The Role and Relevance of the Historically Black College and University Chaplai

The context of this research investigates the role and relevance of five Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) chaplains. The five interviews share specific ways chaplains can be relevant to the modem culture and also incorporate into their pedagogical strategies personal and professional practices. The dissertation uncovers some of the specific strategies and the merits or demerits of alternative practices. The five HBCU chaplains interviewed represent a diversity of HBCUs. Their interviews help to determine how the chaplains view their role and how they sustain the spiritual needs of the academic community and also themselves based on the following four questions:;1. If the traditional roles within the university no longer define our jobs then what are the contributions of chaplains now and in the future? 2. Are chaplains' main roles to care for the lost, emotionally fragile or crisis-bound students or to shepherd a diverse campus? 3. How do chaplains sustain and deepen their own religious and spiritual commitments while caring for the diverse religious and spiritual needs of the academic community? 4. As mentors, how do chaplains support and challenge the next generations of global leaders?;The research shares personal reflections about programming for faith development, and the shape of the archetypal quest for an authentic spirituality---the project proceeds to an analysis of the reflections of the five different chaplains. In shaping the experience of the students, the chaplain can serve as an enabler of a quality education. The chaplain can create a mentoring campus community that can inspire students' search and hopefully answer questions of meaning, purpose, and values.;The research also offers a conclusion about the chaplain's unique role in realizing the HBCU mission in the context of the volatile history of African Americans in relation to the United States. It also concludes with examples of emerging paradigms of higher education ministry that places a high value on diversity and pluralism on college campuses following the civil rights movements at the outset of the twenty-first century.