The magazine of Union Theological Seminary Fall 2018 UNION COLLECTIVE

Where Are the Children? Death of a Prophet Second Wind U.S. separation of children from their Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon ’83 Union’s Encore program helps retirees parents reopens old wounds p.14 leaves behind a towering legacy p.23 find new direction p.5 IN THIS ISSUE

UNION COLLECTIVE Fall 2018

Published by Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York 3041 Broadway at 121st Street New York, NY 10027 TEL: 212-662-7100 WEB: utsnyc.edu

Editor-in-Chief Emily Enders Odom ’90 COVER STORY Editorial Team 8 Martin Duus Benjamin Perry ’15 Igniting a Moral Revival Robin Reese The Poor People’s Campaign seeks to transform America Kate Sann

Writers articles Emily Enders Odom ’90 Miguel Escobar ’07 Reimagining End-of-Life Care 4 Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons ’17 Shailly Gupta Barnes Encore Program Provides New Purpose 5 Serene Jones Where Are the Children? 6 Carol Kessler ’00 Kevin McGee A Strong Foundation (Literally) 14 Edward Moran 15 Benjamin Perry ’15 Kevin McGee Looks Back Robin Reese Honoring Lives of Service 16 Leah Robinson Rousmaniere Scott Sprunger ’19 In Memoriam: Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon 23 Danielle Williams ’20

DEPARTMENTS Copy Editor Eva Stimson 1 Letter from the President 2 Union Making News Art Direction & Graphic Design 7 Episcopal Divinity School at Union Highlights Ron Hester

14 Did You Know? Laying the Cornerstone Principal Photographers 18 Faculty News Ron Hester 19 Class Notes Sharon Farmer

20 Alumni/ae Profile: Janet Okang Cover Photograph 22 In Memoriam Sharon Farmer 24 Giving

Stay Connected: @unionseminary Editor’s Note: With the publication of this issue, we unveil a fresh, contemporary look and also a new, more inclusive name. Because our magazine serves and represents all of the diverse communities and constituents that are Union—not solely our alumni/ae network— we rejoice that we are now the Union Collective. Give to Union: utsnyc.edu/donate

From the President

A new academic year brings with it hopeful possibilities. At a time when our country is in deep spiritual crisis, Union wants to continue to be a light of hope, presenting a way forward. Our commitment has never been stronger, and I’m pleased to share that this year brings one of our largest incoming classes in decades. In August, we welcomed 110 new students from 11 countries and several states across the U.S. to our campus.

Among our international contingent are In early spring 2019, we will begin to five students from China and India who are see preparations for construction of the part of the inaugural Trinity Union Fellows new multi-use building that will be built on program, a partnership with Trinity the northern end of campus. This building Church Wall Street. These students will will house dedicated EDS at Union space, receive academic training at Union and new classrooms and new faculty housing, faith formation as part of the Trinity com- along with private residences. Our new munity, as they pursue Master of Sacred facilities within the building are expected Theology degrees. to be completed in late 2022. “ At a time when This year also brings the beginning As the projects get underway over the of our campus renewal project. The first coming months, updates will be available our country is phase of the project will be the renovation on the Union website. I am excited about of Hastings Hall, which will begin in 2019 the positive changes that our campus will in deep spiritual after commencement. The residence hall see this year and beyond. And I’m equally was last renovated nearly 30 years ago, thrilled to bear witness to the journey our crisis, Union wants but the windows, plumbing and electrical new students will take. Now is the time to systems are original to the building, which remind ourselves how critical Union is to to continue to be was completed in 1910, more than 100 the world. Let us look ahead with hope- years ago. It’s well past time for our stu- fulness toward a more sustainable future a light of hope, dents to have modern and more accessible for Union that will allow us to continue residences. to provide rigorous theological education presenting a way Phase 2 of the project will include while addressing the pressing social justice making the rest of our campus more acces- issues of the day. forward. sible and providing additional dedicated ” student spaces, a new multifaith chapel Peace, — President Jones and meditation space and an updated café/lounge space that will replace the Pit. This phase will begin sometime after the Hastings renovation is completed. The Rev. Dr. Serene Jones President and Johnston Family Professor for Religion & Democracy

fall 2018 union collective 1 NEWS BRIEFS

New Leadership to Positively UNION MAKING NEWS Transform the World

Global Connections Union Faculty Travel to Senegal to Explore Partnerships

Over the past few years, Union faculty have traveled to other Niang was joined on the trip by Rev. Dr. Troy Messenger, direc- countries as part of an International Connections Initiative designed tor and assistant professor of worship; Sensei Greg Snyder, senior to build or strengthen ties to theological schools and religious insti- director of Buddhist studies; Dr. Jeremy Hultin, visiting associate tutions around the world. This year, a delegation of Union faculty, professor of Biblical languages; Matthew Baker, head librarian of students and staff traveled to Senegal, visiting institutions in Dakar Burke Library; Rev. Fred Davie, executive vice president; Robin and Saint-Louis. Reese, vice president of communications and marketing; Bassirou A predominantly Muslim country with many ethnic groups, Diop, electronic media and IT support; Ph.D. student Stanley Talbert Senegal is home to a small number of Christians, mostly Roman and M.A. student Karmen Smith. Catholic, who make up about 4 percent of the population. The nation In addition to meeting with CRAC faculty and students is a harmonious society, and multireligious families and communi- (pictured), the Union delegation learned more about Senegalese ties are not uncommon. That is one of the reasons Dr. Aliou Niang, history and culture with visits to Gorée Island and the African associate professor of New Testament and a native Senegalese, was Renaissance Monument. U interested in exploring partnerships with the Civilizations, Religions, Arts and Communication (CRAC) center at Gaston Berger University above: The Union delegation met with Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis and the Saint Augustine Center of Philosophy and faculty and students to discuss a possible exchange program Theology in Dakar. between the two institutions.

2 union collective fall 2018 NEWS BRIEFS

“ …70 farmworkers started marching from Delano to Sacramento, but when they got there they were 10,000 farmworkers—because they organized all along the way.” — Dolores Huerta

In April, iconic labor organizer Dolores Huerta delivered the eighth annual Judith Davidson Moyers Women of Spirit lecture and received the Union Medal.

Sacred Waters Union’s Annual Climate Change Ministers’ Training Focused on Water and Faith

In June, Union’s Center for Earth Ethics again partnered with the Climate Reality Project to host the annual ministers’ con- ference, equipping faith leaders for ministry in the time of climate change. This year, the training focused on the faith leaders’ role and responsibility in protecting access to water, the science undergirding global water systems, and how we can create commu- nities that are more resilient to extreme weather. In particular, the conference sought to focus on climate change as a hu- man rights crisis—not just a meteorological one—and to emphasize the disproportion- ate impact of climate change on frontline communities. The conference featured a wide range of programming—from an indigenous water blessing (pictured right) to a public dialogue with former Vice President Al Gore and Catherine Coleman Flowers, founder The 50-plus faith leaders who attended represented a wide variety of faith traditions and of the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise geographic locations. They drew on each other’s varied contexts and experiences to learn Community Development Corporation— best practices to take home and fight for climate justice in their home communities. U designed to deepen leaders’ understanding of climate issues and their passion for To get information about next summer’s ministers’ training or to learn more about the Center answering the call to care for God’s creation. for Earth Ethics, contact Genie Cooper-Newton at [email protected].

fall 2018 union collective 3

When the Personal Becomes Pedagogical Presbyterian Educator Integrates End-of-Life Issues into Seminary Curriculum By Emily Enders Odom ’90

For Dr. Su Yon Pak, the “personal” is not and dying—into Union’s field education Wish I Had,” a national touring initiative only political but also profoundly pastoral, curriculum as well as its academic, reli- hosted by Morgan Brown, in which people prophetic, and pedagogical. gious and student life. At the same time, are invited to have conversations with “My personal always informs my she is actively pursuing the next phase— deceased loved ones. professional; and vice versa,” says Pak, creating a model that can be shared with In light of Union’s historic commitment Union’s senior director and associate and adopted by other seminaries. to social justice, Pak has also identified a professor for Integrative and Field-Based The now comprehensive program— need to engage not only that people die but Education. “The way I do my teaching and which has included everything from how they die. “Although death is an equal- research is to start by saying, ‘If I’m asking informal talks to traditional, continuing izing force, there is an inequality to how myself certain questions in response to a we die,” she says. “For some communities, life experience I’m going through, what “ We need to acknowl- whether it’s due to lack of access to health does it mean for us to train today’s reli- care, gun violence or systematic devaluing gious leaders in that area?’ Going through edge and address… of their lives, the threat of ‘death out of an experience helps me to teach about it.” season’ is pervasive. We need to acknowl- Most recently, Pak became interested inequality even as we edge and address that inequality even as in aging and in Alzheimer’s Disease while help prepare people we help prepare people to have their end- caring for her mother, who died of the dis- of-life care wishes be expressed.” ease in March of last year, and her father, to have their end-of- In working with younger people, Pak who died of pneumonia seven years ago life care wishes be often finds that they “can’t relate” to death while living at her home. and dying because they see it primarily “Although my father and I didn’t have expressed.” —Su Yon Pak as an aging or terminal illness issue. “The ‘the conversation,’” Pak says, referencing integrative approach we have adopted the kind of frank talk that health care pro- education courses—will culminate in a not only brings home the urgency around fessionals and spiritual leaders advocate, “Reimagine End of Life week,” Oct. 29 end-of-life issues for themselves and their especially as family members near the end through Nov. 1, during which some of families,” she says, “but it also teaches of life, “because I knew his values through Union’s daily chapel services will focus our students how to begin to introduce my interactions with him, I was able to on end of life. There will also be an the subject into their faith communities. negotiate with my siblings with very little opportunity on campus that week for Ultimately, as The Conversation Project so conflict. My father’s last gift to us as he students, staff, faculty, alumni/ae and aptly expresses it, it’s about ‘what matters was dying was that he passed away before others to engage in “Conversations I to you, not what’s the matter with you.’” U his breathing tube would have had to be removed, as we had decided to do.” As Pak began to research and later write on the subject of aging parents, she discovered the work of The Conversation Project (TCP), a public engagement initia- tive whose watchwords are, “It’s not only about dying but about living. It’s not about ‘what’s the matter with you’ but about ‘what matters to you.’” Over the course of the next two years, starting in the fall of 2017, Pak began work- ing with her colleagues the Rev. Dr. Yvette D. Wilson-Barnes, associate dean of stu- dent affairs, and the Rev. Dr. Jane Huber, visiting professor and director of Practices of Ministry and Vocational Development, to incorporate TCP’S mission and vision— Rev. Rosemary Lloyd, advisor to faith communities for The Conversation Project, leads along with broader issues around death “Sacred Conversations: Talking about Living by Talking about Dying” in November 2017.

