END OF THE YEAR PARTY! FRIDAY!

Hi everyone!

I'm just writing to remind you that this year's end of the year party is THIS FRIDAY (May 11) starting at 5:30pm! The theme is "Margaritaville" and it should be a blast!

So take some time on Friday evening to relax, take a break from your finals, and CELEBRATE the end of another great year!

Sincerely,
Elissa McCormack
ASDSPT President

ASDSPT Elections!

Dear Students,

Well, we have a fine slate of candidates who have accepted their nominations to next year's Student Council. There is a poster with the nominee's pictures in the DSPT Galleria. In your mailboxes downstairs in the Reception Area, you will find ballots on which to vote your selections.

Please vote only once and deposit your completed ballot in the box beneath the nominee poster in the Galleria. Voting continues until 5pm Thursday, May 10th. The new 2007-2008 Student Council will be announced at the End-of-Year Party on Friday, May 11th at 5:30pm.

Sincerely,
Dawn Sample
ASDSPT Secretary

SWJ event next week - from Alex Carpenter

Come and celebrate the progress Seminarians for Worker Justice and GTU member schools have made over the past couple of years in elevating the wages of our workers.

Come and hear more about efforts to adopt a living wage policy that will cover all workers at all GTU schools.

When: May 3rd, 2007, 1:10 p.m.—2:00 p.m.
Where: 1798 Scenic Avenue—on the Quad (yard area) of the Pacific School of Religion
What: A Liturgy of Celebration and a Call to Continue Working for Worker Justice

ASDSPT Elections!

Dear Students,

Yes, it's that time of year again... time to begin to think about who you want to represent you next year on the Student Council!

Have you been thinking that you would be interested in getting involved in the Council? Or do you know another student who you think will make a great student representative? Then please nominate yourself or someone else for an Associated Students Council position!

* The nomination process will continue from Monday, April 23, 2006 until Monday, April 30, 2006 at NOON.

* Nominations must be accepted by Monday, April 30th at 5pm.

* Elections will be held from Friday, May 4 until Thursday, May 10 at 5pm.

Students who have been nominated are asked to complete and sign the nomination form (attached to the email sent on Monday or found at Eleanor's desk) indicating their official acceptance of their nomination. The nomination forms also contain a description of the responsibilities of the individual offices. Nomination forms accepting your nomination should be placed in the mailbox of Dawn Sample or emailed to the council at asdspt@dspt.edu by 5pm on April 30th.

If you have any questions about the Council positions, feel free to ask any of the current members of the Council or email your questions to asdspt@dspt.edu.

Sincerely,
Elissa McCormack
ASDSPT President

Academic Group Workshop

The DSPT-Sponsored GTU Academic Group Presents

Presenting at Conferences:
A Brief Introduction

- Curious about how to go about writing a good conference proposal and presentation?
- Want to build up your CV before you apply to PhD programs?
- Interested in finding out where to present your work?

Then come join us for a short workshop on conference presentations!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

7:30pm – General introduction to presenting at conferences by Regina Schwerd (veteran conference presenter)
8:00pm – Break to socialize and meet other students
8:15pm – Opportunity to hear practice conference presentations of other GTU students

(Feel free to come for only the introduction or only the practice papers—whatever your schedule allows!)

Location: DSPT Classroom 3
2301 Vine Street (on the corner of Arch & Vine)

Academic Group & Pastry Thursday

Dear fellow students,

I am writing this brief email to let you know about two items of interest.

First, we have officially started the new online Academic Group!

The DSPT is host to a GTU-wide group for M.A. students who are interested in pursuing a PhD. The group was created to open up a discussion space for students who had questions about what to do to increase their chances of getting into a good PhD program. It is primarily based online, but also hosts social events and informational events, like the PhD Admissions Panel, during the year.
http://groups.google.com/group/gtu-academic-group

If you are at all interested, or just curious what it's all about, please join! I believe that this can be a good resource for students, especially once some of us actually begin the application process. If you've already joined and listed your preference to not receive email, check out the new items that have been posted!

