Colgate Advances Plans to Strengthen Religious Life on Campus

Colgate University is creating an even more robust religious life program that will continue to support the full scope of spiritual expression on campus.

The effort will be led by a new Dean of Memorial Chapel - who will also direct either Protestant or Jewish life - and will be advanced by a team of chaplains. These include longtime Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister Mark Shiner, Campus Imam Ahmet Celik, and a new director of Jewish or Protestant life, depending on the outcome of the search for a dean.

Under Colgate's new structure, the Memorial Chapel dean and staff will report directly to President Brian W. Casey, and programming will be resourced directly through the Office of the President.

"Religious life is a vital part of the Colgate experience for many of our students," says Casey. "I look forward to working with the dean of Memorial Chapel and all of our chaplains to find new ways to deepen the University's commitment to interfaith understanding and appreciation."

These and other changes to religious life at Colgate were prompted in part by a recent external review, conducted by representatives from Yale, Williams, Vanderbilt, Hamilton College, and Syracuse University. The review highlighted opportunities for Colgate to build on strong and diverse religious life traditions. In particular, peers recommended moving away from rotating leadership toward a permanent Memorial Chapel dean - in the style of Coleman Brown, whom alumni will remember as a mainstay of religious life at Colgate during his 15-year tenure as university chaplain.

The new dean will address feedback from both reviewers and current students, who identified a need for greater service to the entire Colgate community - not just students - as well as more sustained interfaith initiatives and collaboration. With support from the president's office, the dean and chaplains will also explore the differences and the connections between Memorial Chapel, the Office of the Chaplains, and Chapel House. The new director of Jewish life will lead a reinvigoration of programming at the Saperstein Jewish Center.

"The work Colgate does to support students' spiritual and religious journeys, including multifaith understanding, is integral to preparing students for the diverse world following graduation," says Paul McLoughlin II, vice president and dean of the college. "The changes we are making now, and will make this summer, will position us to more fully leverage the learning and connection students make while they're at Colgate."

The search for a new dean of Memorial Chapel is led by executive search firm Isaacson Miller. All positions should be filled by the beginning of the fall 2026 semester.