Citation Archives - 51��Ƶ

William Seth Adams

erics — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 21:32:00 +0000

Quintessential teacher, gracious host, priest of the church, and friend. A craftsman and sculptor of liturgical imaginations, you are fascinated by how imagery shapes our experiences in the church.
Born in Arkansas, raised in St. Louis, you earned undergraduate degrees at Washington University and Bexley Hall and a Master’s and a PhD at Princeton University.
Following ordination in 1967, you served parishes in Missouri and New Jersey until 1975 when you joined Vancouver School of Theology to teach liturgy and church history for seven years. You accepted the appointment of Professor of Liturgics and Anglican studies at 51��Ƶ in 1982, and held the J. Milton Richardson chair at 51��Ƶ for 23 years.
In 1988, you were invited to lead a clergy retreat in the Diocese of Missouri. The meditations that you offered became the seed of a book that your students encouraged you to publish. In this book – Shaped by Images – you offer the reader a set of images of the one who is called to preside in the Assembly. “It is not my intent,” you say in your introduction, “to transfer into the hands and heart of ‘the one’ something which belongs to the community, but rather to say that within the community ‘one’ presides.” The title and structure of this book reflect something significant of its author. You are one who is shaped by and has shaped so many others by “images”. You are one who “imagines”.
Your former student Chad Vaughn says, “Even a casual conversation with Bill will reveal his preferred use of the verb ‘imagine’ over the more commonly used verbs ‘think’ or ‘feel’. Imagining is essential to who Bill Adams is and how Bill Adams teaches. He imagines that the liturgists he forms might be at best both ‘conservators of the received tradition and provocateurs of its most creative expression and enrichment’, thus seemingly offering assent, yearning, belief, and hope – all at the same time.”
St. James’ Episcopal Church in Austin was beneficiary of your good care, leadership, teaching and pastoral presence. Bishop Greg Rickel, the former Rector of St. James – as well as your former student – recalls that, “Countless people lay and ordained, across this church we share, have been taught and formed by the life, ministry and witness of Bill Adams. He is deserving of this honor in so many ways.”
It is with admiration, affection, and gratitude for how you have nourished the imagination of generations of students and cared for congregations from New Jersey to Texas to Western Washington, that the Board of Trustees of the Episcopal Theological 51��Ƶ presents to you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.
Austin, Texas May 23, 2017

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Mary Monro MacGregor

erics — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 21:29:43 +0000

Tireless servant of the gospel, trail-blazing Leader, devoted friend to the Diocese of Texas and the Episcopal Church. Your lifelong commitment to the vitality, strength, and impact of congregations and their leaders has earned you the gratitude and admiration of many across the church.
You were raised in Houston, Texas, the daughter of the Reverend Claxton Monro and Victoria Monro, growing up at St. Stephen’s, where your father was rector for 31 years. You earned an undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University, followed by a Master of Education from Southern University.
In 1997, you were selected by Bishop Payne to serve as the Diocese of Texas’ first Mission Funding Coordinator, where you forged the first plans to help fund missionary work in the diocese. In 2003, you were chosen by Bishop Wimberly as the Diocesan Director of Leadership Development. In that role, you helped establish and oversee the Iona School for Ministry, serving as its Executive Director for 13 years. Your skilled guidance as a member of the team of seminary and diocesan leaders who created the Iona Initiative was critical to the successful creation of this program of local formation, which is now an indispensable asset for the church as a whole.
In 2014 you were appointed by Bishop Doyle as the first Lay Canon of the Diocese of Texas, where, as Canon for Congregational Vitality, you led the Mission Amplification Team focused on the significant work of developing new faith communities in the diocese. The copious listing of the work you have done in the Diocese of Texas and beyond demonstrates your passion for the mission of the Church, and that you are truly a thought-leader in our Episcopal community.
You have served as Deputy to three General Conventions, and on the Board of the Episcopal Church Women, as well as the Steering Committee of the Gathering of Leaders. You have worked insightfully and patiently with clergy, vestries, and Bishop’s Committees to address and solve leadership and
stewardship challenges.
Your long-time colleague and friend, the Rt. Rev. Dena Harrison, said, upon your retirement from the Diocese of Texas, “It has indeed been a privilege to serve for these years with Canon Mary MacGregor. Mary has labored on our behalf in so many ways and in so many venues that they can hardly be numbered. Her devotion to the health of the Church has renewed us and challenged us to be all that Our Lord would have us be. She has rolled with the punches, morphed her job as required, changed her focus as requested, and all with a true servant heart. The Diocese is richer for her accomplished and pivotal role among us.”
Thus it is with great esteem, respect and thankfulness for all you have done to serve the Episcopal Church that the Board of Trustees of the Episcopal Theological 51��Ƶ presents
to you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
Austin, Texas May 23, 2017

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Ellen Frances Davis

erics — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 21:27:47 +0000

Passionate teacher, ethically engaged scholar, Anglican preacher, biblical interpreter, faithful mentor. Your scholarship brings theological understanding and biblical studies to questions of the public good such as sustainable agriculture, community health, environmental crisis and interfaith relations.
You have earned degrees at University of California, Berkeley; Church Divinity School of the Pacific; and Yale University and you have had teaching appointments at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Yale Divinity School and Virginia Theological Seminary. Currently, you are the Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School.
Your many books display your charitable reading of Holy Scripture, interpretation that honors the text, and belief that faithful reading offers wisdom for the present. After a graduate student pointed out that you mention the land in every lecture, you began to pay attention to it in the Bible. “You can’t go more than a page or two in the Old Testament without coming across mention of the land, or food, or water, or farm animals,” you discovered. Placing your careful reading of the Old Testament in conversation with Wendell Berry and others, your book, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible invites Christians to eat, farm, and live in new and holy ways.
Author of Preaching the Luminous Word: Biblical Sermons and Homiletical Essays, you speak of biblical preaching as letting the biblical story provide exemplification, letting the brightness of the scripture shine a light to draw the hearers forward. “The bible discloses a world to us, a world with a higher ceiling, in a way. The sky is brighter in the world that the Bible discloses. It discloses that possibility through language, through words. Slow down and pay close attention to the words…you may see the unexpected.”
A revered teacher in all the schools where you have taught, your students from decades ago, many of who are now professors themselves, remember the way your course on the Psalms stimulated the mind and nourished the soul. Your commitment to justice and your love of students drew you to the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan, where you have developed theological education,
community health, and sustainable agriculture for those communities since 2004. Through your
writings you have inspired and formed students at 51��Ƶ. When told of your coming to preach this commencement, a graduate, referring to your seminal article in the Anglican Theological Review, exclaimed, “Critical Traditioning changed my life!”
In recognition of your significant accomplishments in biblical scholarship, ethics, preaching, and spiritual formation, of your contributions to the education of and mentoring for theology students, and of your influence on your many colleagues and friends across the globe, the Board of Trustees of the Episcopal Theological 51��Ƶ presents to you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
Austin, Texas May 23, 2017

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Susan G. McCann

nancy — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 22:06:46 +0000

2016 Hal Brook Perry Distinguished Alumni Award

Susan G. McCann

Alumna, priest of the church, advocate for the dignity of all people. Your ministry at Grace Episcopal Church in Liberty, Missouri has been characterized as justice-making, and the nomination for your award stated, “When I think of Susan, I see someone who truly embodies Jesus’ mandate to love all our neighbors – to be Jesus’ hands, feet and voice in our world.”
You were ordained to the priesthood in 1996 six months after your graduation from 51��Ƶ. Then Bishop of the Diocese of West Missouri John C. Buchanan appointed you vicar of Church of the Messiah, a self-described struggling mission. Four years later with your leadership that mission became a parish with a new name, Grace Church.
Earlier this summer, Grace Church celebrated the 20-year anniversary of your ordained ministry and your leadership and pastoral care among them. The proclamation for the celebration highlighted the physical and spiritual expansion the congregation has enjoyed: successful capital campaigns to build a new worship space, to improve the parish hall, and to create a playground for their children; outreach ministries focused on feeding hungry people which has led to a Jubilee Center designation by the Episcopal Church; and for the first time in its 30-plus year history, women and girls serve fully in all aspects of the parish’s life.
You have led the parish to hospitality and full incorporation of all people. Your passion for justice has led you to work with other community leaders to confront the payday loan industry, to support a livable minimum wage and health benefits for workers, to reform immigration laws, and to support rights for LGBTQ persons and same sex marriage rights. You were among the 23 faith leaders arrested in 2014 for your peaceful protest in the Senate Gallery pressing for Medicaid expansion in the State of Missouri.
Your own advocacy has received praise and recognition, but you shine the light on workers doing the holy work of fighting for justice for their families and their communities. Speaking for faith leaders supporting this work, you said, “We need you to win because when you win everyone in the community wins . . . we share the same vision, a moral economy.” Your seminary and its Alumni Association are honored to present this distinguished alumni award to you who gives the whole of yourself to your ministry, epitomizing the spirit of Hal Brook Perry.
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge Stephen Kidd
Dean and President Alumni Association President

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Virginia Garrard-Burnett

nancy — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 21:54:34 +0000

2016 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award

Virginia Garrard-Burnett

Historian, author, professor, researcher. Through your research, teaching, presentations and publications, you have shone a light on religion in Latin America and on the history of Central America.
Granddaughter of an Episcopal bishop who was consecrated by John Hines, niece of an Episcopal priest who wrote the history of the church in Nebraska, and daughter of an Episcopal priest who served parishes in Texas until his death 20 years ago, you are sensitive to the transformative power of religion and recognize it in the people you encounter.
You began your graduate studies at Tulane University focused on Mexico. But as you learned about the civil wars in Central America in the late 1970s, your interest shifted. You visited Guatemala and fell in love with the country that was experiencing a time of terrible violence. “It was terrifying, but at the same time it was exciting and invigorating and I felt like I had found a home.” A summer project of community education in Guatemala brought you close to the violence when the labor organizers scheduled to meet with you and your colleagues were murdered on the road. You reflected, “It was horrible, but it put meaning in my life. It felt like it was something really worth thinking about.”
You have followed the rise of evangelical religions in Guatemala, a historically Catholic country. You recount driving through a particularly dangerous area in the mountains and encountering people walking in the rain with joy on their faces as they played musical instruments. It was a time of war, but they were on their way to a tent meeting. “And it really struck me that if you could just tell from afar that something transformative had happened to them, it must be something worth paying attention to. So that’s what got me started.”
A member of the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin since 1990, teaching in the departments of History and Religious Studies, and a faculty affiliate of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, you were recently chosen to be the new director of LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections.
For your tremendous accomplishments in scholarship, teaching and publication, 51��Ƶ is honored to present you with the 2016 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award.
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge Nathan Jennings
Dean and President Faculty Secretary

