Class of 2006: Master of Divinity Degree Recipients: (front row, from right) Jane Page, Leela Sinha, Linda Berez, William Neely; (back, from right): Vera O'Brien, Elizabeth Harding, Sara Hayman, George Buchanan, Tamara LeBak, Rosemarie Newberry, Roger Mohr, Colin Bossen, and Craig Schwalenberg.

We are pleased to announce that all of our Master of Divinity graduates had either been called before our graduation ceremony on June 4, 2006 or found placements shortly after the ceremony.  Briefly, our Master of Divinity graduates and their next assignments are as follows:

Linda Berez is entering a Chaplain Residency at Mercy Hospital in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Colin Bossen will be doing advocacy work in Washington, D.C.  And plans to apply to Ph.D. programs.

George Buchanan will serve as Minister of Religious Education at First Unitarian Church of Cleveland.

Elizabeth Harding will be doing summer ministry at the Second Unitarian Church of Chicago during July and August. After her summer ministry, she will be moving to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to start a year-long Chaplaincy residency at Luther Middelfort Hospital, part of the Mayo Clinic system.

Sara Hayman will be serving as Director of Volunteer Services at Hancock County Hospice in Ellsworth, Maine.

Tamara Lebak will be serving as Assistant Minister at All Souls, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Roger Mohr will be serving as Minister at the Unitarian Church, Burlington, Iowa.

William Neely will be serving as Minister, Neshoba Unitarian Universalist Church, Cordova, Tennessee.

In August, Rosemarie Newberry will be starting a Chaplaincy residency at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey and will be there through May, 2007.

While enrolled in the Modified Residency Program at Meadville Lombard, Vera O'Brien worked half-time as the Lifespan Religious Educator at Arlington Street Church (Massachusetts) and also as a hospital chaplain at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She will continue in these positions and begins training to become a Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor this fall.

Jane Page was called by the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Statesboro, Georgia to be their first minister (serving half time) and began serving there on July 1.  She will also provide a ministerial presence one weekend a month at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Valdosta, Georgia.

Craig Schwalenberg will be starting in August as the new Assistant Minister at the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, working with that congregation and with the Rev. Drew Kennedy.  Craig and Cheryl are happy to be moving back to their home state and hope to be fully moved and unpacked by late July.

Leela Sihna will be serving as Assistant Minister, First Unitarian, Portland, Oregon.

Doctor of Ministry and Master of Arts Graduates

Above, Left: Doctor of Ministry graduates Vilius Rudra Dundzila and Bonnie Jean Meyer.  Right: Master of Arts in Theology graduates Sheryl Reda and Hugh Visor.

In addition to earning his Doctor of Ministry degree from Meadville Lombard, Vilius Rudra Dundzila also graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a Graduate Certificate in Community College Learning and Teaching. This degree provides qualifications for his community ministry of community college faculty. His community ministry continues, as before.  Rudra has also served as faculty consultant for religious and ethical issues on the City Colleges of Chicago stem cell study topic, that culminated in a PBS TV show: The Great Divide: The Stem Cell Debate, City Colleges of Chicago WYCC-TV20, 2006. It aired in Chicago in March and subsequently on different PBS affiliates across the nation. "I am currently serving as faculty consultant for the 2006-07 academic year study topic of globalization, with a PBS TV show in the making for Spring of 2007."

Bonnie Jean Meyer has just been promoted to Director of Spiritual Care for the Hospice of the Bluegrass.  The Hospice of the Bluegrass serves a daily census of over 800 hospice patients in 23 counties in Kentucky.