Second, please take a moment to see if you would be able to bring something for a pastry Thursday this semester. Remember, you are only spending $35--which will be reimbursed by the Council! If you've been enjoying the pastries that have been brought in by other students, maybe you would consider signing up for a week to bring some yourself!

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Elissa McCormack
ASDSPT President

PhD Admissions Panel Hosted by DSPT

On Tuesday, February 6, the newly-formed DSPT Academic Group hosted a GTU-wide PhD Admissions Panel. The panel consisted of Joseph Duggan, Associate Dean of the Graduate Division for Degrees, Admissions, and Appointments at UC-Berkeley, Kathleen Kook, Assistant Dean for Admissions at the GTU, and John Campbell, Professor of Philosophy at UC-Berkeley. The panel opened with an introduction by Elissa McCormack, ASDSPT President, followed by short talks by each of the panel participants and ending with time for questions.

(Read more...)

GTU Beatitudes Society

Greetings DSPT folks,

The GTU Beatitudes Society is hosting a stellar guest.

Thursday, Feb 8, 6:30, Mudd 103 _______________________________________________________

Sara Miles is a left-wing journalist, cook and activist, a blue-state lesbian raised as an atheist, who lived an enthusiastically secular life--until she wandered into a San Francisco church, ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine, and found herself radically transformed by her first communion.

Her new book Take This Bread--A Radical Conversion is the story of her journey to faith, and of her decision to take Jesus' call to feed others literally, by organizing food pantries run by poor people. Phyllis Tickle calls this book "the finest confession of faith I've read in years....an astute assessment of the present intertwining of politics and Christianity in American culture." And our Anne Howard says: "this is the BEST description of Christianity, and the most HONEST description of church life, that I've ever read."

Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Out, The Progressive, La Jornada and Salon, among others. She has written extensively on military affairs, politics and culture. She is the founder of St. Gregory's Food Pantry in SF. _______________________________________________________

And if that's not enough to convince you to blow off everything else, check out her short sermon on the radical Gospel about gay marriage and little children.

http://www.saintgregorys.org/Liturgy/Sermons/AudioFile/061008-1030-miles.mp3

She is also blogging for the Beatitudes Society and is keen to get to know us at the GTU.

Everyone is welcome. Feel free to bring any friends and lovers, there will be enough pizza and wine and conversation for all. If you need transport, let me know.

If you want to know more about the Beatitudes Society and its paid fellowship program for GTU students, that's a good reason to come as well.

Pax,
Alexander

Adoration for the Spring Semester

Dear Students,

With our school and new chapel, the DSPT is again able to have Adoration of the most holy Eucharist during the day, now for Spring term. We would like to offer this to as many students, for as many hours as possible during the week. We are currently looking at any hours between 8am – 5pm

The only requirement would be a regular weekly time commitment by individual students, with a minimum commitment of 30 minutes.

If you would be interested in committing to a specific time, please reply to asdspt@dspt.edu. Include days/times you would be available (or, if you prefer, days/times you would be unavailable). This is NOT a commitment at this point, until we and you agree to a specific time (or times) and date (or dates).

If you would be interested in learning more about this devotion, please reply to asdspt@dspt.edu, either with specific questions or with a general statement of your interest.

The Adoration schedule will be organized by Ed Hopfner. THANK YOU for your interest and participation. We hope to begin Adoration at our new chapel in the next week or so.

Sincerely,
Elissa McCormack
ASDSPT President

DSPT Academic Group's PhD Admissions Panel

Considering a PhD?
Curious about what options exist for you?
Questions about the admissions process?
Interested in getting an insiders view on how to present yourself in your application?

Come to the DSPT Academic Group-sponsored
PhD Admissions Panel
on Tuesday, February 6
at 7pm
in DSPT Classroom 1

Panel participants are:
· Joseph Duggan, Associate Dean of the Graduate Division for Degrees, Admissions, and Appointments at the University of California, Berkeley
· Kathleen Kook, Assistant Dean for Admissions at the Graduate Theological UnionJohn Campbell, Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley
· John Campbell, Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley

Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
2301 Vine Street Berkeley, California 94709

For questions or more information please contact
Elissa McCormack, elissamccormack@gmail.com or asdspt@dspt.edu