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Jill Oettinger

nancy — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 19:31:59 +0000

The 2016 Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership

Jill Oettinger

Activist, community leader, visionary, people developer, change agent.
When you were interviewing for the Directorship at Good Samaritan and visited the childcare center for the first time, you returned home in tears, saying, “I just want for other people’s children the same quality of care and education that I want for my own children.” Your heartache turned into a commitment to children that resulted in Good Samaritan’s receiving the highest possible level of national accreditation for its childcare programs. With imagination and energy you helped the community develop traditions like Las Posadas, reenacting Mary and Joseph’s trek to Bethlehem prior to Jesus’ birth, that are open to the whole city; you researched and garnered the resources to create the edible garden and play area; you created safe places for older members of the community to gather for social events and exercise. At all times, you have sought input from the people in the neighborhood and developed local leadership to make sure that the neighborhood’s priorities drove the programs.
In 2009 the San Antonio Division of the FBI honored you with the Director’s Community Leadership Award because of your work with gang intervention. You have bravely extended hope to those caught in the misery of poverty and crime. The tenacity of your servant’s heart brought an area of San Antonio known as the “Death Triangle” a brighter future. Today, Good Samaritan Community Services fulfills its mission “to serve as a catalyst for change, supporting individuals and families by providing excellent community services to overcome the impact of poverty”. Over 16 counties in Central and West Texas benefit from the services of Good Samaritan by serving the poor through education, character development, physical activity, and self-sufficiency.
This year you celebrate 20 years as Executive Director of Good Samaritan. In that time hundreds of lives have been transformed as a result of your vision and leadership. The poor have heard and seen the good news through your commitment to serve.
51��Ƶ is proud to honor you with the 2016 Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership.
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge Nathan Jennings
Dean and President Faculty Secretary

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Bertha Sadler Means

nancy — Tue, 24 May 2016 20:20:39 +0000

Educator, businesswoman, civil rights leader. You see the best in others and refuse to contribute less than your very best self to any endeavor. You are an inspiration to your accomplished family, the Austin community, your alma mater Huston- Tillotson College, and your church, St. James’ Episcopal Church, where you and your late husband are founding members.
Working in cotton fields during the Depression didn’t keep you from winning a scholarship to college and earning degrees in English and education. You taught at Blackshear Elementary, Kealing Junior High and Allan Junior High. You earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Texas at Austin. You retired from the Austin Independent School District after a long teaching career. In 2002, the School District awarded you the W. Charles Akins African American Heritage Award for your character, leadership, and community service. Austin’s Young Women’s Leadership Academy bears your name.
Michael Barnes’ 2013 feature “Six generations of courage and vision from an Austin family” for the Austin American Statesman’s Ancestral Austin series, tells the story of your family’s successful efforts through persistence, hard work and confidence to rid Austin of “the last remnants of Jim Crow segregation.” When your children were not allowed to skate at the Ice Palace rink on the same day that you were denied access to a driving range on Burnet road, your anger moved you to organize. A life of discrimination and the determination to change the world for your children fired your resolve. And change happened.
You and your husband James, a member of the mathematics faculty of what is now Huston-Tillotson University, organized, picketed, and stayed the course towards the end of segregated education in Austin. You integrated the teachers’ credit union. Your daughter Patricia was the first African-American to graduate from St. Stephen’s Episcopal School. Your son James, Jr. is the first African-American to letter in UT athletics. Your daughter Joan fought to desegregate Barton Springs and Zilker Park after not being allowed to swim or attend her high school senior picnic.
Since 1984, you have owned and run Austin Cab Company. You have served the Huston-Tillotson board of trustees, the Human Relations Commission, Austin Parks Commission, the NAACP, the Urban League, Alpha Kappa Alpha and the Austin chapter of Jack & Jill of America, a family organization for African American mothers. When you and a small group of Episcopalians were not welcomed in Austin’s white Episcopal churches in the early 40s, you reached out to the Diocese of Texas to found St. James’, which is now a large multi-cultural community.
“Bertha Means is a force of nature,” says your friend Judge Lora Livingston. “One minute she is leading the charge concerning an issue of civic importance, and the next minute she is organizing a black tie event for visiting dignitaries. She is admired and adored by the people she has mentored, and she continues to teach and lead by example.”
For your vision and courage, for your leadership and tremendous accomplishments, and for your dedication to education and civil rights, we are honored to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
Austin, Texas May 24, 2016

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John A. Logan, Jr.

nancy — Tue, 24 May 2016 20:13:36 +0000

Sixty-three years a devoted priest, respected preacher and teacher, carrier of the Gospel to the streets, holder of vast knowledge about the church, you have served tirelessly the Episcopal Church in Texas with your keen intellect, extraordinary discipline and organization, and your deep liturgical understanding.
You were reared in the Presbyterian Church in La Grange, Texas, but were drawn to the Episcopal Church by the prayer book liturgy while you were a student at The University of Texas in Austin. Following your law school studies completed there when you were 21 years old, you entered Virginia Theological Seminary for your preparation for ministry. Ordained by Bishop John Hines in 1953, you have served St. Timothy’s, Waco; St. Luke’s Hospital, Houston; Church of the Good Shepherd, Austin; and, Christ Church Cathedral in Houston where you were Canon Pastor, then Canon and Sub Dean, then Acting Dean. While you were at the Cathedral, you authored the book Dowered with Gifts: The Second Quarter of the Second Century of Christ Church Cathedral. As Canon Emeritus for the Cathedral, where you have given three and a half decades of your life, you continue to fulfill Sunday duties preaching and teaching. A long-time parishioner at the Cathedral recently spoke of your intolerance for politicians’ foolishness, which you may vent in a sermon. “Our regular attendance of late is in anticipation of his vocal reaction to the nonsense of this political season. It’s about time for a barn burner!”
You hold the conviction that belief in Jesus requires the Church to care for people in need. While you served as Canon Pastor to the Cathedral, you played a key role in founding a ministry that gives “Compassionate Direction Toward Independence” to people who are homeless. That ministry, called COMPASS, continues to transform lives today. “Johnny’s Walkers,” a group you founded more recently, has raised over $85,000 for the AIDS Foundation during the annual AIDS walk in Houston.
Bishop Claude Payne called you to be Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of Texas in 1996, a position you held until you reached the church’s mandatory retirement age of 72; however, now as Canon Emeritus of the diocese, you continue your work as Secretary of the Diocese, five days a week, eight hours a day, a position you’ve held since 1986.
“Canon Logan is an icon of faithfulness,” reflects Bishop Dena Harrison. “His love for God and for God’s Church has inspired generations of Episcopalians to greater faith and service, and his devotion to the Diocese of Texas and its history has enriched our common life in countless ways.”
In recognition of the many outstanding contributions you have made to the church in the Diocese of Texas, 51��Ƶ is honored to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.
Austin, Texas May 24, 2016

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Michael Bruce Curry

nancy — Tue, 24 May 2016 20:02:16 +0000

Powerful preacher, chief evangelism officer, presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church. You call the church to change the world “through the power of love,” to join hands with other Christians, people of other faiths, atheists, agnostics and seekers who want a different world. You call the church to the hard work of evangelism and reconciliation. “The Holy Spirit has done this work before in the Episcopal Church and it can be done again for a new day.”
Son of an Episcopal priest, grandson of a Baptist preacher, you grew up in Buffalo, New York. After graduating from Hobart College with honors in religious studies, you went on to earn a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School. Ordained in 1978, you served churches in North Carolina, Ohio and Maryland before being elected bishop in North Carolina in 2000.
In 2013, you published Crazy Christians: A Call to Follow Jesus. You write that the church needs crazy Christians who believe that “the love of God is greater than all the powers of evil and death…that there is a way to lay down our swords and shields, down by the riverside.” You call the church to craziness. You call us to develop, recruit and engage “Crazy Christians” to join the Jesus movement, to love, give and forgive like Jesus.
In 2015, you published Songs My Grandma Sang. These are the songs that your ancestors who were former slaves in Alabama and North Carolina, passed down to you. You write, “Their songs and sayings reflected a deep faith and profound wisdom that taught them how to shout ‘glory’ while cooking in ‘sorrow’s kitchen’, as they used to say. In this there was a hidden treasure that saw many of them through, and that is now a spiritual inheritance for those of us who have come after them.”
You are the first African-American to be elected presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, and your landslide election last summer to succeed Katharine Jefferts Schori as presiding bishop was a joyous celebration for the church. When asked by a reporter how you will be different from Bishop Katharine you answered, “Our diet. I’m a carnivore. She’s not…I eat anything.”
You preached the message of love to our graduates in this sanctuary three years ago while you were bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina. Your former chaplain while a student at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in the early 70s was in the congregation that day, Dean Emeritus Dusty McDonald, whom you credit with influencing you to pursue the priesthood.
51��Ƶ is most honored to welcome you back to Texas with affection and with gratitude for the open-hearted leadership that characterizes your ministry and that promises to be the foundation the church’s racial reconciliation and evangelism under your watch, and we are honored to present you with the Doctor of Divinity honoris causa.
Austin, Texas May 24, 2016