4 union collective fall 2018 Ruth Wooden, center ‘And the Old Shall Dream Dreams’

Encore Gives the Spirit a ‘Second Wind’ By Edward Moran

Some of the most compelling passages in Scripture, like the So the Encore Transition Program began in the spring of 2017. stories of Sarah and Abraham and of Elizabeth and Zechariah, de- More than 40 Encore fellows have since participated in one of three scribe God’s Spirit breaking into the so-called “twilight years” of life, cohorts. The fourth gets underway this fall. Encore participants causing older folk to undertake bold new ventures—even prophecy have been a diverse group: executives, lawyers, teachers, ministers, and parenthood—with faith and ferocity. In his fiery sermon at the social workers, writers, and other professionals. All joined Encore first Pentecost, Peter makes an “encore reference” to the prophet with a singular purpose: to find a meaningful way to use their accu- Joel’s proclamation about “youngsters seeing visions and oldsters mulated wisdom and experience in the service of others. dreaming dreams” (Acts 2:17). Typical of the participants is Kathy Dean. “I was looking for a new Not content to spend the last decades of their life in very un- direction. I was also dealing with issues of my aging and a spiritual Pentecostal rocking chairs or golf carts, several cohorts of the 55+ hunger. The program gave me clarity and guidance so I could make set have been gathering at the Union campus over the past two decisions about the next stage.” years as part of the acclaimed Encore Transition Program, attesting Another Encore participant especially cherishes the non-mate- to the fact that the Spirit provides a “second wind.” rial outcomes she has received from the program. Selma Jackson, a Under the direction of retired ad executive Ruth Wooden, with church leader and retired assistant vice president of Chemical Bank, staff assistance provided by the Rev. Dr. Jane Huber, the Encore pro- declares: “The biggest takeaway was appreciating the people in my gram engages a diverse group of a dozen or so 55+ adults in a semes- life and still having room to meet new people. l found nurturing my ter-long program of discernment, dialogue, and experience with what inner self and exploring untapped talents was most important in my an “encore” stage of productive, purpose-focused adulthood might autumn years.” look like. The group meets for eight evening sessions every two weeks Huber, a visiting professor at Union, helps to invite the Encore to work through some critical questions and develop individual plans fellows to a wide variety of mentoring opportunities at agencies in for learning more about working intentionally with social purpose. New York City. She sees the Encore Transition Program as a natural Through encountering writings by contemplative activists like fit for Union’s commitment to lifelong learning and service. “The Thomas Merton, Richard Rohr, Joan Chittister, and Parker Palmer, Encore cohorts make a difference by assembling like-minded people participants in the Encore Transition Program ground themselves in who have the passion and drive to put their spiritual commitments philosophical reflection as well as practical activities designed to make at an important transition point in life into action.” U their “encore” work fruitful for themselves and those they serve. Wooden came to Union after a chance encounter in 2011 with the Edward Moran, a Presbyterian layperson and member of the Fall Seminary’s president, the Rev. Dr. Serene Jones. She took one social 2017 cohort of the Encore Transition Program, is an editor, hymn ethics course “on a lark” and received her M.A. degree in 2016. writer and literary historian. Moran was one of 10 finalists (out of Throughout those years, she had the idea for a “course she wished 2,400 entries nationwide) in the 2016 Huffington Post/AARP she could have taken.” Jones encouraged her to make that course a Memoir Writing Competition. new offering at UTS.

fall 2018 union collective 5 Where Are the Children? By Carol Kessler ’00

A Psychiatrist Hears the Cry Born during El Salvador’s Civil War

Current images of forced After peace accords, the U.N. Truth Commission documented separations of Central American the disappearance of approximately 3,000 children. The sole children from their parents survivor of the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit professors, Father Jon reawaken memories of my Cortina, created the Association for the Search of Disappeared experience as a volunteer Children (Pro-Busqueda). Its staff document the stories of mothers during El Salvador’s civil war, and now grown children separated during the war, reunite families, when I responded to the plea and demand justice in courts to this day. This association invited for physicians less likely to me to facilitate groups of creative expression, using skills developed be targets of dollar-backed by mental health professionals in post-dictatorship Argentina. One bullets at a time when health group drew a fist smashing glass, with a mother on one shard and workers were persecuted a soldier holding her baby on another. The image mirrors today’s for accompanying the poor. family separations at the U.S./Mexico border. From 1980 to 1992, the U.S.- As a physician, I have vowed to do no harm. As a pastor, I resur- trained and funded Salvadoran rect the call of the prophets and of Archbishop Romero to hear the military was responsible for cry of God’s people for peace with justice. As a U.S. citizen, I call out the murder and disappearance of countless civilians in the name for a time when my government will take responsibility, make repa- of “democracy.” Among the disappeared were children fleeing rations, stop the repression, and respect the human rights of all. U scorched earth policies—children snatched by soldiers, brought to caregiving institutions, and adopted as “orphans.” A search was born Carol Kessler, M.D., M.Div. ’00, is a Lutheran pastor who serves as a at that time: Parents crying, “Where are our children?” Children community child psychiatrist with immigrant families in the Bronx, N.Y. crying, “Where is my mommy?” She volunteers with Physicians for Human Rights’ Asylum Network.

Making Alumni/ae Connections

The office of Alumni/ae Relations facilitated a fruitful connection for a N.J. mission team led by alumnus Rev. Terry O’Brien ’08, senior pastor of the Community Church (RCA) of Glen Rock, N.J. Thanks to West Virginia alum- nus, Dr. Marvin Carr ’73, O’Brien and his team were introduced to Rev. Helen Oates, pastor of the Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, Buckhannon, W.V., whose church opened its hearts and doors allowing the Glen Rock team to overnight at the church and worship with them on Sunday morning, June 24, before continuing on their trip front row l-r: Angelina DeSantis, Rev. Helen Oates - CHUMC, Jeanne Jones-O’Brien, to Logan W.V. Julia DeSantis, Catherine Bennett. back row l-r: Carl Fry, Rev. Terry O’Brien – CCGR, Caitlin O’Brien, Nori Tsiang, Kobie Tsiang, Laura Bird-Bennett.

6 union collective fall 2018 HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EPISCOPAL DIVINITY SCHOOL AT UNION

Community Read Book Discussion “ The prison industrial com- plex crucifies the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. To not stand against this is a betrayal of our faith.” — Kelly Brown Douglas

First Community Read Inspires EDS at Union Students “You can’t understand his call and how this broken faith has words will undoubtedly still be reverberating sustained him through the darkest mo- the following week as EDS at Union holds its most of the important things ments of his work and witness at the convocation events, October 30–31, with the Equal Justice Initiative. theme “Toward a Just Earth: Courageous from a distance, Bryan. The book has already proven to be a pow- Faith for Challenging Times.” You have to get close.” erful touchstone for EDS at Union students Through the inaugural semester’s classes as they explore their ministerial vocations. and exciting events, EDS at Union is delib- This summer, all Episcopal Divinity School The Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, dean erately pressing its first class of students at Union students were asked to read Bryan of EDS at Union, and Michelle Alexander, to consider these urgent questions: With Stevenson’s book Just Mercy: A Story of visiting professor of social justice, led a whom are you discerning your vocation? Justice and Redemption. The book was community-wide discussion of the book in Is this from a distance or up close? For, as selected as EDS at Union’s first Community September. On October 24, Bryan Stevenson Stevenson’s grandmother knew so well, a Read because of Stevenson’s insights on will come to Union to give an address and ministry of mercy and justice demands we discerning a vocation inside a merciless engage with students at James Chapel. His draw close. U criminal justice system. Just Mercy is the story of a man discov- ering his life’s work among death penalty CONVOCATION: October 30 & 31, 6:00 p.m. ET inmates in Alabama’s notorious criminal Toward a Just Earth: Courageous Faith in Challenging Times justice system. Following his grandmother’s wisdom in the quote above, Stevenson 10/30 Dean’s Address, James Chapel at Union writes movingly of how the faith of the 10/31 Convocation with address by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, prisoners and families he worked with— St. Paul’s Chapel, Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City the people he has met up close—shaped

fall 2018 union collective 7 Igniting a Moral Revival

Poor People’s Campaign: Feeling Like a Union Reunion

By Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons ’17 Photography: Sharon Farmer A SPECIAL MOMENT

The group of Union students looked a bit groggy when I caught up with them early on Monday morning at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. It was that awkward week of May between the end of final exams and commencement. While most students spend that week catching up on sleep and sunlight as they leave the library, this group of students wasn’t done with theology for the summer just yet.

