On October 8^th and 9^th, the Kaufman Interfaith Institute hosted Eboo Patel, Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His visit included two lectures – one at Aquinas College and one at Grand Valley State University. Both were packed houses, filled with both campus and community members. Eboo’s sessions spoke to the importance of interfaith leadership in our increasingly diverse communities, and he provided personal insights on everything from his experiences as a Muslim to Pope Francis’ recent US visit. During his visit he met with student leaders, Aquinas and GVSU Presidents, and staff and faculty from both of the institutions. Themes of those conversations included not only interfaith leadership development, but also inclusion, intersectionality, and rooting interfaith engagement in our college & university missions.

Eboo highlighted not only Interfaith Youth Core as the national leader in interfaith cooperation, but also the Kaufman Interfaith Institute’s efforts in promoting this work in our own West Michigan context. He pointed to the Kaufman Institute, as well as Director Doug Kindschi and Program Manager Katie Gordon, as resources for not only GVSU, but all area colleges & universities interested in this conversation.