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Sarah Peet

nancy — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 19:07:47 +0000

The 2015 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award

Sarah Peet

Innovative Christian educator, insightful child psychologist, fearless Scout troop leader, brilliant Sunday school curriculum-designer, patient production company manager. Theme park designer, hand-washer, tear-dryer, and a legend among the guild of papier-mâché artists. For more than 30 years you have guided the children and youth of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Austin in exploring the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Under your supervision, students have constantly discovered new ways to discover the Good News through drama, language, and the astonishingly versatile artifacts of construction paper, Elmer’s Glue, coat buttons and thread. The themes that animate your classroom are the same that animate your own faith: discipleship, stewardship, evangelism, sacraments, justice and an eye for the miraculous in the midst of the mundane.
You are always on the lookout for the ones in need of extra care. One year when you observed that the boys were dominating the classroom both in numbers and in energy, you created the girls’ overnight camping trip and candlelight breakfast, now an honored tradition at All Saints’. One colleague notes the care you take in attending to those who demand it along with those who might otherwise remain invisible. “Whether children are shy or gregarious, precocious or developmentally challenged, total hams or introverts . . . Sarah respects their preferences and finds ways for them to participate fully and enjoy the activity.” Another observer notes that the cute and agreeable children garner no more of your attention that the disagreeable ones. “Good News indeed if you belong to the second category.”
Among your great gifts is your stunning courage in the face of any and every mess. If the floor is littered with tiny paper triangles and dollops of plaster, and if the campground is sticky with marshmallows and chocolate, it was a good day. You would never be content with telling students the story of Jonah and Moses: in your class they crawl into the dark belly of an enormous fish, and climb a mountain to get a copy of the stone tablets. Young children can’t wait to be old enough to travel to these experiential theme parks, and older ones eagerly anticipate writing and making their own bible-themed movies. You delight in giving children the permission to be themselves, to take joy in one another, to discover their own creativity, and to experience the strange, wonderful, breath-taking world of God’s Word.
There is simply no way of counting the number of lives that you have changed and the quantity of good news you have passed along over your many years in the classroom. Your courage, your intuition, and your ability to listen for God’s still small voice in the most unlikely of contexts, are an inspiration.
In recognition of your commitment to your students and to the art of respectful and engaging teaching, 51��Ƶ is proud to present you with the 2015 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award.

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge Nathan Jennings
Dean and President Faculty Secretary

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Charles James Cook

nancy — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 16:15:23 +0000

The 2015 Hal Brook Perry Distinguished Alumni Award

Charles James Cook

Priest, educator, mentor, consultant, servant leader. You have blessed 51��Ƶ with your 44-year association, beginning with your matriculation to the MDiv in 1971 and continuing to the present as professor emeritus of pastoral theology, sometimes adjunct professor and author of a history of the seminary, Striking Up for a New World, published on the occasion of the seminary’s 60-year anniversary.
Son of Texas, Pampa in the Texas Panhandle to be exact, you have slowed the world down with students and colleagues alike with your knack for storytelling and your gentle counsel to take time to read the landscape before hurrying to change.
You served parishes in Texas, North Carolina and Missouri before returning to your alma mater in 1985 to be assistant professor of pastoral theology and director of theological field education and then professor of pastoral theology. Your students and colleagues have benefitted from your perspective on parish life. “Charlie’s wisdom about congregational leadership has shaped generations of our graduates,” says Dean Kittredge. “His comic insight into human character and parish life continues to nourish his former students who speak of drawing on his teaching ‘almost daily.’ He offers his compassionate support and spiritual counsel to many now in Austin and the Panhandle and beyond.”
Your faculty colleagues so respected your contributions to the life of the faculty and your legacy of collaboration and commitment that they established the Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership, which is given each year at Matriculation to someone who embodies the Christian commitment to selfless service on behalf of others.
The late Reid Morgan nominated you for this distinguished alumni award, recalling that you have been a “decisive force for good” throughout the church and that you have helped “mold the hearts of countless students, lay folk, bishops, priests and deacons” and instilled the “heart of a servant into all.”
Your former student and friend, Bishop Scott Mayer, thanked God for sending you to 51��Ƶ, “a boy from Pampa, who became an icon to many, and yet somehow simultaneously, a friend.” Charlie, your seminary and Alumni Association are honored to present you with the 2015 Hal Brook Perry Distinguished Alumni Award.

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge Stephen Kidd
Dean and President Alumni Association President

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Susan Rushing

nancy — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 20:02:51 +0000

The 2015 Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership

Susan Rushing

Counselor, chief executive officer of Burke counseling center, church deacon and advocate for person centered care for mental health among the underprivileged. Your influence and dedication to service spans the regional, state, national, and church spheres.
Your work to raise the standards of mental health care for the underserved has made a profound difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals and families as they seek mental health care across this nation, the state of Texas, and especially the counties in eastern Texas. You believe deeply that state of the art mental health care should not discriminate against class or race. This has been demonstrated in your work at the national and state levels with the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, Mental Health Corporations of America, the National Council for Community Mental Health Centers, the Texas Council of Community Centers, and Burke counseling centers.
For 35 years you have been actively engaged in the social justice ministries of Austin Heights Baptist Church. There you have participated in many roles and currently serve as a deacon. This worshipping community provided you with your spiritual calling and continues to nourish your soul for the work God has called you to do. You quoted from Frederick Buechner to explain the depth of your spiritual vocation to serve in the mental health field and in Burke in particular. “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
Your energy is boundless and infectious. Your devotion and passion to the causes you engage lift the spirits of those who work alongside you.
As your friend and colleague Jake Squiers says, “Susan exemplifies the servant leader principles; she enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world. Her vision has led Burke to be recognized as a state and national industry leader in community behavioral health services.”
Because of your leadership, your visionary planning in national and local mental health services, and your commitment to a community of compassion, creativity, and collaboration, 51��Ƶ is honored to present you with the Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership.
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge David Scheider
Dean and President Faculty Host

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Robert C. Schorr

nancy — Tue, 12 May 2015 22:34:10 +0000

2015 Trustees’ Award

Seminary trustee, diocesan strategist and church planting manager, construction overseer, visionary planner extraordinaire, devoted Episcopalian and friend to 51��Ƶ. As a member of the board of trustees, you have given faithful and indefatigable service to this institution for 17 years. Throwing yourself into whatever you do, you have served board governance, strategic planning and dean search committees, and you were appointed executive chair of the board six years ago.

Following your studies in political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln– alma mater to two other successful leaders in their fields, Johnny Carson and Warren Buffett– you joined the largest natural gas distributor in North America located in Omaha, Nebraska, transferred with them to Minneapolis and then to Houston in 1988, following the merger that formed Enron – a 23 year-long career that included serving as vice president.

Bishop Claude Payne recruited you to the seminary’s board of trustees in 1998. Your orientation to that position took place over breakfast at the board’s retreat. During that informal session, you asked for an assignment. Then Chair of the Board David Harvin invited you to chair the long range planning committee, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Whether it was long range planning or governance your vision for 51��Ƶ has never been small, and it continues to inform the current development of the campus master plan. You contributed countless hours during the reorganization of the board, recruiting trustees who possess outstanding expertise and leadership capacity for the good of our seminary.

You have been known to say, “I never let my lack of knowledge prevent me from having an opinion.” Always thinking ahead, always with focused attention to strategic planning, always with the very best for this institution at heart, you have helped steer the seminary through tumultuous as well as very good times during the tenure of five deans.

In gratitude for your enthusiasm, your continual belief in 51��Ƶ and your commitment to her growth and prosperity, your fellow members of the board present you with the Trustees’ Award for 2015.

May 12, 2015 Austin, Texas

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Mariann Edgar Budde

nancy — Tue, 12 May 2015 22:28:00 +0000

Bishop, prophetic preacher, prayerful, reflective leader “who is a lot of fun to work with.” As the ninth bishop and first woman to lead the Diocese of Washington, you have been a strong voice on social justice issues such as gun violence, immigration, marriage equality and racial justice. You have combined those concerns with your passion for congregational vitality—not only church growth, but also strengthening parishes for ministry in their neighborhoods and empowering them for lively and engaging worship.

A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Rochester, New York, you went on to earn master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Virginia Theological Seminary. You were ordained priest in 1989, then served Trinity Episcopal Church in Toledo, Ohio before you were called to be rector of St. John’s, Minneapolis where you served for 18 years.

Since your consecration and installation in 2011, congregational development and renewal have been a focus of your episcopacy and of the diocesan staff under your leadership. You are a collaborator and a mentor connecting clergy to each other for support and for strengthening the mission of the church.

In spite of a full and busy schedule, you are known for your commitment to prayer and bible study in your meetings. One priest in your diocese says, “People love Bishop Mariann. Clergy love her because she’s present with them when they need her for pastoral issues or brainstorming ideas about their congregation. Parishioners love her because they connect with her through her weekly blog posts, which are relevant to everyone’s spiritual life.”

Christian hospitality characterizes your ministry and your family whether is it welcoming a Muslim prayer service in a Christian worship space in your diocese or inviting a person into your home because she needs a place to go. You believe that Christianity can be strong and kind.

In celebration of your ministry among us today and in recognition of your outstanding leadership shared with the greater Church, we are honored to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

May 12, 2015 Austin, Texas

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John Louis Peterson

nancy — Tue, 12 May 2015 22:25:10 +0000

Priest of the church, bridge builder, author, educator, trusted advisor. Your ministry has taken you to seats of power and to places hard to locate on a map.

Educated at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Chicago Institute of Advanced Theological Studies you served churches in Michigan and Illinois, assisted the bishop in the Diocese of Western Michigan and led St. George’s College, Jerusalem as its dean for 12 years.

In 1995 you began your service as the secretary general of the worldwide Anglican Communion headquartered in London providing support and counsel to the Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates meeting, the Lambeth Conference and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In an address to the convention of the Diocese of 51��Ƶ Florida in 2003, you said, “The main thing [my work as secretary general] has taught me is how to look at priorities, priorities for the Church…priorities for organizations within the Church, and sometimes the hardest, personal priorities. As I travel in this magnificent family, which we call the Anglican Communion I see a world where people do not have enough food to eat…where people live in fear because they have HIV/AIDS infection…where people are not understood…where people lack educational opportunities, or they are victims of racism or sexism…where people, especially children are abused in every possible way from general neglect to the very worst things imaginable.” Your call to the diocese that night was to keep Jesus’ command to ‘Love one another’ in all their decision-making.

You went on to be the first canon for global justice and reconciliation at the Washington National Cathedral where you focused on global issues of violence, poverty and disease and established the Cathedral’s Christian Muslim Summit initiatives. Most recently, you have served as the president of the Compass Rose Society, an international charitable organization that provides financial support to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Consultative Council. You are Anglican canon at St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem, and you have been named honorary canon at cathedrals in Nigeria, Tanzania, and South Africa.