They took an early morning bus to arrive at St. Mark’s in time for a training required for all participants in the Poor People’s Campaign “nonviolent moral fusion direct action” that afternoon. “I had to do a lot of prayer last night and come to terms with putting my body on the line for this movement,” Danielle Williams, M.Div. ’20, told me on her way to pick up a sack lunch after the training. “I had to mentally prepare myself to say ‘I’m here to get arrested’.” “We’re in a special moment in our country’s history,” she said. “People don’t see our faith in the mainstream, public sphere, so it’s important for people of faith to take back that narrative.” Williams said she came to the Seminary from being an organizer with PICO (now Faith in Action) in California. While she had never been arrested, she had participated in direct action. She helped block a major street in Berkeley as part of a “die-in” with The Way church in Berkeley after the death of Michael Brown in 2014. In 2015, she joined PICO in occupying the governor’s mansion in California to urge the signing of the Racial and Identity Profiling Act to address police brutality. “The majority of the Bible is talking about justice, righteousness, helping the poor, widows, those with leprosy,” Williams said when asked about why she planned on being arrested. “The Bible says lepers’ lives matter, orphans’ lives matter, widows’ lives matter. In our context today, we’re saying black lives matter, poor lives matter, LGBT lives matter. This is our biblical mandate and we have to take back that narrative.” In addition to Williams, five other Union students were arrested at the launch of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. The Rev. Benjamin Perry, M.Div. ’15, Union’s deputy director of communica- Poor People’s Campaign: tions and marketing, traveled with the students and was also arrested. The national event in D.C. featured a wide array of religious and labor Feeling Like a union leaders risking arrest, including MPower Change’s Linda Sarsour and the Service Employeees International Union’s Rocio Sáenz. The campaign Union Reunion reported more than 1,000 arrests around the country during actions at 35 state capitals in addition to the national action in D.C. The direct action participants in D.C. and around the country reflected the breadth and depth of support that have been generated by the movement.

fall 2018 union collective 9 UNION’S COMMITMENT A Breakthrough Ten years ago, I was in Tunica, Miss., with the Poverty Initiative. It was the 40th anniversary he six Union students represented one of many connections between of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, and we the seminary and the effort to resume the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther were discussing what it meant to carry forward T King Jr.’s final campaign. In fact, it’s hard to imagine the Poor People’s the legacy of that campaign. Campaign being revived without Union. Now, in the 50th anniversary year of the The most notable connection is the campaign’s leadership by co-chairs the campaign, we saw thousands of people come Rev. Dr. William Barber II, visiting professor of Public Theology & Activism, together in Washington D.C. on June 23 to take and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, M.Div. ’04, Ph.D. ’14, director of the Kairos up the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call Center. Union has also provided behind-the-scenes infrastructure support for Moral Revival. We gathered between the to the campaign. Washington Monument and Capitol Hill. Nearly The connections between Barber’s group, Repairers of the Breach— a half million people watched the live stream, which grew out of the Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina—and hearing poor people speak to the conditions Union developed over the past few years. Barber was the keynote speaker they and 140 million others are facing across at the launch of the Kairos Center in James Chapel in November 2013. the country. A group of Union students traveled to North Carolina to participate in the We could not have imagined this kind of Moral Mondays movement. crowd in 2008. We could not have imagined Nic Laccetti, M.Div. ’15, was at the launch and had traveled to North organizing 40 days of moral resistance across Carolina. He completed his field education requirement at the Kairos Center. 40 states and enlisting more than 5,000 people He returned to Kairos after graduation and now works on Poor People’s in the largest wave of civil disobedience in the Campaign communications. 21st century. He said Union’s involvement went beyond holding the funds of the cam- And yet, when the Poverty Initiative paign or recruiting other progressive Christian groups to add their endorse- launched the Kairos Center at Union in 2013, ments. “Liberation theology informed a lot of the people that were key to the we knew we were entering a different time. narrative of the campaign,” Laccetti said, noting the legacy of the late Rev. Kairos is a Greek term denoting an inflection Dr. James Cone in Union’s values today. He noted the particular contribution point, a moment of crisis and opportunity when of Theoharis’s Ph.D. at Union, which focused on reading the Bible from the the divine breaks through and into the world. perspective of the poor. The Kairos Center has since been organizing This theological and biblical work led to the “heavy influence on how immersions, poverty tours, roundtables, public we see the leadership of the poor in the campaign,” Laccetti told me. events, truth commissions and engaged biblical, theological and poverty scholarship to deepen existing relationships and build new ones. Five years later, our director, the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, and the Rev. Dr. William Barber II are national co-chairs of a new Poor People’s Campaign that is organizing across the country. Many Kairos and Union alumni/ae are playing key leadership roles in their states and building relationships with others. Our work, however, has only just begun. We will continue to learn as we lead, walk as we talk and teach as we fight, now with a nonvio- lent army of the poor that is rising up. Our task continues. Fight poverty, not the poor!

Shailly Gupta Barnes Policy Director For Kairos Center

The Capitol lawn shook beneath a chorus echoing Rev. Barber’s rallying cry, “Forward together, not one step back!”

10 union collective fall 2018 Barber and Theoharis stand with a crowd of moral witnesses, just before arrests begin.

Union’s administrators hailed the campaign as they waited in front of Union’s involvement in the renewal of the Poor the U.S. Capitol Building for the opening rally to start. People’s Campaign marks a change for the institution “I’ve personally been a big fan of the work Rev. Barber has done, sac- when compared to 50 years ago. rificial work of people of this nation,” the Rev. Fred Davie, executive vice The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned the president of Union, told me as we stood under a tree to escape the sweltering original Poor People’s Campaign but was assasinated summer sun in D.C. “When Rev. Barber talked to us about this work, about before he could implement the plans. But others, Union supporting him to do it, and the importance of the 50th anniversary, including the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and the Rev. we said automatically yes.” Jesse Jackson, took up the mantle and organized an Davie expressed his personal conviction around the Poor People’s encampment of poor people on the National Mall from Campaign: “The basic humanity of every individual requires there be certain May 15 to June 24, 1968. At its height, 2,700 people basic rights for everybody, from a decent wage, to a decent place to live, lived in tents and protested for economic justice in to decent health care. Those are all things people shouldn’t have to worry what they called “Resurrection City.” about, and we all share those values.” “I know Union students were participants, but “We are one-hundred-percent behind the work of the Poor People’s not key organizers like they are this time around,” Campaign, because we are living in a world of such gross injustice that we Jones said. have to take action collectively,” the Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, president and One person who has looked for connections is Dr. Johnston Family Professor for Religion & Democracy at Union, told me. Colleen Wessel-McCoy, M.Div. ’07, Ph.D. ’17, who works “We wanted to support it from beginning to end,” Davie added. “We defi- for Kairos and lectures at Union. Her research hasn’t nitely wanted to be here today to bear witness to all the good work so many uncovered any relationship between Union and the around the country are doing to try to make this nation live up to what it’s 1968 campaign—with one exception: Myles Horton, supposed to be.” founder of the Highlander Center. And they were. Davie and Jones followed the campaign’s procession into “He was heavily involved,” Wessel-McCoy found. the street, where there was a confrontation with the United States Capitol “He attended Union but didn’t graduate from here and Police followed by some arrests. Others processed on the Capitol lawn. was not a student in the time of the campaign. I wish “The students have my absolute support for their being here and getting I had a better answer!” she said in an email. “But I’m arrested,” Jones said. glad we have a very different relationship today.”

fall 2018 union collective 11 ACROSS THE COUNTRY

accetti highlighted a few Union alumni/ae who were active in the campaign, including the Rev. Emily McNeill, M.Div. ’12, co-chair of L the New York state campaign; the Rev. Aaron Scott, M.A. ’09, and the Rev. Shelly Fayette, M.Div. ’09, in Washington state; the Rev. Rose Schwab, M.Div. ’14, and the Rev. Jessica Chadwick Williams, M.Div./M.S.S.W. ’07, in Kansas; and the Rev. Rob Stephens, M.Div. ’16, at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City. “The last week in D.C. was like a Union reunion, seeing all these Kairos and Union alumni/ae participating on the National Mall,” Laccetti said. Another Union alumnus, the Rev. Alan Dicken, M.Div. ’13, also said the con- clusion of the six-week campaign felt like a seminary reunion. “At the finale of the 40 days in D.C., I ran into Union people left and right,” said Dicken, now senior pastor of Carthage Christian Church in Cincinnati. He said he couldn’t go 10 minutes without running into other friends from Union he hadn’t seen since he graduated. He described it as “such a neat experience to see how many people were impacted all over the country and showed up in D.C.” Dicken decided to study at Union after living in Central America for a year doing development work. Seeing “the effects of American imperialism and white privilege” firsthand helped lead him to Union. His time at Union included rallying with other students in defense of Park51, the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” that was to be built in Lower Manhattan, as well as participating in the beginning of Occupy Wall Street. It wasn’t long after graduating from Union that Dicken first risked arrest in the type of nonviolent action that the Poor People’s Campaign prioritized. After the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., a fellow clergyper- son in Ohio called Dicken to ask, “What should we do as white ministers?” Dicken reflected on his commitment to living out his theological belief that God has a preferential option for the poor and marginalized. “If I’m a faith leader and I’m called to live out that faith, then I need to be present especially in those places,” he said. He told his clergy colleague, “I think we have to go and be present.” He ended up making three trips to Ferguson. “That to me was the educa- tion I had received at Union.” After Ferguson, he said it became easier for him to show up and be present for other racial justice issues as well as for LGBTQ justice and women’s justice and poverty issues. “When the Poor People’s Campaign came out addressing all of these things, this struck a chord with everything I learned at Union about these issues being intertwined.” He followed the Poor People’s Campaign with special interest because of the connection to Barber, as another Disciples of Christ minister, and because of having overlapped with Theoharis at Union. But he didn’t see any activity in Cincinnati. “It took me a little bit of work to track down who the local leaders were, which surprised me because I’m fairly involved in a number of activist circles in the city,” he said. He located the Ohio leaders, who were based in Columbus and Cleveland, and offered to help. He didn’t miss a single Ohio event after that, organizing all of the local events in Cincinnati and participat- ing in the statewide actions at the Capitol building in Columbus. He recruited churches, synagogues, mosques, labor halls and community centers to host

