Faculty Changes Signify Meadville is Going Forward
Fall 2007
Our faculty poses just before the Fall Convocation: Seated: Rev. Dr. John Tolley, Rev. James Hobart, Dr. Michael Hogue. Standing: Rev. Dr. Tom Haverly, Dr. Sharon Welch, Rev. Dr. Lee Barker, Rev. David Bumbaugh, and Rev. Dr. Neil Gerdes. (Not pictured: Rev. Dr. Susan Harlow, on study leave; and Rev. Dr. Susann Pangerl, on sabbatical.)
Only months into the official start of the Going Forward objectives approved by the Board of Trustees last spring, Meadville Lombard is already beginning to feel the impact in some key changes within the faculty. In addition to her role as Provost, Dr. Sharon Welch will also serve as Professor of Religion and Society. Welch brings to Meadville her experiences with The Difficult Dialogues project as well as her expertise in the fields of Religion and Society.
The Rev. Dr. John Tolley will transition out of his part-administrative/part-faculty role to a full-time faculty position, teaching Arts and Ministry to Unitarian Universalist ministers in formation. “This move comes with an affirmation of the role that arts and aesthetics plays in the work these ministers will be doing out in the world,” said Tolley. “It is a recognition that the communities we serve are made of people who learn and respond to information as it is presented in different ways—kinesthetic and visual as well as auditory.” It is important, Tolley says, to teach ministers to attempt different ways of sharing knowledge in order to more effectively minister to a greater population of the communities they will serve. Bringing arts and aesthetics more formally into the curriculum will achieve this end, added Tolley.
Rev. James A. Hobart, BD '64 who has served as adjunct faculty for Meadville since moving back to Chicago in 2001, joined the faculty this fall when he accepted the half-time, interim appointment as Director of Field Education. In this capacity, Hobart will oversee the assignment of students in their Clinical Pastoral Education, Internships, and other types of praxis (the practical aspects of ministry). Returning Field Education planning and oversight to a faculty position “is a recognition that the practical work the students do is a key component of the education they receive at Meadville,” said Hobart.
The Rev. Dr. Thomas Haverly takes on a more expansive role at Meadville Lombard as the Coordinator of Online Course Offerings and as Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies. Haverly is an ordained Episcopal priest whose experience includes 6 years of parish work and 25 years of teaching Biblical studies.
With the news that the Rev. Dr. Susan Harlow will be pursuing new professional opportunities, we have begun the search process for the Angus MacLean Professorship of Religious Education, which we hope to fill by September 2008. "The faculty is reviewing this position in light of our commitment to fully integrate Religious Education into the entire curriculum and to provide support for increased field education opportunities for all students," says Welch. Meadville Lombard is seeking candidates for the Religious Education professor position who can provide leadership for an integrated program of seminary education that incorporates public witness, neighborhood engagement, and learning throughout the life span. (Visit our website for details on this search process.)
Most exciting, however, is that Meadville is in the planning stages for the new Frank and Alice Schulman Chair in Unitarian Universalist History, made possible by a gift from Alice Schulman and her husband, the late Rev. Dr. J. Frank Schulman. With the help of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Mrs. Schulman has offered a gift to endow the Chair of UU History in perpetuity. As there are no other Unitarian Universalist history professors in any other school, we are grateful to be in a position to receive this gift. We hope to begin the search process in 2008.