Your leadership roles throughout the church are marked by dedicated service and love for the church’s mission in a hurting world. For your outstanding and distinguished ministries here and abroad, we are pleased to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

May 12, 2015 Austin, Texas

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Brian Richard Seage

nancy — Tue, 12 May 2015 22:21:30 +0000

51��Ƶ alumnus, bishop of the Diocese of Mississippi, dad to Katie and Betsy, spouse to our alumna, Kyle Dice Seage. You came to 51��Ƶ from sunny California, fell in love with a classmate from Mississippi, and following your graduation moved to her diocese, where you and Kyle have served since your ordination to the priesthood.

Raised in Thousand Oaks, California, you earned your undergraduate degree from Pepperdine University, then returned to your hometown to serve as director of youth ministry at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church where you managed a team of volunteers to support both the junior and senior high youth groups, coordinated the Habitat for Humanity program and served the chapel program at the church’s day school.

Your first call in the Diocese of Mississippi was as curate at St. John’s, Ocean Springs, then as rector of St. Thomas in Diamondhead where you served for seven years. Under your leadership, attendance and programming grew, a building program was completed and average Sunday attendance doubled. St. Columb’s in Ridgeland, Mississippi, called you to be their rector in 2005. The church’s attendance and programs grew and a large building project was completed. You served St. Columb’s until the diocese elected you bishop coadjutor in May 2014.

You have been a camp director at Camp Bratton-Green every summer since 2006, a position you intend to keep during your episcopacy. You credit your call to ministry, in large part, to the parish of your youth in Thousand Oaks and their decision to hire a priest to work with the young people. “That experience made all the difference in my own life and helped me develop a love for our church and traditions but also to get close enough to God to hear the call.”

At your consecration, your seminary classmate and the preacher, Bishop Greg Rickel remembered meeting you at seminary, a surfer dude from California who introduced him to the word “stoked.” A word common to the surfing culture, to be stoked is a good thing. Seeing good waves will evoke stokedness. On February 6, 2015, concluding your address to diocesan council, you said, “I believe Christ is calling us to get stoked…that’s right, get stoked for doing his work.”

In recognition of your faithful ministry and of your leadership and service in Mississippi where you believe “Christ is calling us to be a dwelling place for God,” your alma mater is stoked to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

May 12, 2015 Austin, Texas

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Steven Thomason

nancy — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 20:48:30 +0000

2014 Hal Brook Perry Award
Steven Lynn Thomason

Episcopal priest, family physician, hospice doctor, husband and father. You have given quiet, skillful and diligent service on behalf of the church’s mission and on behalf of your patients.

You earned your bachelor’s degree from the University of the South and your doctor of medicine degree from the University of Arkansas. Your 20-year medical practice began in Arkansas in 1992 and continued throughout your studies at 51��Ƶ where you earned the Master of Divinity degree in 2004. You are board certified in family medicine and in hospice and palliative medicine.

You have served as rector of St. Thomas in Springdale, Arkansas, and as canon missioner for the Diocese of Arkansas. You served as interim CEO of the Circle of Life Hospice while you were priest associate at St. Paul’s in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In 2012, St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, Washington called you to be their seventh dean.

Your friend and classmate Torey Lightcap noted that you “often challenged professors and other students with the urgent question of relevance: ‘What does this have to do with baptismal ministry?’” In your sermon titled “Continuing the Covenant” preached at St. Mark’s Cathedral last year, you recounted your earlier “predisposition to make every conversation about the Baptismal Covenant.” You see covenant as a gift in which two parties become one “and the synergy of that connection can change the world.”

Your conviction that changing the world is possible because of God’s continued covenant with us is evident in your ministry as doctor and as priest. You are one who focuses your time on your priorities and gives yourself wholly to them, including seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself and striving for justice and peace among all people.

Following the Cathedral vestry’s decision to allow Tent City for the homeless back on cathedral grounds, you challenged the Cathedral congregation with a question of covenant: “What else might we be called to consider in the pursuit of God’s justice—not because it is right, but because love would have us do no other?” Your seminary and Alumni Association are honored to present you with the 2014 Hal Brook Perry Distinguished Alumni Award.

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge R. Reid Morgan III
Dean and President Alumni Association President

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Steven Tomlinson

nancy — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 20:45:32 +0000

The 2014 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award
Steven Tomlinson

Master teacher, careful listener, monologist, writer, thoughtful preacher, award winning economics lecturer. Whether you are teaching the “Life of Meaning” course at the Acton School of Business or leading a class on stewardship at St. James Episcopal Church, you combine authenticity with genuine concern for your students.

You teach with passion, imagination, depth, and relevance. Your faculty colleagues at the Acton School of Business describe your pedagogy as one that provides “strong, compassionate, wise guidance” inside and outside the classroom.

Your commitment is evident in your collegial support of other teachers. One of your associates describes you as a “teachers’ teacher”. You require of yourself a high standard of integrity and attention to the details of your vocation and call those with whom you serve to the same standard. Yet, you do this with such positive regard for others that your mentorship is appreciated and effects change. As you offered critique and guidance to a fellow teacher, he not only became a better teacher but said, “In the process, I also learned how to be a better man and through his role modeling, a better Christian.”

Friend and former colleague, the Rev. Seth Adams, describes your teaching style as one that promotes ‘curiosity.’ Your openness to dialogue, questioning, creativity, and your respect for your students invites others to a deeper life of faith. You are able to maintain academic rigor while encouraging those who are novices.

It has been observed that you know the power of silence as an avenue to greater understanding. While many think that teaching is about talking, you incorporate reflection and contemplation into your pedagogy.

It is impossible to calculate the number of lives you have influenced through TEDx events and through your teaching at 51��Ƶ, the Acton School of Business, the McCombs School of Business, and St. James Episcopal Church. Your impact has been great. The University of Texas’s Ex-Students’ Association honored your teaching as did your former University of Texas MBA students.

In recognition of your commitment to your students and to the art of respectful and engaging teaching, 51��Ƶ is proud to present you with the 2014 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award.

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge Nathan Jennings
Dean and President Faculty Secretary

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Irit Umani

nancy — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 15:58:58 +0000

The 2014 Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership
Irit Umani

Humanitarian, peace activist, spiritual guide, educator, advocate for the marginalized, and friend to the homeless. You have dedicated your life to caring for the voiceless, those in danger, and those in need of hope.

Israeli-born, you established and directed the Haifa Women’s Crisis Shelter, which continues to this day, and is the only shelter in Israel whose board and staff consist of women from Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. In a land ravaged by violence and segregated by religion, the shelter demonstrates that when faith is focused on compassion, healing has a starting place.

Your spirituality draws deeply from several religious traditions. Your understanding of these traditions is that they call us to action. The three years you lived in intentional community in New Mexico helped you to understand how your life of service and spiritual awareness could inform your vocation. Not long afterwards, you answered an ad on craigslist, which brought you to our fair city to become the executive director of Trinity Center.

The day center provides friendship and support for people who have no home and few, if any, deep connections. Your leadership gifts permeate the ethos of the staff and volunteers who serve alongside you. Those who come to Trinity Center for assistance are called “neighbors,” which reflects the commitment to see each one as a friend. You have said that ‘love for your neighbor’ is what guides your work and your sense of how you serve the Beloved.

Friends remember your extra care when one of the neighbors was dying of cancer. You found a place for her to live her last days with respect, and you held a memorial service following her death. The neighbors of Trinity Center gathered to honor and remember their friend when no one else did.

Your love of people, your commitment to honor each person, and your welcoming presence are constants of your life. Colleagues at Trinity Center describe your work as your “calling.” You have said that the path of service is not that of the preacher or the prophet; rather, it is the path of the Levite who keeps the temple clean and makes certain that there is oil for the lamp.

Because of your life’s work of leading by serving, of making the temple inviting and of keeping the lamp burning for the neighbors, 51��Ƶ is honored to present you with the Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership.

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge Nathan Jennings
Dean and President Faculty Secretary

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John Sealy Jockusch

nancy — Tue, 13 May 2014 21:40:11 +0000

John Sealy Jockusch

Líder cristiano firme, fiel, visionario y generoso. El servir y dar caracterizan todos los aspectos de su vida. A medida que su rector de San David , San Antonio dice: " Ya sea en un papel de liderazgo o en uno de apoyo detrás de las escenarios, John es un pilar para el clero y los laicos por igual. "

Hijo de Texas, criado en Galveston y dejó de asistir a la Universidad de Rice para servir en la Segunda Guerra Mundial en el Cuerpo Aéreo del Ejército. Su carrera como corredor de bolsa y su matrimonio con su amada Sue lo han mantenido en San Antonio, donde criaron a su familia y se convirtió en un partidario activo de la misión y el ministerio de la Iglesia y Escuela Episcopal de San David de la Diócesis Episcopal de West Texas.

Usted se retiró como vicepresidente mayor a la edad de 92, después de 60 años con Morgan Stanley, con una clientela impresionante. Muchos de esos clientes permanecen como sus amigos cercanos.

Hoy en día, usted es presidente conjunto de la campaña capital de la Iglesia y la Escuela de San David. Ha servido a su iglesia como oficial de la iglesia por de dos términos, tres períodos como director de finanzas y como lector laico de mucho tiempo y entrenador del Ministerio Eucarístico laico. Usted sirvió como tesorero de la Diócesis de West Texas durante veinte años y como presidente de Episcopal Churchmen's Association por petición del obispo Everett Jones a quien usted admiraba mucho.

Usted da generosamente su tiempo y apoyo financiero a muchas escuelas y asociaciones sin fines de lucro, y usted es un líder visionario que inspira a otros a que hagan lo mejor. Siempre en movimiento usted ama la vida y la llena de funciones sociales; jugando el juego de cartas pitch, póquer o tenis; asistiendo a eventos de la comunidad y participando en actividades de la iglesia.

Por su liderazgo, sus logros y su gran ejemplo de una vida de gratitud y servicio, tenemos el honor de otorgarle el Grado de Doctor Honoris Causa en Letras Humanas.

