Academy for Vocational Leadership
Applications Open for Academic Year 2024-25
Postulants ready to begin formation for Holy Orders and lay people seeking intensive theological learning may now apply to join the Academy for Vocational Leadership for the 2024-2025 academic year.
The Academy for Vocational Leadership is our three-year, bi-diocesan program of preparation for Holy Orders. Originally founded in its current iteration in 2015, the Academy is one of over 34 diocesan schools in The Episcopal Church forming leaders as part of the Iona Collaborative of the Seminary of the Southwest (SSW) in Austin, TX. All academic classes are developed and taught remotely by SSW professors with support from local faculty. Additional practical classes are taught by local practitioners and experts.
Please complete the application paperwork below and return it by July 15, 2024. Once we receive and review your application, you will receive the “Summer Reading” homework along with instructions for completion.
Please note that participation in this program will require a comfortability with technology. Upon admission to the Academy, you will receive a log-in ID for the Iona Collaborative so you can complete your homework prior to each Academy weekend. You will be required to submit papers throughout the year and the ability to use a word processor will be essential. Additionally, several weekends will gather over Zoom.
Questions? Please contact the Rev. Canon Tracie Little, Canon for the Southern Collaborative and Adult Formation, at 810-300-9177 or tlittle@eastmich.org or tlittle@edwm.org.
SCHEDULE & LOCATIONS
All in-person weekends begin with dinner on Friday evening at 5:30pm and conclude by 3pm on Sunday afternoon.
August 9-13
Opening Retreat, St. Francis Center
September 6-8
St. Francis Retreat Center
October 11-13
Zoom
November 1-3
St. Francis Retreat Center
December 6-8
St. Francis Retreat Center
January 10-12
Zoom
February 14-16
Zoom
March 21-23
St. Francis Retreat Center
April 25-27
Zoom
May 16-18
St. Francis Retreat Center
June 20-22
St. Francis Retreat Center
LOCATION FOR IN-PERSON SESSIONS
St. Francis Retreat Center
703 E. Main Street
Dewitt, MI 48820
www.stfrancis.ws
PAYMENT & APPLICATION
Tuition for the Academy is $4,300 per year, with one half due by November 1st and the remaining due by April 1, 2025. Tuition includes class materials as well as housing and meals at the retreat center. Text books will be an extra expense.
For inquiries about diocesan scholarship funds, please contact Canon Tracie Little at either tlittle@eastmich.org or tlittle@edwm.org.
The application deadline is July 15, 2024.
