Of Many Institute for Multifaith Leadership
The Of Many Institute for Multifaith Leadership is a pioneering initiative devoted to educating and inspiring religious and spiritual leaders to utilize multifaith dialogue and service as a force for positive social change. Started in 2012 by Chelsea Clinton, Khalid Latif, Linda Mills, and Yehuda Sarna, The Of Many Institute is home to all multifaith resources and programs on campus.
In addition to regular programming and events, Of Many offers nationally-recognized educational tools such as Faith Zone trainings, Deep Dialogue trainings to foster conversation on complex socio-religious issues, and the first academic minor of it's kind sponsored by NYU Silver and NYU Wagner. The Of Many Institute also houses the Multifaith Advisory Council, a diverse, interfaith student organization dedicated to multifaith work at NYU.
Co-Founders
Chelsea Clinton
Author and Global Health Advocate
Leadership Team
Dr. Linda Mills
Vice Chancellor & President-Designate
Melissa Carter
Senior Director of Global Spiritual Life
Khalid Latif
Executive Director of The Islamic Center
Chelsea Garbell
Associate Director of Global Spiritual Life
Yehuda Sarna
Executive Director of The Bronfman Center
Educational Opportunities
Mission
The Of Many Institute concentrates on cultivating cross-cultural leadership experiences, with a focus on students who seek to develop a multifaith space that ensures harmonious relationships on campus. Students engaged in this multifaith effort have been inspired by NYU's chaplains, faculty, and staff, who together lead a movement across faiths that makes NYU unique among universities today. Activities include service learning trips, training sessions, and workshops on campus. NYU students created a Multifaith Student Advisory Council that supports Of Many's co-curricular events and student-initiated dialogues, such as Shabbat-Jummah Prayer, yearly conferences, and more.
Our Principles for Multifaith Engagement
- Reflect diversity, accounting for the complex and intersectional identities of our constituents.
- Rooted in face-to-face encounters and deep relationship-building within and between communities and/or individuals.
- Committed to social transformation and civic engagement (i.e. multifaith issue-based solutions to social problems such as poverty, prison industrial complex, human trafficking).
- Focused on introspection and meaning-making as a way of understanding spirituality.
- Inclusive of and attentive to personal narratives through intentional storytelling pedagogy, not just representative of religious creed.
- Supportive of the integration of the whole student experience throughout their academic and co-curricular development.
- Supportive of coursework that promotes multifaith leadership.