Director of Children's Religious Education

Julie Goldman Caran

Julie Goldman Caran joined the HUU staff in July 2009, after being a member of the congregation for more than five years.  Since coming to HUU, Julie has served on the board and the Social Justice committee, the choir, and the Shared Ministry Task Force.  This is her second time coordinating a UU Religious Education program; in 2001-2003, she worked full time as the Acting Director of Religious Education at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond, Virginia.  She is REnaissance Module certified, meaning that she completed five UU religious education professional development workshops, and she is a certified Our Whole Lives instructor for middle and high school. 

Julie received a BA in English and Creative Writing from Hollins University in 1999 and an MA in English from James Madison University in 2005.  Her professional pursuits have included teaching at James Madison University as an instructor of Critical Reading and Writing and Introduction to Women's Studies, working as an editor at LexisNexis and at Furious Flower Poetry Center, and currently working as the Curriculum Support Technician for the office of Cross Disciplinary Studies and Planning at James Madison University.  She is the co-author of Dream In Color, an African American poetry curriculum for elementary, middle, and high schoolers, which was sponsored by Target and the National Poetry Foundation and endorsed by Maya Angelou.  She also directed Furious Flower Poetry Center's Children's Poetry Camp in its first three years, growing the program from 19 to 103 participants between the ages of 7 and 14.

When she is not working at JMU or HUU, Julie enjoys spending time with her husband, Kevin, their young son, and their three dogs.   She is a member of the folk trio blue stone sky and enjoys songwriting, journaling, making pottery, experimenting in the kitchen, and growing lavender.