Early Interest List for the 2022 ILI

We are so excited about the 2022 ILI and hope you are too! Sign up here to get updates about registration and speakers for the 2022 ILI here.

Registration opens April 1, 2022.

Learn more about the 2020 ILI experience

Watch the Opening and Closing plenaries from the 2020 ILI and learn more about what to expect at the 2021 ILI. See below for details on this year's schedule and speakers.

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 the 2021 ILI's programming and we'll continue to update the offerings for 2021. Email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have questions or want to talk with an IFYC staff member.

2021 Virtual ILI Schedule

Friday, August 6th

  • Lounge Area Opens 10:00am-10:30am CDT
  • Orientation (optional) 10:00am-10:30am CDT
  • Opening Plenary with Eboo Patel 10:30am-11:15am CDT
  • Screenless Break 11:15am-11:30pm CDT
  • Session 1 All Tracks 11:30am-12:45pm CDT
  • Conference Break 12:45pm-1:30pm CDT
  • Session II All Tracks 1:30-2:30
  • Talk Better Together (elective) 2:30pm-2:55pm CDT
  • End Day I 3:00 pm CDT

Saturday, August 7th

  • Lounge Area Opens (optional) 10:00am-11:00am CDT
  • Session III All Tracks 11:00am-12:15pm CDT 
  • Conference Break 12:15pm-3:00pm CDT
  • Synchronous Elective Sessions 1:00pm-3:00pm
  • End Day II 2:00pm/3:00 pm

Sunday, August 8th

  • Breakout Breakfasts (elective) 9:30am - 10:15am CDT
  • Lounge Area Opens 10:15am-10:30am CDT
  • Session IV All tracks 10:30am-11:45 am CDT
  • Break 11:45 am-12:15 pm CDT
  • Closing Session 12:15pm-1:15pm CDT
  • 1:15pm: End of Day III

Eboo Patel, Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core

2021 Student Training Tracks

Introductory training tracks are designed to support students new to this work by laying the foundation for interfaith work. Both advanced training tracks are designed to help students continue to build their skills in interfaith topics. Check out our descriptions of our students' tracks below.

New to Interfaith

Best For: Students beginning their interfaith work.

As an introduction to interfaith cooperation, this track will focus on the fundamental concepts of interfaith engagement. By highlighting both frameworks and real-life examples, students will start to understand how to promote pluralism in a religiously and racially diverse campus or community.

Interfaith at the Intersection

Best for: Students who have previously attended ILI or have significant interfaith experience.

How do student leaders committed to engaging difference think about the crossroads our country and campuses face today? The coronavirus pandemic, the movement for racial justice, and the commitment of young people to making change are all at significant turning points in 2021. This track will foster discussion about the role interfaith leadership in engaging these intersections and help develop the skills and knowledge needed to address them.

Storytelling to Connect Communities

Best for: Students who have previously attended the ILI or have significant interfaith experience and have an interest in storytelling techniques.

Articulating a narrative vision is a key part of effective leadership. In this track, students will hone storytelling and communication skills that contribute to their ability to connect communities, both in-person and online. Previous experience in writing, public speaking, art-making, or other storytelling skills is helpful for this track.



2021 Educator Training Tracks

Introductory training tracks are designed to support educators new to this work by laying the foundation for interfaith work. Both advanced training tracks are designed to help educators continue to build their skills in interfaith topics. Check out our descriptions of our educators' tracks below.

Foundations of Interfaith Leadership

Best for: Staff or faculty new to interfaith work.

This track introduces educators to the fundamental skills, knowledge, and research that underlie effective interfaith work on campus. Educators will discuss how they can promote pluralism in their own role on campus and support student leadership development. Participants will leave the track with a set of resources tailored to fostering interfaith engagement at their institution.

Bridge-Building in a Polarized World

Best for: Staff and faculty, prior attendance at the ILI required to register.

We are so polarized that we have settled into the belief that this is how it has to be. But another world is possible. Heroic bridge-builders can work with people they fundamentally disagree with, be curious and learn from those who see the world differently, and, even when conversations get tense, respect the human dignity of each other. That is the spirit of the Bridging the Gap initiative, our partners in leading this interactive advanced track. Together, participants will learn and practice the concrete skills that support courageously crossing lines of difference, including faith, politics, and worldview. And, we will delve into how to bring this approach to campuses as we seek new insights into our nation’s most pressing problems such as criminal justice, climate change and racism.

