DR. SERENE JONES NAMED UNION’S SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT UNION NEWS SPRING 2008 UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK January 2008 Immersion Experiences Ending Poverty: An Immersion Experience Commemorating Interdisciplinary Course in Ecumenical Theology the 40th Anniversary of MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign at the Facoltà Valdese di Teologia, Rome Union students explore the reality of poverty Dean Euan Cameron (right) with Union students in Rome in the Mississippi Delta and along the Gulf Coast One of the two January Poverty Immersion courses, sponsored and Sixteen Union students took part in a January travel seminar facilitated by Union’s Poverty Initiative, offered students the to Rome, Italy, to study at the Facoltà Valdese di Teologia, the opportunity to explore the reality of poverty in the Mississippi seminary of the Waldensian Church. Delta and along the Gulf Coast. Commemorating the 40th The Waldensian Church is a progressive Reformed tradition anniversary of the Poor People’s Campaign launched by Martin church with roots in the Middle Ages. The Waldensians are a Luther King, Jr., in December 1967, students from Union and sev - Protestant religious movement which was founded in France in eral other institutions, traveled to Marks, Miss. and other towns the 12th century but which is now centered in Italy. and cities in Mississippi, as well as Tennessee, Alabama and areas of the Gulf Coast, to learn from community and religious leaders Co-sponsored by the Melanchthon Ecumenical Center and the involved in the growing movement to end poverty. American Waldensian Society, the course was designed to explore issues of Protestant identity, traditions, and history in the context Students prepared for the trip by learning about theories of pover - of dialogue between Christian traditions. ty and race, the history of organizing in Appalachia and the South, and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and the Poor The faculty from the United States—Union’s Academic Dean, People’s Campaign. Throughout their travel, they spent signifi - Euan Cameron; Gabriella Lettini ’92, ’04, an ordained minister of cant time discussing the theological implications of building a the Waldensian Church who teaches theological ethics at Starr movement led by poor people to end poverty and exploring the King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, Calif.; and Dawn unique role of religious communities in this effort. DeVries, a professor of Systematic Theology at Union Seminary in Virginia—along with an impressive roster of lecturers from the A Student Reflects on the Poverty Immersion Waldensian Seminary and other institutions in Rome, took full he landscape of the Mississippi Delta is breathtaking. Cyprus advantage of the setting in Rome to explore issues of religious his - “T trees rise above swampy waters, empty January fields of cot - tory and archaeology, of ecumenical and interfaith contacts, and ton fade into winter crops studded with the machines that replaced religious and ethnic diversity in Italy. generations of slaves and then sharecroppers in the fields. We feel the presence of a history not long past, but too often forgotten. The fear A Student Reflects on Ecumenical Learnings in Rome and bravery of runaway slaves has seeped into this ground. The evil n every corner, Rome reminds you that she has existed of slavery and the deep-seeded violence of racism and poverty are “O thousands of years. Rome has aged beautifully and graceful - forefront in our minds. ly. Perhaps this visceral connection with the past is the reason that Romans resist, or simply do not see, the social dynamics that are Analysis and academics—as important as they are—do not give us changing their culture. Yet, Rome is changing with the influx of enough. This land calls for song, for prayer. People find work now immigrants and the influence of its religious minorities. We learned in casinos that have seized upon the economic desperation here in that whether these changes will yield positive or negative fruits Tunica county. White business and political leaders still redraw depends upon the ability of the culture to accommodate the ‘other.’ continued – page 4 continued – page 4 UNION News SPRING 2008 • Issue Number 48 Published by UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK Publications Office 212-280-1510 Features 3041 Broadway, New York, NY 10027 inside front cover Managing Editor Joann Anand January 2008 Immersion Experiences for Union Students [email protected] Class Notes, In Memoriam 2 Dr. Serene Jones Development Office Named Union’s Sixteenth President E-mail class notes to [email protected] 5 Tributaries of Psyche and Spirit E-mail death announcements to Converge at Union Theological Seminary [email protected] 9 Writers Nine Honored with 2007 Unitas Award Joann Anand 12 “Pressing Toward the Mark” – Trailblazers 2008 Laura D’Angelo Jane Duffield Marvin M. Ellison ’81 Megan Joiner James J. Kempster Departments Leah Robinson Rousmaniere 