Austin, Texas 13 de mayo de 2014

Steadfast, faithful, visionary, generous Christian leader. Serving and giving characterize every aspect of your life. As your rector at St. David’s, San Antonio says, “Whether in a leadership role or in one of support behind the scenes, John is a pillar to clergy and laity alike.”

Son of Texas, you grew up in Galveston and left to attend Rice University and to serve in World War II in the Army Air Corps. Your career as a stock broker and your marriage to your beloved Sue kept you in San Antonio where you raised your family and became an active supporter of the mission and ministry of St. David’s Episcopal Church and School and of The Episcopal Diocese of West Texas.

After 60 years with Morgan Stanley, you retired at the age of 92 as senior vice president with an impressive client following. Many of those clients remain your close friends.

Today, you are co-chair of St. David’s Church and School capital campaign. You have served your church as senior warden for two terms, three terms as finance chair, and as a long-time lay reader and Lay Eucharistic Ministry trainer. At the request of Bishop Everett Jones whom you greatly admired, you served as treasurer for The Diocese of West Texas for twenty years as well as serving as president of Episcopal Churchman’s Association.

You give generously of your time and financial support to many non-profits, schools and associations, and you are a visionary leader who inspires others to do their best. Always on the go, you love life and fill it with social functions; playing pitch, poker or tennis; attending community events; and participating in church activities.

For your leadership, your accomplishments, and your tremendous example of a life of gratitude and service, we are honored to award you the Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

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Alejandro Sixto Montes Mendoza

nancy — Tue, 13 May 2014 21:36:37 +0000

Alejandro Sixto Montes Mendoza

Evangelista, discípulo, abogado, sacerdote de la iglesia. Su viaje para cumplir su vocación le ha llevado a muchas millas de su casa hasta Houston, Texas donde usted ha ministrado durante veintinueve años.

Nacido en las montañas de Perú en una familia de nueve, el hogar era un lugar listo para dejar cuando fuera posible. Las calles le ofrecieron un alivio de un padre abusivo, hasta que un generoso dueño de una tienda le diera trabajo y un lugar para vivir con su familia cuando era un adulto joven.

Su compromiso con Jesús hecho en la Iglesia Alianza Cristiana y Misionera en Lima fue seguido por los estudios teológicos, su matrimonio con Laura, y un llamado a pastorear dos iglesias en el Perú.

Laura y usted, junto con sus dos hijos, se mudaron a Guatemala buscando educación adicional, para sus estudios superiores en el Seminario Teológico Centroamericano. Además de ser un estudiante de honor, usted dirigió dos congregaciones. Al graduarse, los pastores de la Iglesia Alianza Cristiana y Misionera le invitaron a dirigir una iglesia en Harlingen, Texas y luego en McAllen, Texas.

El haber conocido a Hugo Pina-López, quien se convertiría en el primer obispo de Honduras, ha demostrado ser un regalo de Dios para usted y para la Iglesia Episcopal. Después de mudarse desde McAllen hasta Houston, usted fue golpeado y asaltado mientras estaba trabajando de repartidor. Mientras estaba hospitalizado y en busca de ayuda, usted llamó al Padre Pina-López cuya tarjeta de negocios tenia con usted. Su bondad le condujo a su congregación de habla hispana en San Mateo, y el resto, como dicen "es historia".

Ordenado diácono en 1989 y al sacerdocio ocho meses más tarde, usted eventualmente se convirtió en el vicario de Iglesia Episcopal de San Mateo. Llegando a crecer a más de 800 miembros, San Mateo se convirtió en la primera misión de habla hispana que llegó a ser una parroquia en los Estados Unidos, y usted, su primer rector.

Sus principios de vida del evangelismo, la administración, el discipulado y la familia le han llevado y bendecido sus congregaciones y las comunidades en las cuales ministra.

En reconocimiento a su liderazgo, logros sobresalientes y servicio al Evangelio, nos complace otorgarle a usted el grado de Doctor Honoris Causa en Divinidad.

Austin, Texas 13 de mayo de 2014

Evangelist, disciple, advocate, priest of the church. Your journey to fulfill your vocation has taken you many miles from home to Houston, Texas where you have ministered for twenty-nine years.

Born in the mountains of Peru to a family of nine, home was a place to leave whenever possible. The streets offered relief from an abusive father until a generous shop owner gave you work and a place to live with his family when you were a young adult.

Your commitment to Jesus made at a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Lima was followed by theological studies, your marriage to Laura, and a call to pastor two churches in Peru.

Seeking additional education, you and Laura moved your two children to Guatemala for your further study at the Seminario Teologico Centroamericano. Besides being an honor student, you led two congregations. Upon graduating, Christian and Missionary Alliance Church pastors invited you to lead a church in Harlingen, Texas and then in McAllen, Texas.

Meeting Hugo Pina-Lopez, who would become the first bishop of Honduras, proved to be a gift from God for you and for the Episcopal Church. Following a move from McAllen to Houston, you were beaten and robbed while on a delivery job. Hospitalized and looking for help, you called Father Pina-Lopez whose business card you’d kept. His kindness led you to his Spanish-speaking congregation at St. Matthew’s, and the rest as they say “is history.”

Ordained to the diaconate in 1989 and to the priesthood eight months later, you eventually became the vicar of Iglesia Episcopal San Mateo. Growing to over 800 members, San Mateo became the first Spanish-speaking mission to become a parish in the United States, and you, their first rector.

Your life principles of evangelism, stewardship, discipleship and family have led you and blessed your congregations and the communities in which they minister. In recognition of your leadership, outstanding accomplishments and service to the Gospel, we are pleased to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

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Justo Luis González

nancy — Tue, 13 May 2014 21:21:19 +0000

Justo Luis González

Historiador preeminente, autor prolífico, mentor generoso, líder servidor. Tanto sus contribuciones a la educación teológica como el ánimo y apoyo a los académicos y la iglesia hispana no pueden ser exagerados. Su vida y su obra enriquecen profundamente a los estudiantes, educadores y laicos/as en los seminarios y en las congregaciones de todo el mundo.

Nació en La Habana, Cuba. Hijo de la Dra. Luisa García Acosta y del Profesor Justo González Carrasco. Estudió en el Seminario Unido en Cuba y luego en la Universidad de Yale, donde recibió su maestría y su doctorado, siendo la persona más joven en obtener el doctorado de teología histórica en Yale.

Se unió a la facultad del Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico en Río Piedras durante ocho años y luego a la Escuela de Teología Candler por otros ocho años en Atlanta, Georgia. Ha impartido clases en el Seminario Teológico de Columbia en Decatur, Georgia, y del Centro Teológico Interdenominacional en Atlanta. Usted ha sido un orador frecuente en las escuelas, iglesias y conferencias a lo largo de los EE.UU. y América Latina.

El alcance de su trabajo es completamente ecuménico, mientras que la Iglesia Metodista Unida ha sido su hogar espiritual. Sus libros de texto de dos tomos: La Historia del Cristianismo y de tres tomos: La Historia del Pensamiento Cristiano se utilizan en los seminarios y las universidades en varios países. Ud. ha escrito mucho más libros, incluyendo dos escritos junto con su esposa, Dr. Catherine Gunsalus González.

Fundó el Programa Hispano de Verano, la Asociación para la Educación Teológica Hispana ha establecido un centro de recursos que ahora lleva su nombre y la Iniciativa Teológica Hispana para aumentar el número de estudiantes en la educación teológica. Usted ha hecho más para fomentar la educación teológica en la comunidad hispana – los teólogos y laicos – que cualquier otra persona.

Su " corazón de siervo " se extiende a la de acomodar sillas para una conferencia, a escribir cartas de recomendación para el profesorado aspirante hasta la edición deApuntes, una revista bilingüe en teología y ministerio por veinte años. En su tiempo libre, su corazón pertenece a los Bravos de Atlanta.

En reconocimiento a sus grandes logros y toda una vida en la defensa y el compromiso con la educación teológica, tenemos el honor de otorgarle el grado de Doctor Honoris Causa en Divinidad.

Austin, Texas 13 de mayo de 2014

Preeminent historian, prolific author, generous mentor, servant leader. Your contributions to theological education cannot be overstated, nor can your encouragement and support of scholars and the Hispanic church. Your life and work deeply enrich students, educators and lay people in seminaries and in congregations across the globe.

Born in Havana, Cuba, to Dr. Luisa García Acosta and Professor Justo Gonzalez Carrasco, you attended United Seminary in Cuba followed by Yale University where you received your M.A. and your Ph.D., being the youngest person to earn the historical theology doctorate at Yale.

You joined the faculty at the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras for eight years followed by eight years at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. You have taught at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur and at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. You have been a frequent lecturer at schools, churches, and conferences throughout the U.S. and Latin America.

The scope of your work is thoroughly ecumenical while The United Methodist Church has been your spiritual home. Your two-volume textbook, The Story of Christianity and your three volume History of Christian Thought are used in seminaries and universities in a number of countries. You have written several more books including two co-authored with your spouse, Dr. Catherine Gunsalus González.

You founded the Hispanic Summer Program, the Association of Hispanic Theological Education, which established a resource center that now bears your name, and the Hispanic Theological Initiative to increase the number of scholars in theological education. You have done more to foster theological education in the Hispanic community—for theologians and for lay people–than any other person.

Your “servant’s heart” extends to setting up chairs for a conference to writing letters of recommendation to aspiring faculty to editing Apuntes for twenty years, a bilingual journal in theology and ministry. In your downtime, your heart belongs to the Atlanta Braves.

In recognition of your tremendous achievements and your lifetime of advocacy and commitment to theological education, we are honored to award you the Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

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Heather Catto Kohout

nancy — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 21:26:19 +0000

The 2013 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award

Heather Catto Kohout

Alumna, native of San Antonio, published poet, dedicated rower, freelance theology teacher. You teach a message of gratitude, ethical living, curiosity, devotion and a healthy dose of skepticism in your life, your work and with your beloved children Lizzie, Tito and Thea.

The daughter of a business man and diplomat and a conservationist, journalist and philanthropist, your formal education was enriched by parents who taught through their ideals and through appreciation of culture, through creation of home in unfamiliar places, and through encouraging your careful articulation of insights and opinions on the things that matter to you.

You earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Williams College and a master’s degree in English from The University of Texas at Austin. Surprising friends and family, and perhaps even yourself, you enrolled at 51��Ƶ in the late ‘90s, earning a master of arts in religion. Your thesis, “Pondering Luke in the Heart: Addresses to Reluctant Christians,” hints at your thoughtful critique of a too-easy acceptance of the stories of our faith.

The introduction to your thesis ends this way: “ . . . I have no intention of making any major theological claims. What I mean to do is to reassure myself and people like me, who are struggling to meet stories of the Bible with open hearts and minds, that we are not meant to know what the gospel means right away, and that in our struggle the world will turn ponderously under our feet, and the rich will share with the poor, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, the foolish will become wise. Carefully. Suspiciously. Slowly.”

Your teaching gifts have been recognized by your church home, All Saints’ Episcopal Church, and by Seton Cove Spirituality Center. But your attention has been more recently focused on Madroño Ranch, on which you have created with your husband Martin, a center for writing, art and the environment in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Here your ideals converge for the benefit of visiting artists, for the delighted readers of your rich blog posts, and for the laying hens and the bison that roam the pastures.

Through writing and rowing, you teach. Not overtly, but through the beauty, the poetry and the doing. In recognition for your wisdom, sharp wit, honesty and insights shared with the communities you inhabit, we are pleased to present you with the 2013 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award.

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge Nathan Jennings

Dean and President Faculty Secretary

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Mary C. Earle

nancy — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 21:17:19 +0000

2013 Hal Brook Perry Award

Mary C. Earle

Episcopal priest, writer, poet, spiritual director and retreat leader. Through word and example, you have blessed, comforted and strengthened countless people with the grace God makes available to everyone in any circumstance.

Following completion of your Master of Divinity at 51��Ƶ in 1987, you served parishes in the Diocese of West Texas. The onset of a life-threatening illness 18 years ago changed the focus and expression of your ministry to this day. You replaced the busy life of a parish priest with what has become your great gift of teaching and writing.

Your online courses for your alma mater were routinely filled with students eager for your wisdom. You served as author-in-residence at The Work+Shop, a ministry of St. Mark’s, San Antonio, committed to the spiritual life for lay people. You lead ecumenical workshops at Oblate School of Theology such as Tending the Divine Habitat of the Body. Your gifts as teacher were recognized when you received the Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award at your seminary in 2003.

Author of six books and co-author of two, you have given us your insight into Celtic Spirituality, the desert mothers, and perhaps most needed, the relationship between our bodies, illness, and the spiritual life.

You have shown the depth of your faith in the face of debilitating illness and profound loss, and you have truthfully and generously shared your hard won wisdom and holy perspective on our relationship to God and to ourselves. One colleague has said of you that in your small frame you somehow manage to convey both a prophet’s fearless commitment to truth-telling as necessary medicine and a mother’s gentle love of all that is miraculous in its ordinariness, the small and particular creatures and plants and humans of south Texas. Your dear friend, Hal Brook Perry, surely must smile on this recognition of your faithful ministry to the Church and to her people.

We are pleased to present you with the 2013 Hal Brook Perry Distinguished Alumni Award.

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge R. Reid Morgan III

Dean and President Alumni Association President

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Judith A. Rhedin

nancy — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 19:25:39 +0000

The 2014 Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership

Judith A. Rhedin

Activist, artist, actress, attorney, and advocate for the underserved children of Austin. Your dedication to service spans the life cycle of those in the Austin community.

Your work to bring the arts into classrooms has made a profound difference in the lives of hundreds of underserved children as they are energized and engaged in creative and fresh ways. You deeply believe that art can change people’s lives. This has been demonstrated in your work at the Performing Arts Center and through your involvement with the larger art community of Austin.

For 18 years you have volunteered with Family Eldercare to serve the elderly in the last stages of life, providing them with companionship, empathy, and attention to their physical and spiritual needs.

You have served tirelessly on the board of St. James Episcopal School and St. Stephens Episcopal School, in addition to serving on the vestry of St. James Episcopal Church. Those who have served alongside you in those ministries describe your leadership style as ‘incarnational’. You bring your entire being to every endeavor, you keep your word, you lead with grace and have high expectations for others without being overbearing.

Your energy is boundless and infectious. Your devotion and passion to the causes you engage lift the spirits of those who work alongside you.

As your friend Bernadette said, “Judith is the quiet noble one who is not looking for the neon.” Because of your leadership, your hands-on care for children in public schools and for elderly in nursing homes, and your commitment to a community of compassion, creativity, and collaboration, 51��Ƶ is honored to present you with the Charles J. Cook award in Servant Leadership.

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge Steven Bishop

Dean and President Faculty Host

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Claude Edward Payne

nancy — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:40:15 +0000

Chemical engineer, priest, bishop, author, visionary leader: You have brought your passion for the spread of the gospel to your ministries, and you have had a major influence on energizing the mission of the church.

Earning a chemical engineering degree from Rice University, you began your career with Union Carbide, now known as Dow Chemical, where you installed the first computer on a company production unit–not surprising for a man known as an excellent administrator and a forward thinking leader.

Following God’s call to ordained ministry, you went on to earn an MDiv from Church Divinity School of the Pacific. You served four parishes, the last being St. Martin’s, Houston, before being elected bishop for the Diocese of Texas.

As bishop you chaired St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System and established Episcopal Health Charities with $150 million for community healthcare. You served as a trustee of Baylor College of Medicine, where you hold emeritus status. You chaired the boards of Camp Allen, where you doubled its size with a $14 million expansion; Episcopal High School, St. Stephen’s School and 51��Ƶ.

You co-authored with Dr. Hamilton Beazley Reclaiming the Great Commission, which documented the vision and experience of moving the focus of your diocese from maintenance to mission. This work and vision caught the imagination of the wider church, and you hosted six annual “Clear Vision” conferences for Episcopal bishops and their staffs.

Your “retirement” has not meant golf and bridge, two favorite hobbies; rather, you have co-founded the Gathering of Leaders, which enhances leadership for younger clergy in the U.S. and Canada; you serve the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference for mediation with global conflicts; and you accepted our seminary’s request to chair, with your wife Barbara, our $15.9 million Campaign for Leadership.

Your “Miraculous Expectations,” “Clear Vision,” and “Big Holy Audacious Goals” have inspired the Church and raised the bar for the leaders and institutions you have touched. In recognition of your accomplishments, your faithfulness and your tremendous service, 51��Ƶ is honored to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

Austin, Texas May 14, 2013

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Barbara King Payne

nancy — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:37:42 +0000

Musician, teacher, tour organizer and guide, trustee, campaign co-chair. Your many gifts gracefully shared with the church worldwide have been an inspiration and blessing to all who have been touched by your ministries.

You have shared your musical expertise through teaching and performance as harpist and pianist with the Beaumont Symphony and Civic Opera, through participation with church choirs, and through service on the board of Young Audiences, a national organization that supports and promotes the arts for young people.

You have organized and led trips to Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and China. Your appreciation for world cultures and your keen sense of design and style led you to serve as director for the procurement of crèches from Anglican Provinces worldwide for the Peace Museum in Bethlehem. You were appointed Liaison to the spouses of Episcopal Church bishops for the 1998 Lambeth Conference.

St. James’ House, Baytown, Texas; Friends of Nursing, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston; and the Anglican Communion Compass Rose Society have been blessed by your loving service as a trustee.

While your husband, Claude, was rector of St. Martin’s, Houston, you co-founded and served as buyer for the Gift Shoppe, which provides funds for outreach activities of the church.

To help put Claude through seminary, you taught grade school. The seminary faculty offered mini courses for the wives of seminarians, all of whom were men at the time. Sage advice offered by the faculty, which you took to heart, was never to criticize Claude’s Sunday sermon until at least Tuesday.

At last, with more time to enjoy your friends and family, or reading, gardening, playing bridge or golf, you accepted this seminary’s request to co-chair the Campaign for Leadership, a three-year fundraising commitment. With deep gratitude for your leadership and in recognition of your life of ministry and support, 51��Ƶ is pleased to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Austin, Texas May 14, 2013

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Brené Brown

nancy — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:34:08 +0000

Proud fifth generation Texan, Episcopalian, best selling author, research professor. You have dedicated the last decade to studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame, and your stories emanating from your research have struck a cord in the hearts and minds of millions of people.

Earning your Bachelor of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin, you went on to earn an MSW and PhD at the University of Houston where you are research professor in the Graduate College of Social Work.

You developed Connections, a psychoeducational shame resilience curriculum with a certification process that is facilitated by mental health and addiction professionals across the nation.

You have authored Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead, a #1 New York Times Bestseller published in 2012; The Gifts of Imperfection; and I Thought It Was Just Me. Your work has been featured on PBS, CNN, and National Public Radio, and you have appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday, the Katie Show, Good Life Project, and TED talks.

Your 2010 TEDx Houston talk on the power of vulnerability had over 6 million views on TED.com. Your funny, straight talking, sometimes irreverent style while delivering your research-based work on our very human issues of shame, vulnerability and courage has caught the attention and respect of millions.

You preach wholehearted living, and you and your husband Steve strive to practice wholehearted parenting. In your Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto, you write, “We will laugh and sing and dance and create. We will always have permission to be ourselves with each other. No matter what, you will always belong here.”

Whether you are driving car pool for your children, taking a friend to lunch, speaking to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, or teaching your social work students, you inspire honesty and courage and love for self and others. In recognition of your accomplishments and your dedication to sharing your research for the good of all, 51��Ƶ is honored to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Austin, Texas May 14, 2013

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Mary Shelton Simpson Vescovo

nancy — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 21:21:28 +0000

The 2012 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award

Mary Shelton Simpson Vescovo

Scholar, teacher, leader in the diocese and the wider church, your life defines and models the vocation of lay theologian. Known for your superb mind and wide reading, you distinguished yourself in the master’s degree program at Perkins School of Theology. 51��Ƶ was delighted to welcome you as a Visiting Fellow in 1992 for a project on Julian of Norwich.

As director of adult education and director of adult formation at St. Michael and All Angels Church in Dallas, for more than thirty years you have offered a vital resource for people seeking the opportunity to truly deepen and mature their faith. Serving with four rectors at that parish, you have shared your expertise in the Diocese of Dallas, in Province VII as chair of the Christian Education Commission and president, and on the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church. Networking and mentoring teachers in the seventh province, you built relationships between the seminary and the seventh province through an annual retreat for seminarians to work with practiced Christian educators.

