CPEI Affiliates
Affiliation with CPEI gives eligible organizations a structured way to support clinical pastoral education, supervised practice, student formation, and spiritual care learning in their own setting.
Affiliation Pathway
Organizations that become CPEI affiliates enter into a formal relationship with CPEI to support clinical pastoral education and related learning opportunities. The affiliation process helps clarify mission alignment, educational readiness, organizational responsibilities, and the practical steps needed to support students and faculty.
Affiliation is designed for organizations that are ready to work within CPEI’s standards, curriculum, policies, and educational processes while providing a meaningful local setting for supervised practice, formation, and spiritual care learning.
Affiliation may be a strong fit if your organization wants to support CPEI students, provide a supervised learning context, work with CPEI-approved faculty, and participate in CPEI’s educational mission.
CPEI welcomes conversations with organizations that are committed to ethical spiritual care, student learning, and meaningful supervised practice.
Healthcare organizations interested in supporting chaplaincy education, spiritual care formation, and supervised clinical learning.
Care settings where students may learn spiritual care in the context of illness, grief, family systems, and end-of-life care.
Faith communities and ministry settings that can provide pastoral care opportunities, reflection, formation, and leadership development.
Nonprofits, correctional settings, first responder contexts, and other organizations connected to spiritual care needs.
Affiliate readiness includes mission alignment, organizational structure, local support, and willingness to follow CPEI requirements.
Organization
Affiliate organizations should be established organizations, such as not-for-profit corporations or similar legal entities, with the ability to enter into and maintain an affiliation relationship.
Advisory Support
Affiliates are expected to maintain a pastoral advisory committee or similar advisory structure to support the learning environment, student process, and site-based educational context.
Faculty
CPEI courses must be taught and supervised by CPEI-approved faculty or CPEI supervisory candidates. Faculty contracts are handled directly and individually with CPEI.
Learning Context
Affiliates should be able to support meaningful ministry, clinical, community, or organizational learning opportunities appropriate to CPEI education.
Website
Affiliates are expected to maintain an active website with accurate information and access to CPEI applications and program information.
Transparency
Affiliates must clearly disclose their affiliation with CPEI and use required accreditation language in appropriate website and promotional materials.
Application Process
Contact CPEI to share your organization’s interest, setting, goals, and questions about affiliation.
CPEI and your organization review mission fit, learning context, faculty needs, student support, and practical requirements.
Your organization provides requested information, including legal name, address, primary contact, and other affiliation details.
CPEI and the organization review the memorandum of understanding, including roles, responsibilities, fees, renewal terms, and communication expectations.
Once approved and documented, CPEI and the affiliate identify next steps for implementation, contacts, website information, faculty coordination, and student support.
CPEI provides the institutional framework, educational structure, and support systems that make affiliation possible.
CPEI establishes the standards, competencies, curriculum, policies, and processes used by students, faculty, and affiliate organizations.
CPEI maintains processes for student application, enrollment, tuition, payments, records, transcripts, and certificates.
CPEI approves qualified faculty and supervisory candidates to teach and supervise CPEI courses connected to the affiliate organization.
CPEI monitors and audits courses to support compliance with CPEI policies, accrediting expectations, grading, evaluations, required student submissions, and course closeout.
CPEI provides access to current manuals, handbooks, policies, and other educational documents as they are updated.
CPEI provides affiliate organizations with a certificate of affiliation once the relationship is approved and established.
Affiliates provide the local setting, cooperation, communication, and support needed for students and faculty to work within CPEI’s educational framework.
The affiliate supports an appropriate learning context for students participating in CPEI programs.
The affiliate agrees to use CPEI curriculum, standards, learning objectives, outcomes, competencies, policies, and processes.
Only students enrolled in CPEI programs may participate in CPEI course groups connected to the affiliate.
The affiliate agrees that CPEI courses are taught and supervised only by CPEI credentialed faculty or approved CPEI supervisory candidates.
The affiliate maintains a pastoral advisory committee or similar structure appropriate to its setting.
The affiliate contacts CPEI promptly if faculty affiliation changes, a faculty member becomes unable to continue supervising a course, or concerns arise that affect students or the learning environment.
Public Representation
Affiliate organizations should represent their relationship with CPEI clearly and accurately. Affiliates are expected to maintain an active website with information and access to CPEI applications and program information.
Affiliate organizations must disclose their affiliation with CPEI on websites and promotional materials.
Affiliate organizations are strongly encouraged to use CPEI’s logo on their websites and promotional materials, when appropriate.
Affiliates must include CPEI’s required accreditation statement in appropriate materials:
“CPEI is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), which is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a recognized accrediting agency and recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).”
Important to Know
Affiliation allows CPEI courses and curriculum to be available to students associated with the affiliate organization. It does not transfer CPEI’s academic responsibilities to the affiliate, and it does not transfer the affiliate’s internal operational responsibilities to CPEI.
CPEI maintains authority over its curriculum, standards, student enrollment, course requirements, faculty approval, educational records, and program processes.
Affiliates remain responsible for their own organizational policies, local operations, internal decisions, site requirements, and local points of contact.
Contact CPEI to discuss whether affiliation is the right next step for your organization.