12 union collective fall 2018 From Headlines to Changed Hearts teach-ins and local organizers to get involved based on the cam- and Minds paign’s weekly themes. “Our co-chairs were pretty shy about getting arrested,” he recalled, but a group of clergy and lay people eventually took on What could possibly unite low-income, multifaith the campaign’s call to force arrests. It wasn’t easy. clergy, community, elderly, LGBT and disabled leaders The first week they didn’t have a legal team, so they couldn’t across the country to engage in massive protest? do anything. The second and third weeks they prayed, sang and In May, I attended the launch of the Poor People’s chanted inside the Capitol rotunda. Police told them they were Campaign in Washington, D.C., because I understood being arrested but let them go after escorting them out of the the importance of changing the narrative around building. Finally, during the fourth Moral Monday in Ohio, they poverty in this country. Shifting hearts and minds is “decided to really escalate.” Dicken described how they were essential for building power to create the world we again escorted out of the building but then blocked a street out- want. Headlines about civil disobedience create op- side. Eight “moral witnesses,” including three Disciples of Christ portunities for us organizers on the ground to spread clergy, were arrested. They were processed and released from the the gospel and to advance stories and truths of the police station without being booked. people most negatively affected by immoral policy. The symbolism behind the action? “[State leaders] are blocking Civil disobedience is an act of faith that declares our progress for Ohio, so we will block progress out here,” he said. refusal to be complicit in our country’s communal sins: The following week, six new “moral witnesses” volunteered and racism, militarism and the unhinged capitalism that were detained for 30 hours. contributes to poverty. It also challenges the dominant narrative around morality in the United States—one that emphasizes individual “sins.” Headlines are tools to empower those most af- fected by poverty to lead and participate in efforts to WHAT’S NEXT eradicate it. Headlines are opportunities to teach with humility, to educate those who lack awareness, for the purpose of transformation. It is great to see increased don’t think the campaign would have emerged without consciousness, but we must spread this good word in the involvement of [Union/Kairos Center],” Laccetti order to build the people power needed to transform “I said. Union students, staff, faculty and alumni/ae helped the world. That means starting with our families, our spark the renewal of the Poor People’s Campaign, and that work neighborhood and community organizations, our spac- will continue building from the initial six weeks of direct action. es of privilege, our congregations, etc. It means engag- The emphasis this fall will be on education, organizing and voter ing in one-on-one conversations, or group meetings, mobilization. to discuss people’s experience of poverty, their vision Laccetti said that the campaign would build upon the success for change and how to live faith through social action. of organizing coordination committees in 40 states and ensure Those who are engaged in social action will continue that the “change in the moral narrative goes into the election.” their groundbreaking work. And for those who are To accomplish that kind of political and social revolution, new—perhaps awakened by this current administra- it’s going to take much more than the Union community in this tion and wanting to make a change—there is action righteous fight. But at this point, it’s clear the spark has been after the protest. That’s when the deeper work begins! lit again. We can pause and be grateful to our community for having provided the institutional and theological foundation Danielle Williams, M.Div. ’20 for this reignition. U

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, M.Div. ’17, has written about religion and politics for a variety of national news publications, including the Washington Post, NBC News, the Daily Beast and Religion News Service. He serves as a deacon at Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. Follow him on Twitter @guthriegf.

fall 2018 union collective 13 Did You Know? By Kevin McGee LAYING THE CORNERSTONE

On November 17, 1908, almost 110 years The John Crosby Brown Memorial Tower, polygonal rotunda. A marble staircase ago to the day you received this magazine, at the corner of 120th Street and Broadway “swirls” you up to the third floor. High above Union’s faculty and student body trav- (Reinhold Niebuhr Place), was one of the the rotunda’s magnificent marble floor you’ll eled from the Seminary’s historic second first of the Seminary’s buildings to be com- see an example of a perpendicular gothic location, at 700 Park Avenue and 70th pleted and was dedicated on November 28, ceiling design: the upward bands of the four Street in New York City, to its future third 1910—Union’s 75th anniversary. The tower columns spread overhead and weave to location, at 120th Street and Broadway. The itself was added in 1928, providing additional be linked at floral crossings that meet in a new location—36 lots of unused property floors of space for faculty offices and the central rosette incorporating four shields: from 120th Street to 122nd Street and from unique Missionary Research Library. Other the University of Edinburgh, the University Broadway to Claremont Avenue—was a gift construction projects underway at the time of Cambridge, the City of Geneva, and the from Daniel Willis James, a former director included the addition of the Refectory and Westminster Assembly. and vice president of the Union board, who Social Hall and Lampman Chapel. The following movies and television died just before the November 17 dedica- One enters Brown Memorial Tower from shows have had scenes shot in the Rotunda: tion. The New York Times reported that the Broadway to find memorial tablets on the The Mirror Has Two Faces, Masters of Sex, Mona students, faculty, and directors, along with walls dedicated to former presidents and Lisa Smile, Across the Universe, and Kill Your the presidents of Yale, Stanford, Western professors in a soaring three-story stone Darlings. U Reserve, New York University, Oberlin, Howard, Drew, Jewish Theological Seminary, and more watched as the cornerstone was laid by John Crosby Brown, president of the board of directors. The New York Times added that the corner- stone, which was placed just to the south of the 120th Street entrance door and can be seen from Broadway, contained a Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), a Greek Bible (New Testament), an English Bible (King James Version), histories of the Seminary, Union’s constitution and by-laws, minutes of the board of directors meetings, programs of the day, and the text of Dr. George William Knox’s talk. There was no mention of when the contents of the time capsule would be opened and displayed. The ceremony included prayers of thanks and speeches of hope. When those were done and the cornerstone set, the students donned their bowler hats and the academics their mortar boards. The cornerstone… contained a Hebrew On the same evening, the ceremonies Bible (Old Testament), a Greek Bible (New continued at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Testament), an English Bible (King James Version), histories of the Seminary, Union’s Church, where Francis Brown (not related constitution and by-laws, minutes of the to John Crosby Brown), was inaugurated as board of directors meetings, programs of the seventh president of Union Theological the day, and the text of Dr. George William Seminary and delivered a talk entitled, Knox’s talk. “Theology as the Servant of Religion.”

14 union collective fall 2018 The Many Hats of Kevin McGee He Was Union’s Party Planner, Tour Guide, and More

Interview by Scott Sprunger ’19 Text by Emily Enders Odom ’90

Some of those hats were quite colorful. In 2010, McGee—the consummate party planner, who had organized and catered countless, memorable events and socials throughout his tenure—threw his own party at Union to celebrate 25 years of living with HIV. “When I first learned that I was HIV positive,” explains McGee, “it was a difficult period when people could be fired and lose insurance. I was in a position where I couldn’t tell anyone, which lasted a long time. I lost a lot of friends to the disease, and I hurt friends because of my guardedness. But when I reached 25 years of living with HIV, my thought was that everybody with a major anniversary throws a party. There’s nothing unhappy about this occasion because I’m still here and I’m doing fine and I knew I had great “ My favorite time support and love.” Of all of the areas in which of year has always McGee excelled, he may be best remembered for his seminary been orientation… tours, filled with fascinating details about Union’s architec- The students’ ture, history, and mission. “I think not many people energy, optimism, realize that Union students ran a homeless shelter during the ehind the mischievous twin- and anger will Depression in Stone Gym at kle and the storied sense of 120th Street and Claremont,” humor—all wrapped up in his always give says McGee, citing an obscure generous heart of gold—is the me hope.” fact from his vast repertoire. tirelessB dynamo and deep well of informa- “Also, during World War II, tion that is Kevin McGee. Union students were mobilized For 15 years—until his retirement in and regularly participated in July—McGee dedicated his unique gifts and boundless energy to civil defense drills like most of the country was doing.” the people and the principles of Union Theological Seminary. Now that he is retired, McGee prefers not to confine himself “When I started in 2003, the seminary was new to me,” says to doing any one thing. McGee, who grew up across Broadway from Union’s campus and “I want to keep exposing myself to the learning that’s available graduated from Columbia University with a degree in sociology. from meeting other people,” he says, “which was a gift of being at “I had to learn all the aspects of Union, but having lasted for 15 Union.” years, I really loved what I did.” What he says he will miss most about working for Union is Although he started his Union career as an office manager, meeting the students. McGee’s job title changed pretty regularly, evolving with the “My favorite time of year has always been orientation, because needs of the seminary. “When I retired from Union, even though I there’s so much energy when the new students come in,” says was simply called the director of special events,” he says, “I like to McGee. “They offer so much good to the world, and it’s wonderful think I wore many hats.” to watch how they blossom. The students’ energy, optimism, and anger will always give me hope.” U

fall 2018 union collective 15 Congratulations to the 2018 Unitas Awardees

The Union Theological Seminary community is excited to announce the 2018 recipients of the Unitas Distinguished Alumni/ae Awards. Established in 1994, the awards bear witness to the faith and perseverance of living Union alumni/ae who exemplify the Seminary’s academic breadth, its diversity and inclusiveness, and the range of vocations its graduates follow. The ceremony was held on Friday, October 5, at 5:00 p.m., in James Memorial Chapel. Following the event, Union hosted a banquet on campus to celebrate the honorees.

