  Bruce
Coriell arrives at Shove Chapel early each morning, but that's
the last predictable moment of his day. He facilitates faith-based
student groups and fosters the life of the spirit at CC. He
works on community connections and civic engagement. He accompanies
students, staff, and faculty through major life transitions
and crises. Did we mention that he teaches several blocks
each year?
What's it like being a chaplain
at a small liberal arts college?
The human scale opens the possibility of community and the
opportunity to know and love people in the fullness of their
lives. My fondness for this place grows deeper every year.
Helping other people toward spiritual health and happiness
is your job.
To whom do you go for the same
thing?
I throw some gear into my bag and go for a walk. Four days
usually does the trick. When I need the healing presence of
people, I gather family and friends and raft down a river.
I have rarely been as happy or healthy as I was after 18 days
on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon — talk
about emergence myths! Whoops — I forgot to answer the
question — my healer is Ellie Coriell (my partner).
It's nice to have a professional therapist "on retainer."
You recently returned from a
sabbatical that took you to Southeast Asia and Australia.
What did you find on that trip that you least expected?
It's more what I lost than what I found. Along the way, I
lost my attachment to my roles, my identity as chaplain, and
my need to fix the universe. A new freedom seems to have followed
me home... wow, that sounded way too spiritual for me.
Rumor has it you ran into some
CC folks along the way.
A CC parent pointed me to his spiritual teacher in a small
village in Thailand. Former CC President Kathryn Mohrman met
us in Chiang Mai (where she introduced us to incredible friends
who hosted us for a week), we stayed on and off with parents
of a CC alumna for three months in Australia, and we bumped
into Kathryn Mohrman again with several thousand of our closest
friends, waiting in line at Ho Chi Minhıs Mausoleum in Hanoi.
What is your favorite CC class
to teach?
I love interweaving experiential opportunities with classic
academic texts to foster learning communities in which students
can explore deep human concerns. "Wilderness & Spirit"
in Alaska is my longtime favorite, "Shamanism" is
gaining on me, and the international course "Listening
to Country: Learning in Aboriginal Australia" is on its
way this summer.
What an extraordinary gift to
teach under the Block Plan at CC. What two or three classes
at CC would you most like to take?
Impossible! I won't choose. It's no wonder some students stay
for five years. Having learned to scuba dive in the Great
Barrier Reef last winter, Iım planning on putting all 80 points
on Marine Biology in Belize for next January.
We, the staff of The Bulletin,
are going to kidnap you and strand you on an island. You may
take one book, one movie, and one major celebrity. What/whoıs
it going to be?
"Tao Te Ching," "Monty Python and the Holy
Grail," John Cleese/Eric Idle. Do I get two since they
are not "major" celebrities? We can say things like
"run away, run away" and burst into laughter.
- Peter Rice '05
Georgianne Preskar
Rollman '73
Gabriele Prochaska '86 & Scott Desmarais
'86
Kate Vorhees '96
Scott McLeod '71
Alyssa Leibold '04
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