14 Board Corner Photos 19 Union Online Joann Anand Jane Duffield 20 Alumni/ae Council Susie Hermanson ’07 Ron Hester 21 Class Notes Kevin McGee cover photo: Ronald Aubert 24 Metropolitan Friends of Union Visit Union’s Web site 24 In Memoriam at www.utsnyc.edu AND register for MyUnion, your access to a wealth of alumni/ae services and information UNION NEWS Spring 2008 1 Serene Jones Named Union’s Sixteenth President Groundbreaking appointment of first woman to serve as Union’s president in its 172-year history coincides with the year long centennial celebration of laying the cornerstone for the Seminary’s present home in Morningside Heights nion Theological Seminary is operated with great dedication to Upreparing to welcome feminist Union. “I am grateful to each member of theologian Serene Jones as the the Search Committee but, above all, I Seminary’s sixteenth president and the want to acknowledge Mike Johnston’s first woman to hold that office at superb leadership as chair of the Search Union. Dr. Jones will assume the presi - Committee,” Callard said. dency on July 1, 2008. Gary Dorrien ’78, Reinhold Niebuhr As journalist Chris Herlinger ’93 point - Professor of Social Ethics, spoke to ed out in his story for the Religion Union News from his perspective as a News Service, this presidency will also faculty and alumnus member of the represent a generational shift: “Jones, Search Committee and as a colleague in 48, succeeds 74-year-old Joseph C. the theological field. Hough Jr., who is retiring after serving “Serene Jones is a person of immense nine years in the post.” gifts and promise,” Dr. Dorrien said. Dr. Jones, the Titus Street Professor of “She is a brilliant theologian, teacher, Theology at Yale Divinity School (YDS), and strategic thinker with a radiant per - comes to Union after seventeen years sonality who is deeply committed to on the Yale faculty. At present she also theological education. For years the lat - Serene Jones serves as chair and faculty member of ter commitment has caused her to resist Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies the lure of invitations outside the theo - at Yale University. Jones has held facul - logical field. Now she is giving up a top- ty appointments at Yale Law School and of-the-field position at Yale, entailing in the Department of African American four faculty appointments, to help Studies and Religious Studies. Union realize its potential as an institu - “In the intellectual Christian tion. This is a great day for Union." “Dr. Jones’s exceptional leadership style world, Union Theological and distinguished scholarship make her Seminary has long held a the ideal person to lead this vibrant the - “Dr. Jones’s exceptional preeminent position shaping not ological institution, which has been home to notable scholars Reinhold leadership style and distinguished only American religious life but its Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and Dietrich scholarship make her the ideal cultural and political values as Bonhoeffer,” Chairman of the Board of Trustees David Callard said in his person to lead this vibrant well. At the present historical announcement to the community. theological institution… ” moment, in North America and “With Dr. Jones’s vision and commit - ment, Union is positioned not only to globally, Union stands ready to continue its role as a leading institution Dr. Jones expressed her hope and vision assume this role with renewed of theological education but also to be a for the Seminary as it moves into the vigor, intellectual acuity and strong voice at a time when religion, next chapter of its life and mission. with all its pluralistic manifestations, abiding faith… ” “In the intellectual Christian world, has become an increasingly powerful Union Theological Seminary has long and divisive issue.” held a preeminent position shaping not Mr. Callard credited the successful out - only American religious life but its cul - come of the six-month presidential tural and political values as well. At the search to the efforts and good judgment present historical moment, in North of an excellent search committee, which America and globally, Union stands 2 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 ready to assume this role with renewed practitioners as politically significant, really are, individually and communally, vigor, intellectual acuity and abiding global agents. not just who we were.” faith,” Jones said. “With the foundation “It is to help us understand and value Dr. Jones addressed this theme recently laid by President Hough, with an out - the everyday practices of religious in an article on the future of faith and standing faculty and student body, and women around the world, practices that citizenship for “Reflections,” a YDS with a location in New York City, keep our communities going and keep publication, excerpted here: Union is wonderfully positioned to be our sense of hope and possibility—when the hub for building and sustaining reli - For a Christian theologian like myself, it exists—alive and flourishing,” Dr.