The Rev. Dr. Norman J. Kansfield ’67 The Rev. Dr. W. Eugene “Gene” March ’66

The Rev. Dr. Norman The Rev. Dr. Gene March, A.B. Kansfield, who received his Rhodes Professor Emeritus of S.T.M. from Union, began Old Testament at Louisville his ministry in the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Church in America (RCA) Seminary (LPTS), received his in Astoria, Queens, and Ph.D. from Union. He taught continued in the Chicago at LPTS for 24 years and suburbs. He has been a served in a variety of leader- librarian and faculty mem- ship roles, including dean of ber at Western Theological the faculty. Before his time in Seminary, Colgate Rochester Kentucky, March taught for 16 Crozer Divinity School, and years at Austin Presbyterian St. Bernard’s Institute in Seminary, where he received Rochester, N.Y. his B.D. (M.Div.) degree. While serving as presi- An ordained minister of dent and John Henry Livingston Professor of Theology at New the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), March has been active both at Brunswick Theological Seminary (NBTS), Kansfield showed his the congregational level, as an interim pastor and church school commitment to the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the church. teacher, and in the work of the General Assembly, as chair of the In 1998, he appointed the Rev. Dr. Judith Hoch Wray, a gifted Committee on Theology and Culture for eight years. He led in teacher and a lesbian in an enduring relationship, to a one-year developing positions on proper God language, LGBTQI acceptance position teaching New Testament. The RCA forced the seminary and ordination, justice for Palestinians, and involvement of board to rescind the contract, and Kansfield was rebuked by the children in worship. He led his denomination in developing a General Synod. In June 2004, Kansfield presided at the marriage better understanding of the relationship of Christianity and of daughter Ann and daughter-in-law Jennifer Aull, M.Div. ’06, Judaism and eliminating anti-Jewish language in published causing the seminary to end his tenure and the General Synod to materials. suspend him from the ministry. His ecclesiastical standing was A popular speaker, March has written numerous curriculum restored in 2011. studies and books, including The Wide, Wide Circle of Divine After his separation from NBTS, Kansfield served as Senior Love: A Biblical Case for Religious Diversity; Great Themes of Scholar-in-Residence in the Theological School of Drew University. the Bible; God’s Land on Loan: Israel, Palestine, and the World; His current ministry is as theologian for the Zion United Church of God’s Tapestry; and Six Themes in Genesis That Everyone Christ in Stroudsburg, Pa. U Should Know. U

16 union collective fall 2018 The Rev. Dr. JoAnne Marie Terrell ’90, ’97 Dr. Janet R. Walton ’79

The Rev. Dr. JoAnne Marie Dr. Janet Walton, a musician, Terrell, associate professor liturgical scholar, educator, of theology, ethics, and the worship consultant, and arts at Chicago Theological community advocate for Seminary (CTS), received her justice, received her Ed.D. in M.Div., M.Phil., and Ph.D. religion and arts from Union. from Union. At Union, she As a member of the Union worked as research assis- faculty from 1980 to 2016, she tant to Dr. James Cone; was taught courses on worship a tutor for the first course and the arts, focusing on on Feminist and Womanist ritual traditions and practices theologies, co-taught by Dr. in religious communities, Beverly Harrison and Dr. with a particular interest Delores Williams ’91; taught in artistic dimensions, English as a second language; feminist perspectives, and and was a founding member of Union’s gospel choir. After leaving commitments to justice. Her classes took place on street corners Union, she served as associate pastor of Mount Hope AMEZ and in prisons, concert halls, museums, temples, and churches Church (White Plains, N.Y.) and as interim pastor of churches as well as in classrooms. in Yonkers, N.Y., and Chicago. Walton is past president of the North American Academy of At CTS, Terrell teaches systematic theology and advanced Liturgy (1995–97), a Henry Luce Fellow in Theology and the Arts seminars on St. Augustine, Reinhold Niebuhr, Malcolm X, (1998), and the recipient of the American Academy of Religion Womanist and Feminist Christologies, and proto-Womanist Excellence in Teaching Award (2003) and the North American thought. In her course “AIDS and Violence,” she combines Academy of Liturgy Berakah Award (2009). Her books include Art her passion for art and activism by working with students on and Worship: A Vital Connection, Sacred Sound and Social Change original stage plays. An ordained elder in the African Methodist (co-edited with Lawrence Hoffman), Women at Worship: Interpretations Episcopal Zion Church, Terrell has written extensively for jour- of North American Diversity (co-edited with Marjorie Procter-Smith), nals, anthologies, and lectionaries. Feminist Liturgy: A Matter of Justice, and New and Borrowed Rites In February, she was a featured speaker at “Beyond the (co-edited with Siobhan Garrigan). She is working on her forth- Temple Door There Is No Promised Land: Black Women and coming book, Worship Beyond Boundaries. Challenge of God Talk in the 21st Century,” a conference celebrat- In 2015, Walton and Dr. Troy Messenger, Union’s director and ing the 25th anniversary of the publication of the groundbreaking assistant professor of worship, co-produced Practicing for Life, a work Sisters in the Wilderness by Dr. Delores Williams, Union’s video chronicling 30 years of the worshiping community at Union. Paul Tillich Professor Emerita of Theology and Culture. Since retiring from Union, Walton has expanded her work as a In April, Terrell gave the 2018 Grawemeyer Award in Religion liturgical consultant for synagogues. U lecture, standing in for Dr. James H. Cone, Union’s Bill and Judith Moyers Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology, who won the award for his book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree. Terrell is the author of Power in the Blood? The Cross in the African American Experience, a staple in theology courses in seminaries, colleges, and universities. U

“ The alumni/ae honored exemplify Union’s intel- lectual rigor, but more than that, they have boldly lived out the world-changing faith which we hope to kindle in all our graduates.” —President Serene Jones

fall 2018 union collective 17 Faculty News

Pamela Cooper-White Gary Dorrien Christiane Brooks M.Div. ’78 Johnson Professor of Reinhold Niebuhr Psychology and Religion Professor of Social Ethics

Cooper-White gave an invited lecture on her new book, Dorrien delivered the keynote lecture at the Royal Old and Dirty Gods: Religion, Antisemitism, and the Origins of Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Conference Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2017), cosponsored by Fulbright in Amsterdam in August, and in July he gave the keynote Austria, at the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna in May. At lecture at a conference on Theological Liberalism at the Union in July, she organized and hosted the annual three- University of Münich. In October, he gave the Cole day conference of the International Association for Spiritual Lectures at Vanderbilt Divinity School and will give the Care, attended by more than 120 people from 12 countries. Miller Lecture at St. Norbert College. His next book, She was elected president of the IASC board for 2018–2020. Making Social Democracy: Political and Religious Roots of John Thatamanil also gave a plenary presentation at the European Socialism, and the paperback edition of his recent IASC conference. book Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel will be published by Yale University Press in Spring 2019.

Lisa Su Yon Pak Thompson Ed.D. ’99 Assistant Professor Senior Director and of Homiletics Associate Professor of Integrated and Field- Thompson has a new book coming out in November, Based Education Ingenuity: Preaching as an Outsider, which introduces a theology and practice of preaching within the simultane- Pak co-edited an anthology, Leading Wisdom: Asian and Asian ous existence of being black and woman. The book opens North American Women Leaders (Westminster John Knox up new avenues to understand sermon development and Press, 2017). She received the Pastoral Care Leadership design for every student and practitioner of the proclaimed Award from Jewish Theological Seminary, Center for word. Thompson also received the Louisville Institute First Pastoral Education, in June. She serves as a board member Book Grant for Minority Scholars for the 2019 calendar year of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. for her forthcoming volume with Fortress entitled Preaching the Headlines. The Louisville Institute’s First Book Grant for Minority Scholars enables junior, tenure-track religion scholars of color to complete a major study that contributes to the vitality of Christianity in North America.