Chair of the Catechesis Commission, you authored An Inquiring and Discerning Heart: Guidelines for Spiritual Formation in the Diocese of Dallas, a set of standards built around the baptismal covenant. Published in 1993 and reissued in 2011, that work continues to influence those who design programs for Christian formation.

A faithful follower of Christ and devoted to the Episcopal Church, you are appreciated for your warmth, vivacity, and enthusiasm. Another colleague and friend says, “Shelly is a passionate lover of God and of God's people. Unfailingly gracious and inclusive, she seeks to welcome all who desire to be initiated into the mind of God."

For your life's work as a theologian and educator, the faculty is honored to present you with the 2012 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award.

Douglas Travis Nathan Jennings

Dean and President Faculty Secretary

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David Earle Bailey

nancy — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 21:16:42 +0000

David Earle Bailey

Humble listener, comforter, mentor, companion, respecter of all persons. You are servant leader for people whose experience of life and of church is not necessarily shared by the majority.

Ordained priest in Arizona following your studies at 51��Ƶ, your ministry has included work in parishes, missions, camps, campus ministries, and diocesan centers. You are known by priests, deacons, and laity as the go to person for support at times of confusion and pain. You are a trusted upholder of the dignity of all persons, passionate about Native American ministry and about the Church’s response to racism.

While serving as rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Phoenix, you chaired Native American Ministries in the Diocese of Arizona and were diocesan liaison to Navajoland. Located in parts of the dioceses of Utah, Arizona and Rio Grande, Navajoland is the only area mission in the Episcopal Church and its border is contiguous with that of the Navajo Nation.

Your knowledge and love for the Diné, or Navajo people, and your humble and capable administrative talents, led to your appointment as diocesan liaison to Navajoland to give administrative assistance to Bishop Steven Plummer, the first Navajo ordained a priest and the first to serve in the House of Bishops.

Carolyn Tanner Irish, bishop of the Diocese of Utah, called you to be canon missioner and then canon to the ordinary. You provided a diocesan presence to congregations all over the diocese especially important during a decade of building and renovation of church buildings to make them safe and welcoming. Your knowledge of the congregations equipped you to help them focus and prioritize projects. You promoted young adult ministries and championed “Youth Impact” a community wide program offering a safe place after school for kids to study, serve and receive mentoring and support.

You were elected bishop of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland in 2010. At your consecration, preacher retired Bishop Rustin Kimsey said, “You have chosen well in selecting David Bailey to be your next bishop. He has known and loved you a long time.”

In recognition of your dedicated service to the mission of Christ and your love of the people of God, your seminary is pleased to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

Austin, Texas September 25, 2012

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James “Jay” Beattie Magness

nancy — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 21:10:27 +0000

James “Jay” Beattie Magness

51��Ƶ alumnus, pastor, retired U.S. Navy captain, chaplain, and bishop suffragan for Federal Ministries. You support, encourage, teach, and lead others who are caring for prisoners, soldiers and their families, and the sick and wounded.

You claim your roots in western North Carolina being raised in Hendersonville and formed in the Episcopal Church there. You earned degrees at Western Carolina University, 51��Ƶ, and a doctor of ministry at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.

Your service in the Navy began in 1966 and included a northern port in South Viet Nam. Before retiring from the Navy in 2003, you served as command chaplain of U.S. Joint Forces Command and fleet chaplain for the U.S. Fleet Forces Command.

You have served as the canon for mission and diocesan administration in the Diocese of Southern Virginia, canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Kentucky, and parish rector in Western North Carolina and in Southern Virginia. In 2010, the House of Bishops elected you bishop suffragan for Armed Services and Federal Ministries.

Service in the military, where there are currently 206 different faiths represented, has given you an interest in things ecumenical and pluralistic. Called to Common Mission is deeply realized in and through your office with Lutheran and Episcopal chaplains being trained together and coordinating on programs. You are recognized for your breadth of knowledge on interfaith matters, quoted as saying that military chaplaincy is “pluralism on steroids.” Your position also has oversight of federal hospitals, prisons and correctional facilities, as well as the Eucharistic communities related to military installations.

Whether praying the daily office, running a marathon, restoring an automobile, or shag dancing with your wife Carolyn, you have a life-long commitment to living out your Christian faith as an Episcopalian. First to arrive at the office and last to leave, you are deeply committed to your call as a priest.

In recognition of your accomplishments and your faithful and vital leadership in the church, your seminary is pleased to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

Austin, Texas September 25, 2012

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Ernest W. McAfee, Jr.

nancy — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:11:44 +0000

2012 Hal Brook Perry Award

Ernest W. McAfee, Jr.

Trusted pastor, visionary, creative and tireless priest of the church. You have answered the call to serve and lead the people of God doing whatever was needed in the parishes you have served following retirement from “active ministry.”

Following completion of your MDiv degree at 51��Ƶ in 1985, you served parishes in the dioceses of West Texas, Texas, and Dallas, and earned a DMin at Drew University. You authored Generations published in 1997 about working with young adults in the Church.

Following your retirement as rector of St. Barnabas, Garland, you began to worship at Church of the Ascension, Dallas, and eventually served as pastoral assistant. “He gave of himself generously, serving joyfully in any area where there was need,” says the rector Kathryn Ryan. While at Ascension, you became fully involved in their ministry to the Dinka, travelling to Sudan to teach theology and scripture to the clergy of the diocese of Bor, and you coordinated efforts to extend Ascension’s ministry to the Spanish-speaking residents of an apartment complex with which Ascension worked.

When the diocese of Dallas called you to serve a parish that had suffered the painful departure of its rector, you went in and built relationships with the people and developed trust. Your encouragement raised confidence and released vision in the English and Spanish speaking congregation, and helped them to identify mission goals which included support for the neighborhood elementary school. Recruiting participation from local businesses, your congregation of less than 100 gathered over 500 backpacks and supplies for children at the school.

You have strengthened bonds between the Spanish and English members of Christ Church and nurtured their faith by leading the congregation to create a common Sunday school for children, youth and adults. Your vision caught the imagination of the people and the program grew. Healing, purpose, spiritual growth and renewed confidence have been the fruits of your ministry.

Whether you are leading mission trips to Honduras, racing your bicycle at the top of your age bracket, or ministering to people of all ages and cultures in the name of Christ, you epitomize the spirit of the Hal Brook Perry award giving the whole of yourself to life and ministry.

Douglas Travis S.Chadwick Vaughn

Dean and President Alumni Association President

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Helen Appelberg

nancy — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:28:06 +0000

The 2012 Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership

Helen Appelberg

Priest, joyful caregiver, visionary, tireless pastor, you have embodied the qualities of a servant leader.

Your life has been like a river; when it encounters obstacles it finds a way to continue flowing around them. One of the pioneer women priests in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, you proved to doubters that age is not an impediment to effective and vigorous service beginning your ordained ministry at age 59.

While serving in the chaplain's office at St. Luke's Hospital in Houston, you responded to the desire by laypersons to minister to the sick by creating Community of Hope, which gained such a reputation for quality pastoral care that it was adopted by your diocese.

Through your leadership, you helped thousands realize their vocation. Community of Hope found receptive audiences throughout the Episcopal Church and beyond, and it eventually became international in scope. You served many years as the shepherd for this ministry and continue to give it your attention as the president of the board of directors.

Your impact on others has occurred not only by what you have done, but by who you are. Many have been inspired by your deep faith. One friend noted that you are at peace with who you are and what you do. You greatly contributed to the faith of many in the Diocese of Texas by championing and embodying a Benedictine spirituality. You encouraged others to adopt of rule of life that would feed their soul as you practiced your rhythm of prayer.

When others might enjoy their retirement by adopting a relaxed posture, you have continued to share your energy and devotion through a variety of ministries. You have been a visiting scholar in the Sealy Center on Aging at the University of Texas Medical Branch, and you continue there as a Fellow and director of the Center for Spirituality of Aging. You have served two Galveston parishes, you continue to lead workshops on aging and spirituality and on the Community of Hope, and you have served as a chaplain and faculty member at the Iona School of Ministry of the Diocese of Texas.

Boundless optimism, tenacity, obedience, and dedication characterize your ministry, which serves as a model for the Christian life. Because of your faithfulness to God in your leadership, 51��Ƶ is honored to present you with the Charles J. Cook Award for Servant Leadership.

Douglas Travis Nathan Jennings

Dean and President Faculty Secretary

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Darin N. Digby

nancy — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:30:28 +0000

2012 Trustee Award

Darin N. Digby

Seminary trustee, attorney and certified public accountant, author and lecturer, devoted Episcopalian, rock and roll and country band guitarist, and friend. As a member of the board of trustees, you have given faithful service to 51��Ƶ for 14 years. With your outstanding expertise and your own brand of dry humor you have led the board’s committees of finance and property for most of your tenure.

Your education commenced at All Saints’ Episcopal Preschool a few blocks to the south of the seminary. Several years later you entered The University of Texas accounting school where you were number one in your class, followed by UT Law School where you graduated in the top 3%. While in law school, you felt called to join the Episcopal Church making St. David’s, in downtown Austin your church home until you and your wife, Barbara, moved to San Antonio and joined St. Mark’s in 1987.

Practicing law in San Antonio, you are consistently named in the Best Lawyers in America in both the tax and trusts and estates areas and you have been designated numerous times by Texas Monthly as a Texas Super Lawyer in Tax as well as one of the Top 50 Lawyers in all practice areas in Austin, San Antonio, and Central and West Texas.

Your service as trustee of the seminary began in 1998 and you were soon appointed to the property and the finance committees. You were appointed chair of the finance committee, which you held until 2011 when you were appointed chair of the strategic planning committee until your board service ends this month.

Barbara, your wife of twenty-five years, describes your pride and joy in your daughter and son, your love of your dachshunds, and your happiest work moments “when he is outside on the back patio, computer in his lap, cigar in his mouth, figuring out the complexity of the law and the numbers involved.”

In gratitude for your leadership on the board of trustees, for taking your work but not yourself too seriously, for making finance committee reports entertaining for all these years, and for your friendship, your fellow members of the board present you with the Trustee Award for 2012.

