Colloquium is central to the purpose of the ISM and to the faculty’s involvement in—and personal attention to—how ISM students are trained. It is the meeting ground for students and faculty, the place where we study together, grapple with major issues, and share our work as students of sacred music, worship, and the arts.
Colloquium
2024-2025 Colloquium Schedule
View the schedule here
Students in class
One of the primary tenets of the ISM’s mission is to bring together in conversation the broad fields of arts and religion. To this end, ISM students from the two partner schools of Music and Divinity collaborate on a presentation to be given in their final year. In their penultimate year, student pairings are made and as a team they develop a topic and thesis to which they both can contribute significantly and collaborate equally. This process is advised and monitored by ISM faculty, and at the end of the year, they award the Director’s Prize for the best student presentation.
Course Details
The ISM colloquium is a required course taken for credit that meets every Wednesday from 3:30-5 p.m. with more opportunity for informal discussion at a social hour from 5-5:30 p.m.
Student presentations will be graded on the following system: pass with distinction, pass, pass with reservation, or fail. Faculty members will grade your presentation and submit one or two remarks. The director will collate all the information, adjudicate the grade, and convey the faculty comments to the students. Students whose presentations do not pass will not receive credit for the semester of colloquium in which they presented; therefore they will not receive the ISM certificate.
All sessions meet in the Great Hall (N100) in the Sterling Divinity Quad, unless otherwise noted.
Attendance Policy: All ISM students are required to attend and participate fully in the weekly colloquium to receive credit each semester. Absences must be excused by the director ahead of time and no credit will be given for more than one unexcused absence per semester. Absences due to observances of a religious holiday will be excused. There are no limits on this type of absence other than that they must first be excused by the director.
Our Partners
The ISM partners with the Yale School of Music and Yale Divinity School