Interfaith as Campus Change

Best for: Staff, faculty, and administrators who have previously attended the ILI and are focused on campus initiatives.

Higher education is transforming before our eyes. Educators play a critical role in shaping the priorities of their campus. This track focuses on how educators can strengthen and institutionalize interfaith initiatives on their campus. Participants will both learn about effective strategies for long-term success and connect with peers who are similarly effecting change on campus.


2021 All Participant Elective Sessions

Participants will be able to choose an elective session on Saturday afternoon to hear from interfaith leaders or engage with fellow participants through a variety of creative activities. Participants will receive information about how to choose an elective session after registration closes on July 15th.

Creating with the Unknown

Interested in restorative art-making? This session guides participants through self exploration and discovery based on their values. Facilitated by Chaplain Marcy Miller, participants will engage in art-making, writing, and sharing in a free-flowing zone. All experience levels welcome - no prior experience required!

Interfaith Watch Party

Join fellow ILI attendees to watch a few short films that highlight how religious diversity plays out in reality. Using a co-watching platform, participants will be able to chat and connect with one another as they watch the film.

How Our Traditions Got Us Through

For over a year, we have all experienced a number of ground-shifting moments that have occurred at a seemingly break-neck rate. In such transformative moments, collective and personal, our traditions have been an important piece of processing and meaning making. In this session, hear from a panel who share the practices, prayers, meditations, reflections, and communities that have supported them through this tumultuous time.

Racial Equity and Interfaith Work: Program Highlights

Since 2020, IFYC has been sponsoring campus partners who are working at the intersections of racial equity and interfaith cooperation. Join us for this session to hear the challenges and successes grantees faced while they worked for change on their campuses.

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 logoOlivia Elder@livlikespolicy
One of the truest forms of interfaith work is simply to stand up and demand better for all of us. Incredibly grateful to @ifyc, Rev. Kaytlin Butler, & @snipesjt for the opportunity to discuss faith, BLM, & Covid-19 to close out the 2020 Interfaith Leadership Institute. #ifycili
twitter logoCaleb J. Keith@DrCalebJKeith
In continuing to reflect on @EbooPatel's keynote from yesterday's #ifycILI, I'm struck by the ways in which he emphasizes that all aspects of our lives - academic, civic, personal - are intertwined and it is possible, even necessary, to view them as such and act accordingly.
twitter logoTom Reid@tomtdr
Thank you to @ifyc for a wonderful virtual version of #ifycILI 2020! Great speakers. Great conversation. Hope we can do it in person again next year, but thankful for this opportunity to gather. Feeling energized to keep doing the work. #interfaith

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 logoInterfaith Program at Virginia Tech@interfaithVT
Great Unconference Session about IDEALS research with Shauna Morin @ifyc Interfaith Leadership Institute Down pointing backhand index #ifycILI Thank you!
twitter logoSean Watson@Mrseanwatson
I was enjoying the conversation too much to tweet, but that's always the sign of a great conference! #IFYCILI @ifyc #SAPro
twitter logoMatt Hartley@rmatthartley
Great to see @revjenbailey inspiring Interfaith story shared at @ifyc #ifycili, and glad she contributes as a Trustee to Jacksonville local @duPontFund. I was a freshman in college on 9/11, and the aftermath too spurred my Interfaith vocation
"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 logoBryce Bunting@brycebunting
I've thoroughly enjoyed participating in the 2020 Interfaith Leadership Institute today. Big thanks to the #IFYC for putting together an excellent program. We are each other's.
twitter logoAmanda Armstrong@amandarae88
“If you had a megaphone loud enough to be heard by the world, what’s one sentence you’d want to share about your worldview?” #IFYCILI
twitter logovic@vicwcu
‏We Are Each Other's. Beautiful way to view cooperation and navigating ways to work together in such a polarizing climate. We need each other for today and our future #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 training track best suited to their needs. Please note that graduate students are considered educators by IFYC as our student training tracks are designed with undergraduate student experiences in mind. Please email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have questions and want to talk to an IFYC staff member.

Registration Fee

The registration fee for the 2021 ILI is $75.00. Please email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have any questions.

ILI FAQs

Who should attend the ILI from my campus? 

IFYC welcomes a diversity of students and educators from various faiths and traditions, majors, and level of involvement with interfaith cooperation.

The training 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.

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 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: Closed captioning will be available in all plenary sessions. Closed captioning, audio description, and other services will be made available for individuals upon request within registration.