Leadership: Looking Ahead

According to a Western PA Conference article by CH (CPT) Brittany Wotten, “women currently make up 16% percent of the United States Army; of that percentage, only 6% of all Army chaplains are women. Women, especially clergywomen, are wildly underrepresented in the Military.” These statistics, coupled with my passion for one day serving as a Chaplain and being a religious studies major at the University of South Carolina, have driven me to explore ways to bridge the gap and do my part to help bring awareness and solutions to this problem.  The problem of a significant lack of awareness of Army chaplaincy as a professional career option, especially among college students who are already highly invested in formal religious studies, ethics, and public service. College students who are Religious Studies majors are already frequently thinking about meaning, purpose, counseling, and the role of belief in society, yet most have never heard of Army chaplaincy until long after graduation. 

 

​

ROTC cadets are training for Army leadership positions; they are constantly learning about tactics, values, and discipline; most have never been told that the Army Chaplain Corps is a branch of service in which they could commission. For women, this gap is even greater because many women have not been exposed to the idea that they can be chaplains or have never imagined chaplaincy as an option. This can be due to multiple factors, including their religious practice not promoting service to the Divine, and the country or family tradition has not encouraged that possibility. In sum, the specific issue or need I am aiming to address is the lack of awareness of chaplaincy at the University of South Carolina, specifically in the population of women in the Religious Studies and Army ROTC programs.

 

​

In my Key Insight 3 process, I learned that religious literacy is not only academic or personal knowledge, but also a link to my Graduation with Leadership Distinction pathway of Professional and Civic Engagement. This was reinforced through the RELG 205 course, but also by attending the Religious Freedom Symposium and hearing the context of protecting religious freedoms worldwide from clergy members. The idea that it is crucial to learn about the esoteric (inner belief) and exoteric (outward practice) to build empathy, cultural humility, and moral clarity helped me grasp that these skills are essential and are also among the core competencies of chaplains. Chaplains are religious leaders and provide religious support and spiritual guidance to all soldiers within their unit, regardless of their religious beliefs. Chaplains are truly at the core of leaders to promote and support religious freedoms within the Army. 

 

​

Furthermore, I also came to see that leadership, in this global and diverse context, means having the capacity for ethically informed communication across belief systems, to understand how spiritual identity can aid or harm, include or exclude, depending on how it is approached. So, if I believe that spiritual literacy is an essential part of civic and professional leadership, then I have a responsibility not only to possess those skills but also to help others see where those skills can be used. Chaplaincy is one place where all those skills come together. For example, ethical reasoning, empathy, cultural humility, knowledge of belief systems, civic and professional responsibility. Increasing awareness of chaplaincy is a real and applied way for me to put my Key Insight into practice.

​

​

My initiative is to design and implement an awareness-raising event or series of events during the Spring 2026 semester that will introduce Army chaplaincy as a potential career pathway to students who have religious literacy skills and are already prepared to excel in that career. One dimension of this initiative will be to propose inviting an Army chaplain as a guest speaker at USC during the annual leadership symposium.  I will also contact my two Army chaplains at my local church and ask them if they would be willing to present directly to cadets and Religious Studies majors about chaplaincy. This would help create a personal connection, which can form an actual relational conversation where students in the Religious Studies field can ask questions and hear real examples of other women serving in the Army chaplaincy. Another dimension of this initiative will be to create a one-page informational guide for students with information about qualifications, the endorsement process, educational requirements, and a clear and concise breakdown of what chaplains do day to day. This document can be used by ROTC, by Religious Studies faculty, and by advisors.

​

​

Phase 1 of implementation involves outreach and collaboration. I will meet with my Religious Studies professors and my ROTC cadre to seek support and to reserve space for an informational event. I will also contact the Army chaplains that I know through Grace Life Church and ask them if they are willing and available to serve as guest speakers for this event. I will also reach out to the Army Chaplain recruiting office and ask them to provide a third speaker if needed. I will create a digital announcement and flyer that can be sent to Religious Studies advising and ROTC communication channels.

​

​

Phase 2 is about educational resource development. In this phase, I will write and design the chaplaincy one-page informational guide in a simplified and approachable format that explains eligibility, denominational endorsement, graduate school expectations, and the timeline for commissioning. This will reduce some of the confusion that often discourages students from learning more about this career path. I will also prepare 8–10 panel questions that will focus on gender representation, personal experiences, and the actual impact chaplains have on the care and life of soldiers.

​

​

Phase 3 is the event and engagement. In the Spring 2026 semester, I will host the panel event and present it in an academic building on campus. I will hand out both printed and digital copies of the informational guide. I will facilitate and will also have sign-in sheets and a follow-up interest list where students can indicate if they are interested in further mentorship or a one-on-one meeting with a chaplain recruiter. After the event, I will send out a follow-up message to those who indicate they are interested and connect them with chaplains or chaplain recruiters so that they do not lose momentum.

​

​

This initiative will be evaluated using both quantitative and qualitative means. Quantitatively, I will track the number of attendees, the number of follow-up requests, and the number of students who have scheduled follow-up conversations with chaplains or chaplain recruiters. Qualitatively, I will also collect a brief feedback survey to assess if the students feel that they have gained an awareness of chaplaincy as a career option, if they could personally see themselves in that role, and if they learned something they did not know before the event. My goal for this initiative is to have at least 20 women attend the event, and at least 3–5 students sign up for a follow-up interest meeting. The highest level of success for this initiative would be if at least one woman takes the steps within a year to begin preparing for the chaplaincy preparation process.

​

​

In conclusion, I do believe the problem of awareness about chaplaincy is both solvable and, more importantly, meaningful to me in the sense that it directly connects to what I have learned during this academic term about religion, ethics, and human leadership. The project of increasing awareness of chaplaincy puts my Key Insight 3 into direct action. It is not just about changing my own mind, but rather it is about transforming the classroom knowledge into civic and professional impact. By educating students about chaplaincy, I can open real doors for women who have not considered this calling or who have not known that it was an available path for them. I am also, in this way, contributing to the future generation of leaders by preparing a more ethically informed, spiritually literate professional workforce. This initiative has the potential not only to increase knowledge but to change lives, change career paths, and to change the Army by expanding the possibilities of who imagines themselves serving in this important role.