Professional Formation Curriculum - Introduction

The Office of Professional Formation (OPF) provides holistic preparation for leadership through praxis within Internship and CPE. The purpose of the professional formation curriculum is to cultivate the habits and practices for critical reflection, skills development, and the capacity to work across diversity and difference towards social justice and peace.

Students in the Master of Divinity (MDiv) and Master of Arts in Social Justice and Ethics (MASJE) are required to complete the Internship per degree program requirements. Students in the Master of Arts in Pastoral and Spiritual Care (MAPSC) are required to complete one unit of ACPE-approved Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) per degree program requirements. 

The Professional Formation section of the Student Handbook provides a policy overview. Additional details, resources, forms, and deadlines can be found on the Professional Formation Canvas website: https://iliff.instructure.com/courses/1546618.

Professional formation requirement policies for students pursuing specific dual degrees, either concurrently or consecutively (within two years):

Generally, students must adhere to and complete the professional formation requirements for each particular degree program (e.g., Internship for MDiv and CPE for MAPSC), except in the following cases:

• MDiv / MSW: For students pursuing this dual degree option, completion of the Internship required through DU's master of social work program fulfills the professional formation requirement for Iliff's Master of Divinity degree. No additional Internship is required.
• MDiv / MASJE: Since an Internship is the professional formation requirement for both the MDiv and the MASJE, students must complete Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) for one of the degrees in order to avoid replication of the Internship and Internship Seminar experience at Iliff. For example, if a student has completed Internship for the MDiv requirement, they must apply and be accepted to an ACPE-accredited CPE unit for the MASJE requirement. Because the format and focus of CPE units are quite varied, students can apply to units with community-based sites, some of which students themselves can choose. Many online CPE units offer such options.