2020's ILI experience, we are offering a session for those educators who need an introduction to interfaith concepts and approaches. And for educators with more experience in interfaith cooperation, we will hold a train-the-trainer session focused on an exciting new virtual tool for promoting interfaith action.

Foundations of Interfaith Cooperation

Best for: Educators (faculty, staff, graduate students, or administrators) who are new to interfaith work and would like to learn about the broader context for interfaith work in higher education.

In this session, educators will be introduced to some of the fundamental aspects, ideas, and concepts of interfaith cooperation. The content will particularly focus on connections between these ideas and the tangible work of campus life. Through the discussion of real-life events, educators will gain a basic skillset for engaging with religious diversity at their institutions.

Interfaith Action Online

Best for: Educators (faculty, staff, graduate students, or administrators) with experience in interfaith work on their campus.

As both a reckoning with systemic racism and an evolving Covid-19 pandemic force campuses to change, educators need tools to support engagement. This deep dive introduces educators to new online tools and trainings designed for this moment. Educators will leave the session with an understanding of how to use this specially developed material in their work with students.

ILI Stories

"I think it was important
for all of us in that room
to sit down and discuss the problems we all faced on our campuses and to help one another overcome them. Campus leaders tend to feel pretty isolated and it was great to come together for a common cause and to realize that we are not alone and that we are all in this fight together."
- Mandy Tu
Student, Sewanee: University of the South
"The five training sessions
taken together were
of both conceptual and practical use to me. They helped me learn a new vocabulary for expressing interfaith cooperation and they did help me develop at least the beginning of an action plan for our campus activities this year."
- Brian DuSell
Educator, University of San Francisco
"After ILI, I identified
the need for a safe
space to conduct dialogues, and I plan to collaborate with the convocation office (religious office) at my school to organize events where discussions can be had with people to monitor the progress of these dialogues."
- Carolina Borjas
Student, Pepperdine University
twitter logoBaylor MA@BaylorMA
This past weekend four @Baylor civic interfaith student leaders went to Chicago to attend #ifycILI. They are excited about the initiatives they will be bringing back to campus this fall. "You belong. You're a neighbor. You are needed." #bettertogetherbu @ifyc @BUSpiritualLife
twitter logoCaleb J. Keith@DrCalebJKeith
I have appreciated #ifycILI 2019 for several reasons. Primarily, however, it has been a place to dream AND identify action steps to make dream become reality. #ifycILI
twitter logoEllie Thompson@AndersEllie
Listening to students talk about there take always from #ifycILI There is no limit to the #Interfaith applications on campus, realizing we have great support and assets on our campus, desire to learn much more about #Islam

ILI Stories

"For those who are just
starting in interfaith
it provides a good, basic foundation to begin with. This way anyone can feel welcome to come and learn based on their skill levels."
- Natalie Nabass
Student, Pacific Lutheran University
"This was an incredibly
diverse group
in representation across positional power, robust interfaith programs, teaching and research experience, and other content knowledge."
- Liane Ortis
Educator, University of Northern Colorado
"The panel was great
and helped show
some amazing things that an interfaith leader might do."
- Marion Larson
Educator, Bethel University
twitter logoFrank Shushok, Jr.@fshushok
I’m always grateful when I land in spaces like #ifycILI where people of goodwill seek to find common ground. #ifycILI #interfaithleadership
twitter logoAbdillahi Dirie@MOStateSBP
In Chicago for the weekend attending the Interfaith Leadership Institute with @SchroederEthan and @tara_orr77! Learning about how people with different faiths, worldviews, and traditions can bridge divides and find a common ground. Thanks to Ekklesia for inviting us! #ifycILI
twitter logoMatt Hartley@rmatthartley
“If everyone brings the same thing, potlucks are boring.” Interfaith Youth Core @ifyc founder Eboo Patel in the house! #ifycILI
"I felt like I was learning substantive things
that were also very applicable… It got the mix of theory and practice just right, and was fun, to boot. I'm excited to bring some of the exercises back to my campus."
- Matisse Peppet
Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"The track I was in
was so practical
and so easily applicable. Because we were asked to come in with a particular program or initiative in mind that we were hoping to start, I spent the whole weekend being able to immediately apply the things I was learning to my actual work, rather than in a vague, hypothetical sense..."
- Katherine Grooms
Educator, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
"The opportunity to
create an action plan
for a project that can be implemented on my campus was beneficial."
- Tondaleya Jackson
Educator, Benedict College
twitter logoVivian Taylor MSW 2020@TayloredLooks
We understood the POWER of our work TOGETHER!
A whole word!
#ifycILI #conference #solidarityacrossreligions
twitter logoUNFInterfaithCenter@Unfinterfaith
Florida in the house! Great weekend at @ifyc Leadership Institute and meeting our new interfaith friends and neighbors at @EmbryRiddle @stetsonu @UofTampa @bethunecookman #ifycILI #BetterTogether
twitter logoUNFInterfaithCenter@Unfinterfaith
‏ @UofNorthFlorida #BetterTogether leaders Hannah and Rachel and Associate Director Matt are Interfaithing this weekend at @ifyc Interfaith Leadership Institute. Also always repping the #SWOOP #Ospreys #ifycILI