, utsnyc.edu/academics/faculty

18 union collective fall 2018 class notes

1960s its call to proclaim Christ’s Second Coming as the indigent persons living with HIV/AIDS. The house Walter Brueggemann, Ph.D. 61, Unitas primary focus of Advent’s “watching and waiting” functions as a small community, “and the idea Distinguished Alumnus 94, has published A theme. Rutledge, one of the first women to be or- is we live together and share our life together,” Gospel of Hope (Westminster John Knox Press, dained to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church, Bordador writes. “I am here as a voluntary priest 2018), in which he offers penetrating insights served on the staff of Grace Church in New York (Episcopal) and missioner of some sort for the on Scripture and prophetic diagnoses of our City for 14 years. She is a preacher and teacher Episcopal Church, but my life really is with the culture and encourages readers to embrace known throughout the U.S., Canada, and parts of Catholic Worker house. For how long I’m not sure the audacity required to live out one’s faith. the United Kingdom. what the Lord has in mind. But I have no plans Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters yet to return to the U.S.A. for good; to visit, yes, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia 1980s perhaps in 2019.” Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in William P. Crawford, M.Div. 81, S.T.M. 90, Michal Ann Shapiro Hogan, M.Div./ the United Church of Christ, he is the author of retired in August after 19 years as senior pastor M.S.S.W. ’90, has been hired by Higgins & Carter dozens of books, including Sabbath as Resistance: of Larchmont Avenue Church in Larchmont, N.Y. LLC, a psychotherapy center in downtown Chicago. Saying No to the Culture of Now; Journey to the He and his wife, Julie Faith Parker, M.Div. ’88, will Rebecca G. Dudley, M.Div. ’91, contributed Common Good; and Chosen: Reading the Bible reside at General Theological Seminary in New to “Tips for Meghan Markle on How to Be Married Amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. York City, where Parker will begin her work as to a Briton,” published in the May 18 New York Susan E. Davies, Ed.D. ’64, has been pre- professor of Old Testament. After a short break, Times. The Times asked American readers who sented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Crawford plans to be actively involved in a number are married to Brits, and vice versa, to describe Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who. of ministry projects. some of the charms and challenges of having a In 2011, she retired from Bangor Theological Eric T. Duff, M.Div./M.S.S.W. ’84, has writ- spouse from another continent. Dudley met her Seminary, where she served as academic dean; ten a new book, Apostles’ House, about helping future husband, David J. Tombs, S.T.M. ’88, in taught feminist/womanist/mujerista theologies, create one of the first programs for homeless 1987 during orientation week for Union Seminary pastoral studies, critical thinking skills, and families in Newark, N.J., in the mid-1980s. He “on the Staten Island Ferry, while we were looking theologies in the global South; and was respon- is currently a psychotherapist in McKinleyville, at the Statue of Liberty (really),” she wrote. “He sible for opening the curriculum to courses on Calif., in addition to serving at St. Mary’s was straight out of Oxford and looked like Sting.” gender, race, class, and feminist ethics. She also Episcopal Church in Ferndale and providing a Since 2015, they have been living in New Zealand, supported gay students in their struggles and first-Sunday-of-the-month interfaith service at where Tombs is the Howard Paterson Professor worked with churches during the 1980s and 1990s Moonstone Beach, with Ani Kunzang Drolma, of Theology and Public Issues at the University of to move the gay community from the margins to Tibetan Buddhist Lama. Otago, North Dunedin. the center of the culture, despite resistance and Sharon Nordmeyer Hope, M.Div. ’86, has Marc S. Mullinax, Ph.D. ’93, is the elected hostility from some church members. been appointed interim minister at Kingston (R.I.) chair of the faculty at Mars Hill (N.C.) University, David E. Sanvik, M.A. ’69, has been se- Congregational United Church of Christ. “I’ve where he teaches courses in the academic study lected for advancement to Mastership with the retired four times now,” she wrote in a Facebook of religion, Appalachian and Asian religions, American College of Physicians. After graduating post. “Sharon Ann plans and God laughs!” Christian theology, youth ministry, and religion’s from Union, he worked as a social worker and Janet K. Acker, M.Div./M.S.S.W. ’89, has intersections with sociology, biology, and history. middle school teacher before obtaining his been appointed founding program director of the He’s been teaching at Mars Hill since 2001 and M.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Master of Science in Social Work program at the often travels to South Korea to teach summer Medical School in Dallas. Beginning in 2005, he College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. She joined the courses. His term as chair extends to 2020. served as founding director of the South Dakota social work faculty at the college in 2012. Sylvester A. Johnson, M.A. ’97, Ph.D. ’02, Institute of Geriatrics and continued to practice Ian A. McFarland, M.Div. ’89, has been is professor and founding director of the Center in nursing homes until 2014. Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge for the Humanities at Virginia Tech. He also University since 2015. His scholarship focuses on serves as a mentor for the nationally acclaimed 1970s contemporary articulations of Christian doctrine Young Scholars in American Religion fellows James J. Lobdell, M.Div. ’75, embarked on a that attend both to the concerns of the catholic program administered by the Center for the yearlong sabbatical from Holy Trinity Evangelical tradition, broadly conceived, and to the voices of Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana Lutheran Church in Inglewood, Calif., in November Christians historically marginalized in that tra- University–Purdue University in Indianapolis. 2017, after a transfer of pastorship ceremony in- dition. He previously taught at the University of stalled his replacement as pastor. Having served at Aberdeen (1998–2005) and at Emory University’s 2000s Holy Trinity for more than three decades, Lobdell Candler School of Theology (2005–2015), where Valerie Bailey Fischer, M.Div. ’04, has will return in November 2018 with his wife, Vickie, he was the inaugural holder of the Bishop Mack been appointed chaplain at Williams College in to be installed as pastor emeritus. B. and Rose Stokes Chair in Theology. Williamstown, Mass. Previously she was priest Fleming Rutledge, M.Div. ’75, has published associate at Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus 1990s N.J., and prior to that, university chaplain Christ (Eerdmans). Highlighting “the eschato- Noel E. Bordador, M.Div. ’90, moved to at Framingham (Mass.) State University. Her logical, future-oriented nature of Advent,” she the Philippines in 2016, where he opened a research examines an ancient order of female advises that the contemporary church rediscover Catholic-Worker-inspired house of hospitality for deacons in the early church, its late-19th-century

fall 2018 union collective 19 alumni/ae profile

Janet Okang M.A. in Biblical Studies, ’18 New York city “ …bringing hope to African children involves a lot of hard work, each moment helps renew my commitment to love, inspire others and sacrifice in the service of those with great need.”

What do you do? How has Union prepared you for this? Prior to Union, I was working in an administrative, pastoral and I have the opportunity at Union to engage with questions confront- teaching capacity in the Bible College of Ghana. After completing my ing Christianity in the West and in the non-Western world today. I M.A. program at Union, I now help as a part-time professor of New have acquired strong administrative skills from my work-study with Testament in nondenominational colleges in West Africa (Ghana), Housing and Campus Services and from working with the SLA team. training students who wish to go into pastoral ministry and missions. This has enhanced my experience and enabled me to be better pre- I have also had the opportunity to found a nonprofit organization, pared for Ghana and West Africa as a whole. Christ Love for Kids (CLOK), that evangelizes children in rural areas of Ghana—children who have little or no exposure to the gospel and What is the best thing about your job? who suffer from difficult economic conditions. In addition to preach- Though being an educator and bringing hope to African children ing the gospel twice a year, with the support of friends and volun- involves a lot of hard work, each moment helps renew my commit- teers, the group offers basic screenings, health care and provisions ment to love, inspire others and sacrifice in the service of those with for some of the basic needs of the children (clothes, shoes, bags, great need. books, etc.). Through mentorship, career guidance and training in craft skills, we help the children develop academic skills and ensure What would you say to someone considering going that each child feels loved. to Union? I have been exposed to a lot of children’s needs in local commu- As one of Union’s international students, I would say the diverse nities. Recently, with some personal savings and a grant I received backgrounds of students and faculty at Union equip us with cultural from Union, I have been able to drill a borehole that supplies water and denominational sensibilities that will be very useful when we and to build classrooms for elementary education in a community return to our communities. The location of the Seminary (New called Amanfrom in the eastern part of Ghana. This village of about York City) enables students to interact with Christians from both 3,500 people had minimal water and just one school (private). This the Western and non-Western world. Be prepared to be enhanced meant some of the mature children traveled far for education, while through an experience that will equip you for a better tomorrow. U others stayed at home due to lack of preschool infrastructures. The new elementary school, Amanfrom Academy, was scheduled to open in September. I am hopeful that in the near future I can help build above: Okang poses with a group of children at Amanfrom village in more classrooms and a home for orphans. Eastern Ghana, gathered to celebrate drilling a local well.

