Ivy League of her own: Sharon Kugler is what no Catholic--nor woman--has been before: Yale University's chaplain.

The adjectives "first" and "woman" have preceded a number of prominent occupations over the past decades, though a few titles remain beyond a seemingly shatterproof glass ceiling. But not the position of university chaplain at Yale University. When Sharon Kugler was named the university's chaplain last year, she was not only the first woman but also the first layperson and the first Catholic to lead the spiritual community at the Ivy League school.

THREE-POINTER: This trifecta of firsts was widely applauded at the historically Protestant university. For the 80 years that Yale has officially named chaplains, the role has been filled by male, ordained Protestant ministers.

A few alumni raised eyebrows when a separate Protestant minister had to be named pastor of the university's Battell Chapel. But a separate priest and rabbi also serve the university's Catholic and Jewish communities.

"I'm not the Catholic chaplain," Kugler says. "I'm the chaplain who is Catholic."

As such, she serves students of all faiths, and it was her reputation for creative interreligious ministry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore that made her the lead candidate for the position, according to Yale President Richard C. Levin. At the announcement of her hiring, he noted that "religious life at Yale is poised to become even richer than it traditionally has been, uniting many across boundaries that have often divided people of good will."

GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY: As an undergraduate student at Santa Clara University in California, Kugler was involved in campus ministry but never imagined herself working in the field. "I didn't think ministry was something laypeople could do as a career," she says.

It wasn't that unrealistic of a concern. When she was named chaplain at Johns Hopkins in 1993, she was the first layperson in the United States to hold such a position. During her 14 years there, she launched an interfaith and community service center, where students from 25 religious groups come together for worship and service. She also helped found AIDS Interfaith Residential Services, Baltimore's first residential program for adults living in the last stages of AIDS.

Kugler has felt called to help others since she was the age of the students she now serves. After her own graduation, she joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, working as a counselor in a domestic violence shelter and doing patient advocacy at a legal clinic in Cleveland. Interested in women's issues, particularly domestic violence and rape, she considered law school.

Then Santa Clara University asked her to come work in campus ministry. She's been in higher education ever since.

IVY LEAGUE LIFE: When Kugler arrived at Yale in the fall of 2007, she discovered a vibrant, multifaceted religious community. "Students are very engaged," she says of her charges at Yale. "They're active in service and interested in conversation about how faith informs their work."

While the Ivy League may have a reputation for being more secular than sacred, Kugler sees her job as creating a hospitable space on campus for students to explore their spiritual sides. "It's true that some students may feel uncomfortable talking about faith in the intellectual atmosphere of the classroom," Kugler admits. "That's why a chaplain is so important. My office is a safe place to talk about things of the heart and spirit."

As at Johns Hopkins, much of her work at Yale University focuses on bringing together students of different faith backgrounds to form relationships that move beyond tolerance to deep appreciation for one another's differences. "The college campus is the perfect place to plant seeds for that kind of engagement," she says, citing the new Interfaith Leadership Council she formed in her first year as chaplain.

KIDS TODAY: Kugler, who counts herself among those "ruined for life" by her stint in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, also emphasizes service. "This is a generation that is really wired for service," she says. "I try to help them tease out the meaning and go even deeper as they consider what they are going to do for the rest of their lives."

With two daughters of the same generation as her students, Kugler knows that their spiritual journeys look different from those of their parents or grandparents. Although students may not attend church regularly, they are grateful to find a place where they can unplug their iPods and cell phones and go inward, she says. "This generation is so wired, it's huge to give them the gift to be de-wired."

Sophomore Stephanie Goldfarb, who grew up in a Jewish and Catholic home, says she has always questioned religion and spirituality. "But Chaplain Kugler has provided endless support as I begin to work out my own spiritual beliefs," she says. "She always has an open door and is always ready to listen, and her guidance has helped me to begin to find a real place for religion in my life."

That the chaplain is a woman is a plus for Goldfarb: "I think being a woman and a mother affects the way she works with students. She brings her life experience and loving, nurturing nature into all that she does."

SHARON KUGLER

CHAPLAIN YALE UNIVERSITY

FAVORITE SCRIPTURE QUOTE: Micah 6:8: "He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

WOMAN WHO HAS INSPIRED ME MOST: "The writings of Joan Chittister, O.S.B. are my daily 'spiritual vitamin pill.'"

HOW I RELAX: "Nothing relaxes me more than a long walk with my husband, Duane Isabella, and our dog, Maggie. That is the one time in the day when I leave my cell phone behind."

I DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT: "My sense of humor. It has sustained me through some real rough patches in my life."

WHAT I HOPE FOR MY DAUGHTERS: "I hope they nurture a grateful heart for all that this beautiful yet broken world has to offer."

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By HEIDI SCHLUMPF, a former U.S. CATHOLIC editor and an associate professor of communications at Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois.