Womanist Leadership Institute Online Courses

The Womanist Leadership Institute online course program is co-sponsored by The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership and the Leadership Institute of Union Presbyterian Seminary. This program is a series of online courses to promote and support Womanist scholarship and leadership within a continuing education and lifelong learning environment.

Program Information:

  • To complete the program, participants will successfully complete three (3) core courses, and three (3) elective courses. The program is ongoing, with electives varying year to year, allowing participants to complete the requirements within an extended period as needed. Starting in Fall 2025, the Womanist Leadership Institute will offer the three core courses and two electives per academic year.
  • Courses are open to all, and no application is necessary. Interested participants will simply register for the courses, and participants may engage the courses without pursuing the program in its entirety. Each course will be capped at thirty (30) participants. When a course capacity is reached, a waiting list will be started.

CEUs: 3.0 CEUs (Continuing Education Units) will be awarded to those participants who complete the courses; however, no course grades or degree credits will be provided.

Online Course Format:  Weekly class meetings via Zoom Technology, along with assignments posted on Blackboard, the seminary’s learning management system (login credentials provided).

Cost:

  • Our Womanist Leadership Institute Online Courses cost $170 per course for regular registration, plus 1-2 required texts. Regular registration ends two weeks before the course begins.
  • Late registration is available up until two business days before the course begins and includes a $10 late registration fee. Participants are able to cancel their registration any time prior to the start of the course for a refund, less a $25 cancellation fee. To register late, please contact Deborah Keyes, subject line “WLI: Late Registration”
  • UPSem students, faculty, and staff are eligible for free participation. If you are UPSem faculty/staff/student, please use this link for registration.
  • If you are in need of financial aid, please contact Deborah Keyes, subject line “WLI Registration: financial aid”

The three core courses for the program include:

Womanist Theology: A Primer

Models of Womanist Leadership

Womanist Biblical Interpretation

Electives will vary year to year.

2024-2025 online courses offered:

Embracing the Womanist Tradition: Spiritual Formation, Companionship and Soul Work (Elective Course) – Registration closed.

Models of Womanist Leadership (Core Course) – Registration closed.

Womanist Preaching (Elective Course) – Registration closed.

Womanist Biblical Interpretation (Core Course) – Registration closed.

Book Club: Up Against a Crooked Gospel: Black Women’s Bodies and the Politics of Redemption by Melanie Jones Quarles – June 3 – 24, 2025 – More information and registration here.

2025-2026 online course offerings:

Dates and registration coming soon

 

2023-2024 online courses offered:

  • Reproductive Justice (elective)
  • Introduction to Africana Religions (elective)
  • Womanist Theology: A Primer (core)
  • Global Womanisms and Perspectives: Inventing Women and Subverting Gender in the African Sphere (elective)

2022-2023 online courses offered:

  • This Womanist Work: Models of Womanist Leadership (core)
  • Womanist Ways of Worship (elective)
  • Womanist Biblical Interpretation (core)
  • Black Women’s Mental Health as Resistance (elective)

2021-2022 online courses offered:

  • Womanist Theology: A Primer (core)
  • Womanist Activism and Public Witness (elective)
  • Proto-Womanist Thought (elective)
  • Womanist Social Ethics (elective)