20 union collective fall 2018 class notes revival, and its role in the ordination of women in Jackson provides administrative oversight to Aram Bae, Ph.D. ’13, is associate pastor for the Episcopal Church in the United States. churches in Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Uganda, youth and mission of First Presbyterian Church in Kelly Murphy Mason, M.Div./M.S.S.W. ’04, and Kenya. Charlottesville, Va. This is her first call, and she has been appointed the next settled minister Laurel Koepf Taylor, M.Div. ’08, Ph.D. ’12, is thrilled to call Charlottesville her new home. of Unitarian Universalists of Wellesley (Mass.). has been granted tenure at Eden Theological She was a keynoter at the 2018 Montreat Youth Previously she was director of pastoral care and Seminary in St. Louis. A member of Eden’s faculty Conference in North Carolina. counseling programs at the Blanton-Peale Institute since 2012, Koepf Taylor is professor of Old Matthew D. Dean, M.Div. ’13, was recent- and taught on the adjunct faculties of both the Testament. Her research focuses on children in ly hired as Environmental Justice Exchange Fordham University Graduate School of Religion the Bible and how people thought about children Coordinator with New Voices for Reproductive and the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers differently in the biblical world than we do in the Justice in Pittsburgh. College, Columbia University. For the past several United States today. Her first publication, Give Lauren Giaccone, M.Div. ’13, married years, she has been a lecturer at Union. Mason was Me Children or I Shall Die: Children and Survival Ryan Cain in April and has changed her name to ordained into ministry by the Community Church in Biblical Literature, based on her revised Ph.D. Lauren Cain. She became the Pastoral Ministries of New York, Unitarian Universalist. dissertation, was released in 2013. Coordinator for Maris Grove, a retirement Emily A. Peck-McClain, M.Div. ’05, has Ben Sanders III, M.Div. ’08, was awarded community in Glen Mills, Pa., in July 2017, after published Arm in Arm with Adolescent Girls: the Ph.D. in religious and theological studies by completing a two-year CPE residency with Penn Educating into the New Creation, a practical the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Medicine. She is a Member In Discernment with theology for liberating ministry with adolescent Theology in June. the United Church of Christ. girls. In it Peck-McClain puts interviews with 24 Kelsey Blankenship White, M.Div. ’09, has Aidan William Owen, M.Div. ’13, was or- adolescent girls from the New York area into co-edited Evidence-Based Healthcare Chaplaincy: dained a priest at Holy Cross Monastery in West conversation with Paul’s theology as expressed in A Research Reader Paperback with George Park, N.Y., in June. Andrew M.L. Dietsche, dioce- Romans 6–8. She is also one of five contributing Fitchett and Kathryn Lyndes. Bringing together san bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, editors of We Pray with Her: Encouragement key articles from peer-reviewed journals in one presided. Dozens of friends, family members, and for All Women Who Lead, a collection of 100 student-friendly format, the text offers techniques Holy Cross associates were there for the occasion devotions and prayers from 70 United Methodist critical to chaplaincy research: case studies, qual- and joined the brothers for a festive dinner of clergywomen under 40, released in September. itative research, cross-sectional and longitudinal Mexican street food afterwards. Peck-McClain is visiting professor of Christian quantitative research, and randomized clinical Jennifer C. A. Wilder, M.Div. ’13, married formation and young adult ministries at Wesley trials. The articles also address wide-ranging Gregory W. Wallace In June on Wye Island, Md. Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. topics in chaplaincy research for a comprehensive Wilder is pastor of Broadview Church in Owings, Alyssa Rayman-Read, M.A. ’05, has been overview of the field. White is a board-certified Md., and Wallace is a producer for CNN. appointed vice president and director of the chaplain with Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Ky., William H. Critzman, M.Div. ’14, has ac- Massachusetts office of the Conservation Law and a Transforming Chaplaincy research fellow. cepted a call to be the senior minister at West End Foundation. Prior to joining CLF, Rayman-Read Collegiate Church, part of New York City’s historic was assistant general counsel and director of 2010s Collegiate Church Corporation. He had previ- labor engagement at Northeastern University, Lydia Hernández-Marcial, S.T.M. ’12, a ously served as minister of discipleship at First where she advised the university’s senior exec- Doctor of Philosophy student at the Lutheran Presbyterian Church in the City of New York. utive team on labor relations, strategic commu- School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), has been Kristen Leigh Southworth, M.Div. ’14, was nications, and organizational development. She selected to receive the Hispanic Theological married in June to Joe Tyler Mitchell, an Episcopal also investigated and prosecuted unfair labor Initiative/Lilly fellowship for the 2018–19 academ- priest and 2012 graduate of General Theological practice complaints across New England at the ic year. She has also received an honorary fel- Seminary. She has changed her name to Kristen National Labor Relations Board. lowship from the Louisville Institute for the same Leigh Mitchell. The Mitchells live in Asheboro, N.C., Laurel Severns Guntzel, M.Div. ’07, is a period. Hernandez-Marcial’s doctorate will be where Joe serves as rector of a local parish, while practicing psychotherapist in Minneapolis, where in biblical studies; she is specializing in Hebrew Kristen writes music, teaches classes and work- she joined the Westminster Counseling Center in Bible, particularly Wisdom Literature. shops on singing and spirituality, leads a monthly 2017. She helps clients explore sources of pain and Jami Yandle, M.Div. ’12, was called forth Beer & Hymns sing-a-long, and practices archery. suffering, discern what is most important for their at the June 2018 Unitarian Universalist General She is writing a book about the church and the arts lives, and harness their strengths and wisdom in Assembly to receive preliminary fellowship as a and plans to release her next album in 2019. the service of a richer, more meaningful life. She UU minister. After working for three years, mostly Stephanie Gannon, M.Div. ’15, was ordained is experienced working with adults navigating life solo, Yandle brought forward at last year’s GA a to the ministry in the Unitarian Universalist Church transitions, identity issues, low self-esteem, de- proposal to update the Second Source language in April in Brooklyn, N.Y. Starting this fall, she pression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, and trauma. from “prophetic women and men” to “prophetic will be combining mental health chaplaincy work She earned her M.A. in counseling psychology people” for inclusivity purposes, and it passed with veterans at VA Pittsburgh with service as from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. the preliminary vote. This year the proposal was part-time minister at East Suburban UU Church David E. Jackson, M.Div. 07, just celebrated brought to the floor again and approved. The new in Murrysville, Pa. She is also excited to announce his second year in the episcopacy of the Light of language accommodates children and youth and her recent engagement to Dr. Rob Fallon. They are the World Covenant Fellowship, based in Atlanta. also affords visibility to trans persons. planning a wedding in Pittsburgh next May.

fall 2018 union collective 21 class notes

Robert M. Najdek Jr., M.A. ’15, has been elected to the Queens County (N.Y.) Democratic In Memoriam As of October 7, 2018 Committee. In August he entered the CUNY School of Law to study immigration law. Alumni/ae Terry Cummings, M.Div. ’16, has been appointed interim minister at the Granite Jane Lockwood Barney ’40 Frederick E. Dennard ’62 Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in William W. McKee ’41 Charles Chiau-liong Kao ’62 Prescott, Ariz. William Graham Cole ’43 Robert Wood Lynn ’62 Miles A. Goff, M.Div. ’16, married Emily F. Chester J. Jump, Jr. ’43 Thomas J. Philipp ’62 Hamilton, M.Div. ’15, in July, with the Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Forkel, Jr. ’43 J. Walter Cason ’62 Barbara K. Lundblad officiating. Goff is Minister George H. Dehority ’48 Christopher Morgan Brookfield ’63, ’68 for Faith and Action at Christ Church United, Frances M. Sydnor ’49 Jack W. Jones ’64 UCC, in Lowell, Mass. Hamilton is pastor of First Eva Martin Staples Boswell ’49 Judith Richardson Minter ’64 Lu theran Church in Malden, Mass. Simon J. De Vries ’50, ’58 Robert Tomson Fortna ’65 Ken Kurihara, M.A. ’16, has been associate Alister C. Anderson ’50 Theodore E. Wilde ’65 professor at Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University Barbara Jean Campbell Barnhart ’50 Ward Williams ’65 in Sendai, Japan, since April 2017. He teaches Floyd L. Accola ’51 Gordon D. Negen ’65 courses in Basic Christianity, and Christianity William W. Young ’51 John F. Messerschmitt ’66 and Modern Society, among others. Eunice Blanchard Poethig ’52, ’85 Margaret C. Bunnell Miller ’66 Elizabeth Colmant Estes, M.Div. ’17, was William Campbell Bothwell ’52 Mary Ellen Benson Abrecht ’69 elected to the Commission on Theology of the Herbert L. Doggett ’52 Edwin B. Metzger ’69 Reformed Church in America. She received James Milton Murphy ’52 Carl Schroeder ’69 the denomination’s 2018–19 Hazel B. Gnade John W. Steen, Jr. ’52 William C. Saunders ’70, ’79 Fellowship to research women awarded the Akira Hirami ’53 Richard J. Harvey ’70 Master of Divinity degree at Union in 1973, who Charles S. Wilhite ’53 Lorenzo M. Robinson ’71 became the first women ordained in both the RCA John Ferguson Gray Morris, Jr. ’53 Robert A. Wiltshire ’73 (Joyce Stedge) and the Episcopal Church (several, Hoyt L. Hickman 54 Josephine G. Smith ’76 among them Carter Heyward). If you have stories Richard S. Shaper ’54 Katie Geneva Cannon ’83 to share about the women of the class of 1973, William G. Morrice ’55 Mariah A. Britton ’86 please contact [email protected]. John Jerome Staton ’55 Everett Eugene Jones ’92 Suzanne C. Campise, M.Div. ’18, has been David C. Duncombe ’55 Gladys “Punkie” Dennis ’94 appointed vicar at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Beatrice Weaver McConnell ’55 Hollis W. Huston ’06 Kingston, N.Y. Robert Norman Taylor ’55 Ian Carr McPherson, M.Div. ’18, has been Zona Marie Fennelly ’55 appointed Minister for Youth and Young Adult John Nelson Park ’55 Initiatives at the United Church of Chapel Hill (N.C.). Faculty, Staff, Trustees, Robert J. Chamberlin ’56 Janet Okang, M.A. ’18, spent the summer and Friends of Union Henry H. Hobbs ’56 in Amanfrom, a village with a population of John B. Paterson ’56 3,500 in the Eastern part of Ghana. She drilled a Edmund Coffin Charles E. Landis ’56 much-needed borehole to augment the local water William Theodore Debary Mildred M. Heimlich ’56 supply. Because the village had just one school Joyce Dompreh Carlton T. Mitchell ’56 (private), she built classrooms for elementary edu- A. Wright Elliott Ivan E. Frick ’57 cation, so children from Amanfrom would not have Travis Emery Edward L. Henderlite ’58 to travel to the next villages. The newly established Sara M. Hunter Richard W. Felsing ’59 elementary school, Amanfrom Academy, opened in Elizabeth B. Jewett Robert K. Hudnut ’59 September. Okang is also a part-time professor of Joan Konner John Opie ’59 New Testament at nondenominational colleges in Ellsworth George Stanton III West Africa (Ghana). She has been admitted to the Aurelia Takacs Fule ’60 George S. Paris ’60 S.T.M. program at Union for 2018–2019. U note: We regret that we mistakenly Barbara Hunter Walch ’60 announced the death of John “Jack” Elizabeth Plowman ’61 T. Mathison ’57 in the Spring issue. Jack A. Jennings ’61 He is alive and well, and resides in To submit a class note or death notice, Mary Jane Raiche Ringham ’61 a retirement community please contact Emily Odom, Director William J. Hausmann ’61 of Alumni/ae Relations, at eodom@ in Washington, D.C. Jack Higham ’61 uts.columbia.edu or 212-280-1419.

