Despite then polarization and generalized anger of the 2020s, Sherry Turner believes the Hartford International University for Religion & Peace can thrive in its mission of building acceptance in a multi-faith world.
“One of the things that’s unique about our work is that we specialize in bringing people together across various kinds of difference, whether it’s your background, your ideology, your political leaning or religion,” Turner said.
“Our current political and cultural context speaks to the need for a place like HIU. We create a community where people are able to get to know one another, understand one another and dialogue in a context where it remains easier to remain at the table and just talk,” she said.
Turner this summer took the helm of the university, which has been in operation under various names since 1834. Her task is to strengthen an ambitious lineup of missions for the university, which has expanded well beyond its original role as a training center for prospective pastors.
Known for decades as the Hartford Seminary, the school in the city’s West End took on the name Hartford International University for Religion and Peace in 2021 to reflect the diversity of its mission.
The school maintains a master’s program in chaplaincy, still its most popular offering. It now also offers a master’s in Islamic chaplaincy, a master’s in peace-building, a graduate certificate in eco-spirituality, a docotoral program in interreligious studies and more.
Turner, the first African American to serve as the school’s president and only the third woman, told The Courant that she is intensely aware of the sharpened political and religious discord around the world, but sees that as an opportunity for her school to even better serve its mission.
Hartford International University for Religion & Peace in Hartford’s West End. (Don Stacom/The Hartford Courant)
“We really focus on building bonds of connection across difference. If you think about the decisions being made by our political leaders, we’d be able to get so much further if we were able to talk and understand rather than fighting for our various agendas and pushing our various causes,” Turner said.
During a nearly hour-long conversation, Turner pointedly avoided discussing political or theological issues themselves, but instead focused on how so many people now automatically rise to anger or at least defensiveness when they do that.
The school draws students from other countries with vastly varying religious, cultural and financial backgrounds, and brings them together on its Hartford campus for in-depth discussions — with the heaviest emphasis on trying to comprehend other people’s viewpoints rather than dismiss them.
“This is a community where people can share and really learn from the other without attacking,” she said. “This kind of education is very important and one we need to model more broadly.
“One of the things we do is encourage people to tell and own their story. I come to you and say ‘You have some very interesting perspective that I’ve never heard before. Can you tell me why this issue is important to you and how you came to understand it from that perspective?,” she said.
The key is to avoid contradictions and debates.
President Sherry Peters in her office at the Hartford International University for Religion & Peace. (Don Stacom/The Hartford Courant)
“I’m not challenging you, I’m not forcing my opinion on you. I’m coming to you with an earnest desire to understand your perspective,” Turner said. “We begin by enabling people with a safe space to tell their stories and why the things they believe are important to them. The second thing we do is to encourage curiosity.”
When the school announced its new name and logo four years ago, Board of Trustees Chair Clare Feldman agreed that the mission is more important than ever.
“We are an island of peace, reason, and calm in a world that has too much vitriol, anger, and frustration,” Feldman said. “Some of that — much of that — is fueled by misunderstanding, ignorance, and lack of personal interaction with people unlike ourselves. And that is what we hope to change.”
In addition to her leadership position, Turner will be a professor of psychology and practice. She grew up in Memphis in the Baptist church, and most recently served as vice president of strategic initiatives at Rhodes College in Memphis. She also has been vice president for student affairs at Spellman College in Atlanta and executive director of the Atlanta University Center Consortium, and previously lived in New England while teaching at Mount Holyoke College from 1990 to 2002.