Who can attend the ILI?

Any undergraduate student, graduate student, or educator at a college or university is eligible to attend. The registration process for the ILI will help route folks to the deep dive best suited to their needs. Please note that graduate students are considered educators by IFYC as our student deep dives are designed with undergraduate student experiences in mind. While educators are welcome to attend without their students, IFYC recommends that campuses bring multiple students and educators to the ILI so you have a network already established to implement the skills gained. For this reason, there is no cap on how many participants from one campus can attend. We recommend a mixed group of students and educators from various faiths and traditions, majors, and levels of involvement with interfaith cooperation. Please email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have questions and want to talk to an IFYC staff member.

Registration Fee

Given the financial constraints campuses and individuals are navigating, we significantly reduced the registration fee in 2020 to $25. We will share more this fall about the registration price for 2021 and will continue to offer significant discounts and scholarships to everyone as we have done in the past. Please email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have any questions and want to talk to a member of our staff."

ILI Discounts

Due to the shift to an all virtual ILI in 2020, we paused our discounts to save them for campuses and individuals to use in 2021. If your campus is new to the ILI this year, you can attend this year’s virtual ILI and the new campus discount of 2 free registrations will be held for your campus to use for the 2021 ILI. We'll share more about our full list of discounts in the fall and please email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have any questions.

ILI FAQs

Who should attend the ILI from my campus? 

IFYC recommends that campuses have multiple students and educators attend the ILI so that you have a network already established to implement the skills gained. For this reason, there is no cap on delegation size. We recommend a diversity of students and educators attend from various faiths and traditions, majors, and level of involvement with interfaith cooperation.

The deep dive experiences are designed for both participants new to interfaith work and for those looking for advanced skills. Please be in touch with your IFYC contact directly or email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have questions about this and strategies regarding who you should attend the ILI from your campus.

What are some strategies for building a delegation to bring to the ILI? 

Our deep dive sessions are designed for new and advanced leaders. We encourage representatives from a variety of student organizations and academic pursuits. For educators, we recommend a mixture of staff, faculty, and administrators to ensure that multiple perspectives are brought from your campus to engage in interfaith leadership. You can read more about the deep dive sessions here.

Will IFYC provide for my accessibility needs at the ILI?

We are always looking for ways to make the ILI more welcoming, accommodating, and inclusive for our attendees. Here are some of the ways we try to create that environment (virtually this year!) but if there is anything else we can do, please don’t hesitate to email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org and ask.

  • Registration: Registration for the ILI asks for information regarding accessibility needs. If you indicate that you have accessibility needs when registering, an IFYC staff member will contact you to follow up closer to the ILI to ensure those needs are met.
  • Audio and Visual Needs: Since this year’s ILI will be all virtual, live captioning will be available for the entire ILI. All videos shown in our sessions will have closed captioning. Additionally, all presentations and downloadable resources are available for Braille programs upon request within registration.