22 union collective fall 2018 Katie Geneva Cannon, Ph.D. ’83, Unitas Distinguished Alumna ’07, Union Medalist ’16, Dies by Leah Robinson Rousmaniere

The Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, up and the disenfranchised to discover The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference widely regarded as a founder of the and celebrate their own innate moral bestowed its Beautiful Are the Feet Award Womanist movement, a formidable libera- wisdom. on her in February. Most recently, she was tion theologian and Christian ethicist, died Cannon received her Bachelor of recognized at the Presbyterian Church August 8. She was 68. Science from Barber-Scotia College and her (U.S.A.) General Assembly with the Award The first African American woman Master of Divinity from Johnson C. Smith for Excellence in Theological Education, to be awarded the Ph.D. at Union Theological Seminary. She was ordained the highest honor in the PC(USA) for those Theological Seminary and the first African April 24, 1974, in Shelby, N.C., by Catawba who teach, lead and support theological American woman to be ordained in the Presbytery in the Synod of Catawba. education. United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), At the time, the United Presbyterian In a video played at the award cere- Cannon was the Annie Scales Rogers Church—predecessor of the Presbyterian mony, she likened the call to teach religion Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Church (U.S.A.)—listed 154 white women to a “fire in your bones.” “Teaching is my Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Va. ministry,” she said. “I love teaching to She announced in June that she had been empower, to equip, to set people free.” diagnosed with acute leukemia. The Rev. Dr. Barbara K Lundblad, In a joint statement, the Rev. Dr. Serene Union’s Joe R. Engle Professor of Preaching Jones, president of Union, and the Very Emerita, expressed the feelings of many Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, dean of when she wrote in a post on Facebook: Episcopal Divinity School at Union, wrote: “Katie Geneva Cannon has joined the great “It is with great sadness that we write to communion of saints beyond our knowing, share news of the passing of Rev. Dr. Katie but how we shall miss her here on this Geneva Cannon this afternoon. Dr. Cannon earth.… Rest in peace, dear sister. You was dearly loved by many here at Union, have changed the way we see the world.” as a student, a teacher, a colleague, and Cannon is survived by her mother, a personal friend. She was a remarkable Corine L. Cannon; sisters and brothers woman, and as a scholar, she was known Sara Cannon Fleming, Doris Cannon around the world for her groundbreaking Love, Sylvia Moon, John Cannon and work in Womanist theology and Christian Jerry Cannon; and 21 nieces and nephews, ethics. She will be sorely missed.” including actor Nick Cannon and musi- Cannon was the author or editor of cians Joshua Cannon Fleming and Cedric numerous articles and several books, T. Love. including Katie’s Canon: Womanism and A funeral service was held August 14 the Soul of the Black Community and Black as ordained clergy, according to General at Bethpage United Presbyterian Church Womanist Ethics. But most important, she Assembly Stated Clerk the Rev. J. Herbert in Concord, N.C. A memorial service was was an oracle of “unshouted courage” and Nelson II, in a statement released by the held September 10 at Union Presbyterian a lodestar for Black women journeying to PC(USA). Seminary. U self-actualization. Cannon, who had taught at Union in On the anvil of her inner being— Richmond since 2001, received numer- Condolences may be sent to: alongside such pioneering scholars as ous awards for her teaching, including The Rev. Dr. Jerry L. Cannon and Family Dr. Delores Williams, the Rev. Dr. Emilie the Excellence in Teaching Award from 2329 Carved Tree Lane Townes, and the Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn the American Academy of Religion. She Charlotte, NC 28262-3154 Grant—she forged Womanist ethics—a term also served on the faculties of Temple coined by Alice Walker—fashioning the per- University, Episcopal Divinity School and Gifts in memory of the Rev. Dr. Katie spectives and literary traditions of Black Harvard Divinity School. Geneva Cannon may be made to Union’s women into revolutionary discourse for In 2016 she was awarded the Union Annual Fund, which will again be dedicated the church, academy and society at large. Medal. The citation read in part: “Your entirely to student scholarship support. She deployed methods of Christian social life, your theology and your ‘pedagogy of ethics to new advantage, creating space for possibility’ embody the highest ideals and the unheard to be heard, the inconsolable aspirations of Union Theological Seminary to be comforted, the beaten down to rise in the City of New York.”

fall 2018 union collective 23 The Annual Fund The Power of Giving July 1, 2017—June 30, 2018

Thanks to the generosity of alumni/ae, trustees and friends who The Campaign for Union support Union Theological Seminary’s crucial work, the 2017–18 January 2014–December 2017 Annual Fund exceeded its goal of $1.085 million by raising $1.240 In January 2014, the Seminary launched an ambitious but crit- million. A total of 1,271 contributors, including 1,037 alumni/ae, ically important Campaign for Union, with the goal of raising helped to put Union over the top. Among those giving to the fund, $25 million for student scholarships, faculty support, and social 52 were first-time contributors and 553 increased their giving. justice programming. Thanks to the generosity of trustees, Once again, the Annual Fund focused entirely on raising schol- alumni/ae, friends and foundations, Union exceeded its campaign arship support for Union students, many of whom would simply goal by raising more than $31 million for these vital purposes. be unable to attend the Seminary without financial assistance. A full campaign report will be mailed this fall. Describing the profound impact of the Raymond E. Brown/J. Louis Martyn Scholarship on her experience, Janet Okang, M.A. ’18, Planned Giving writes: “The scholarship I received restored my academic dreams What will the future say about us? This question invites us to and goals and gave me hope. It has enabled me to learn a great construct an intentional and enduring legacy by stirring the con- deal from my professors and peers. It is indeed a privilege for me science and envisioning the future. to be at Union.” One small yet significant aspect of such a mighty spiritual We are deeply grateful to each and every person who project involves gift planning. For example, adding Union as a responded to Union’s Annual Fund by making a gift in support beneficiary in your will or naming Union as a beneficiary of a life of scholarships. insurance policy links your personal legacy to Union’s future. And for those who have retirement assets or other investments, giving Should you wish to offer your support, or if you have questions, a portion of those to Union could have substantial tax benefits. please contact Gabriele Gossner at [email protected] No gift is too small when every dollar is precious. or 212.280.1412. Our global Union network is a beautiful community of action and conscience. We extend special thanks to the 237 alumni/ae and friends who have already shared their bequest intentions with us as well as to those who requested more information about charitable gift planning. U

If you would like to know more or have questions, please contact DenaSue Potestio, special assistant for development, at 212.280.1453. give online: myunion.utsnyc.edu/donate

Sheer joy: Union graduating students (clockwise) Leigh Britton, Htoi Lu, and Amy Meverden celebrate their momentous milestone.

24 union collective fall 2018 SAVE THE DATE FEBRUARY 2019 Trailblazers 2019 Honoring and Celebrating Union’s Black Alumni/ae

The 2019 Trailblazers series will honor the life and legacy of Dr. James Hal Cone, Bill & Judith Moyers Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology, with four Friday worship services at 7:00 p.m., February 1, 8, 15, 22. The services will focus on Cone’s founding of Black Liberation Theology, as well as the doors he opened for other theologies to emerge, including Queer Theology and exploration of Environmental Racism. Additional information will soon be available on the Union website.

GAlumni/ae Gather in New Mexico GGeneral Assembly

New Mexico alums gathered for dinner in Albuquerque on June 3 following a lecture by Larry Ashley DeTar Birt ’14, a member of the L. Rasmussen ’70, Union’s Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, titled “How More Light Presbyterians National Board of Do We Hymn the Earth in a Time of Climate Change.” left to right: Takako S, Terino ’08, Nyla Directors, attended the PC(USA) General Rasmussen, Anna Taylor Sweringen ’83, Karen Bash, Mary Ann Lundy ’57, Larry Rasmussen, Assembly, St. Louis, Mo., June 16-23. Donald Wilson, F. Allan Bash ’71, Mary Stuart ’76, and Thomas Stuart. Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York 3041 Broadway at 121st Street New York, NY 10027-5792

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orientation 2018: This fall, Union welcomed an incoming class of 110 students—the largest in decades.