Pacific School of Religion

A Welcome from the Assistant Dean of Students & Community Life

Welcome to the Office of Community Life! My role as the Assistant Dean of Students involves mentoring students through the process of their educational journey, including the major milestones of their degree programs, providing oversight of pastoral services for PSR students, assisting faculty and student organizations in developing a shared vision and practice of student formation. I provide immediate pastoral care for the PSR community in emergency situations when the Pastoral Care Team and the Campus Care Network are not available.

For more information, drop by Community Life offices on the second floor of Holbrook Hall. OCL has an open-door policy, and plenty of resources to ensure your time at seminary is rich and rewarding.

Contact Office of Community Life

Donnel Miller-Mutia
Assistant Dean of Students & Community Life
Phone: 510/849-8257
Fax: 510/845-8948 (Please include "Attn: Community Life")
E-mail: dmiller-mutia@psr.edu  
207 Holbrook Hall

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OCL Mission

PSR is a diverse community reflecting regional, national, and international interests and perspectives. The cultural diversity of PSR provides a very rare opportunity for students to engage difference as a gift: as a spiritual practice. Conscious engagement of cultural differences head on allows students to grow emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. Thus time spent at PSR is an occasion for the kind of personal and spiritual growth that happens in a vibrant working and learning community. The Office of Community Life (OCL) is designed to provide support and nurture students as they adjust to this new phase of life.

A significant aspect of OCL’s mission is to provide students the learning opportunity to make conscious connections between what they learn in classroom settings with the non-academic aspect of campus life, in particular, the relationships that they build outside the classroom and the gifts that they offer to the PSR community. Conscious awareness of interconnections between classroom learning and relationships on campus provides rich soil for spiritual growth and learning. It allows students to intentionally integrate theory and praxis in the moment.

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OCL Ministries 

Community Life provides space for relationship building and networks of support in various ways:

Oganize Community-building Events

We host events to provide the PSR community an opportunity to fellowship: 1st Thursdays (first Thursday of each month), Community Life Open Houses (twice per semester), Christmas Dinner, and Eschatos: end of the school year party. While OCL hosts many events, the majority of the community building events and activities that happen in the PSR campus are student-led. Interested in organing a support or interest group on campus? (Click here for more info on the nuts and bolts of building community at PSR). Check the PSR weekly calendar for student-led events and activities. Click here for a list of student groups on campus.

Circles of Care

Through the "circles of care," the OCL provides networks of support for the PSR community in four ways: (a) pastoral care through the Pastoral Care Team, (b) peer listening through the Campus Care Network, (c) vocational discernment through the Assistant Dean of Students, and (d) outside resources of support—a list of counseling centers, and a list of spiritual directors, counselors and therapists for students.

Workshop: Engaging Difference As Spiritual Practice

The OCL provides a three part workshop each semester that provides students practical tools and frameworks so they can do well the work of building community on campus: Part 1—Practical tools for small group facilitation; Part 2—Integration of academic learning (critical or systemic analysis) and the action-reflection learning process; Part 3—Active listening & tools for nonviolent and non-defensive communication.

PSR Weekly Calendar: A Networking Tool

The weekly calendar keeps students informed about events on campus and off. Students may publicize their activities and events by posting them into the PSR website’s internal networking tool called “satchel”.

Orientations and Commencement

We organize the orientations in the beginning of the fall and spring semester, and the commencement ceremony in the end of the school year.

Partnership with CAPSR Council (Community Association of PSR)

The OCL works closely with the CAPSR council in building community and advocating for student needs and concerns on campus.

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PSR STUDENT HANDBOOK

The PSR Student Handbook is available as an attachment below. If you need a hard copy, please contact the Office of Community Life.