May 8, 2012 Austin, Texas

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Martha J. Horne

nancy — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:28:25 +0000

Martha J. Horne

Priest, President and Dean, Colleague, and Mentor, your leadership routinely reflects fundamental Christian virtues. Modest luminary and humble hero, you have exercised steady, faithful leadership in theological education during challenging times to build up the church and strengthen the witness of the Gospel.

A native of North Carolina, you did your undergraduate work in Religion and Psychology at Duke University. Later after a sojourn in Texas with your husband, Don, and two young boys, you began your studies at Virginia Seminary. Ordained priest in 1984, and serving parishes in the Diocese of Virginia, you returned to Virginia Seminary and led within that community as teacher, Assistant to the Dean, Associate Dean, and then as Dean and President for thirteen years. You developed a strong collaborative faculty of scholars and pastors and positively changed the culture of the institution while honoring its heritage and history. You steered and guided that seminary through a complex time of transition by creating space for conversation, offering patience, and believing that people of good will can live faithfully in disagreement. A former member of that faculty remembers, "She really listened. She trusted the faculty. She expected the best from us." A courageous and patient shepherd, you contributed to the strength and position of Virginia Seminary.

Your hospitality of spirit is reflected in your ministry as host for visitor, guests, strangers, and new friends.

Skilled priest, pastor and preacher, you convene celebrations of success and accomplishment and accompany a community through loss and grief.

You have gathered and focused your life experience and practical wisdom to be a mentor on a corporate and individual scope. You offer your thoughtful, gracious, judicious leadership to the Association of Theological Schools, Auburn Theological Seminary's Center for Theological Education, the Board of the Church Pension Fund, Kanuga Conference Center and many others. As Dean of the Seminar for New Presidents, member of the Credo faculty, participant on visiting teams, and consultant to searches you connect people and institutions so they can mutually thrive. You are an esteemed mentor and counselor in perplexity for students, senior peers, deans and presidents throughout the Church and beyond. In those relationships you are honest, unsentimental encouraging, and hopeful. You seek to help those you advise to align their gifts and joy with their vocation from God. In your own person, you embody one who is visibly, obviously, self-evidently, and gracefully called to the work that you do.

It is with great affection and honor that we welcome you back here to campus. Your address to 51��Ƶ's Trustees and Faculty in 2008 provoked significant conversations about the metaphors, symbols, images and stories that make us who we are. In gratitude for your many gifts and for your friendship, we are pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

May 8, 2012 Austin, Texas

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Stanley Hauerwas

nancy — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:26:17 +0000

Stanley Hauerwas

Texan, Canon, Teacher, Theologian, Bricklayer, Mentor, and Friend. You have said that you sought to live a life that would make no sense if God did not exist. We honor you today because we believe that God has, in fact, made your life intelligible.

A native Texan and the son of a bricklayer, you journeyed from 51��Ƶern University in Georgetown to Yale University, going on to teach at Augustana College, the University of Notre Dame, and Duke University. You have often summed up your experience in the academy by saying, “This is a long way from Pleasant Grove.” The particular gift of your life and work has been made possible by your willingness to hold on to Pleasant Grove even as you walked the halls of great universities. You have argued that “being a Texan” and “being a Christian” share the characteristic of embracing stories we did not choose, and you have gone so far as to claim that there is a “Texan epistemology,” something we in Texas never knew we needed but for which we are now very grateful.

Your list of publications and honors is prodigious — you have authored or edited more than 40 books and hundreds of essays, articles, and sermons. You have delivered major lectures at universities throughout the world, most notably the prestigious Gifford Lectures at St. Andrews in Edinburgh, Scotland, where you brazenly made Karl Barth the hero of a lecture series devoted to natural theology. Time Magazine named you “America’s Best Theologian” in 2001, to which you responded, characteristically, that “best” is not a theological category. In 2011 you were named Canon Theologian of Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville.

You have redefined the field of Christian theological ethics, not least by repeatedly arguing that theological ethics needs to be theological. You have helped us think of the moral life as an apprenticeship into a distinct set of practices, dispositions, and linguistic habits. You have demonstrated the importance of church, liturgy, and sacrament for ethics, helping Episcopalians to see anew that our primary ethical resource is our Book of Common Prayer. You have displayed with your own life the significance of friendship for moral formation. You are known for being generous with your time, and you have perhaps single-handedly staved off the demise of the U.S. Postal Service with your enthusiastic commitment to the lost art of letter writing.

Supported by your wife, Paula, you have gifted both the university and the church in countless ways, influencing a generation of scholars and churchgoers. In recognition of your faithful service, we are pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

May 8, 2012 Austin, Texas

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Russell E. Schulz

nancy — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:24:37 +0000

Russell E. Schulz

Musician, composer, teacher, professor, tireless organist, intrepid choirmaster, mentor, advisor,and friend. You have given your life’s work to the service of the Church, her worship and her musical heritage and you give to others your own joy and knowledge of the repertoire.

Born into a family of German and Dutch immigrants, you were raised with the love of music and the church. Your love for music drove you through long years of preparation and education to a long career of composition, teaching and performing. You have simultaneously served an entire career as a church musician and as a beloved seminary professor.

In 1974 you joined the community of the Episcopal Theological 51��Ƶ and were soon appointed professor of liturgical music. You served 51��Ƶ thirty-six years, longer than anyone else in her history. You are and will forever be a central part of the history of 51��Ƶ.

One of your greatest gifts was your contribution towards the current Episcopal Hymnal 1982 through your work as a member of the Standing Commission on Church Music, especially its Executive Editorial Board where you chaired the hymn music committee.

Your life-long love of ethnomusicology took you to many nations and gave you the gift of many acquaintances and encounters with beloved children of God all over the world. You have interviewed and photographed hundreds of people in such diverse cultures as the former East Germany, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Russia, Egypt, Kenya, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil and Chile. You have found joy and transformation learning humbly across the divides of musical culture and spirituality.

You mentored students who would say of you: he “made me a better singer, a better musician, and ultimately a better priest.” You trained a generation of priests in the Episcopal Church and beyond to sing, to sing better, or to know that they had better hire someone else to sing. You trained them to understand the depth of church music and to articulate with clarity and joy the love of the music of the Church to those in their care.

As a composer, you have poured the same love and affection you gave your students into the music that you write. Your Good Friday anthems, your Requiem, your many hymns and the many other pieces you have given the world have been a gift to the Church as a whole, and especially to the churches and the seminary community you served.

You have nurtured values of humility, joy and service, and you remind us that the seminary exists for our students, and that our faculty, our staff and our facilities all serve one purpose – the formation of students for ministry as Christians in God’s world. We are pleased, therefore, to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

May 8, 2012 Austin, Texas

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Jennifer Long

nancy — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:24:50 +0000

The 2011 Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership

Jennifer Long

Catholic Worker, executive director of Casa Marianella, friend to thousands who have received shelter, food, clothing, new life, and friendship through the ministry of Casa Marianella.

Since 1989, you have led Casa to expand its outreach to people in need. You have added a community center to provide classes and other services. Recently responding to ever growing needs among the immigrant population, you added Posada Esperanza, which includes two houses with space for single women immigrants and their children. Casa has expanded even more by becoming a place for refuge and new beginnings for political asylees from all countries. Bishop John McCarthy of the Catholic Diocese of Austin has written in praise of the work of Casa Marianella describing you as the “driving force” in its successful delivery of services. Today Casa Marianella assists some 900 people each year.

Your friends and colleagues describe your leadership as one that empowers young staff volunteers to do the work of intake of new residents, managing the day to day running of the shelter, caring for the health needs and well being of the residents, and all the while maintaining the atmosphere of community and compassion and grateful appreciation of the support of a broad network of donors and volunteers. Your leadership has been described as ‘graceful’. Your qualities of compassion and humility are undergirded by your passion for justice and maintaining the integrity of Casa’s mission.

Those who know you well note that it is not just in your work that you live as a servant leader, but in every aspect of your life. You have literally stood shoulder to shoulder with the dispossessed in Austin to ensure that they are treated fairly and not harassed simply because they are immigrants. Your home is a place of hospitality as much as is Casa Marianella. Annually, you and your husband, Walter, open your home to the Casa community for an Easter party, complete with music, Easter egg hunt, food and a piñata. One of your friends has said that every aspect of your life reflects a commitment to your vocation of reflecting Christ’s love.

In appreciation of your commitment to serve “the least of these” we rejoice in presenting you the Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership.

Douglas Travis Cynthia Briggs Kittredge

Dean and President Academic Dean

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Corinne Ware

nancy — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:59:17 +0000

The 2011 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award

Corinne Ware

Faithful teacher, insightful author, friend and guide to students, visionary administrator.

You served faithfully and with distinction as a member of the faculty of your alma mater, 51��Ƶ for thirteen years.

In 1997, then Dean Dusty McDonald, recruited you to lead the fledgling MAPM program, master of arts in pastoral ministry, at the seminary. You directed and developed that program with your characteristic grace and vision and you led the way to establish the master of arts in counseling degree, which has attracted many students to the seminary’s Center for Christian Ministry and Vocation.

Men and women discerning their path and call from God found in you a thoughtful and careful listener and guide. You gave them the space and respect to hear themselves speak the truth for their lives and gain clarity for the way forward.

Your courses in ascetical theology were foundational and formational for master of divinity students. First year students were guided to understand and develop spiritual practices that served them during their time as student and well beyond to their ministries.

You have taught through your books on spirituality, which have been important guides to students, alumni, and priests and laity throughout the Church. You have taught through your life and the attention you modeled to your own spiritual disciplines. You have taught through your keen insights and no nonsense assessments during over 130 faculty meetings spanning your tenure on the faculty.

In gratitude for your wisdom, convictions, knowledge and faith shared with our community; we are pleased to present you with the 2011 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award.

Douglas Travis Nathan Jennings

Dean and President Faculty Secretary

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Paul Benson Wehner

nancy — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:57:58 +0000

The 2011 Hal Brook Perry Award

Paul Benson Wehner

Priest, pastor, servant leader, comforter in word and deed. You were called in 2003 to lead Grace Church, Galveston, Texas not long after your graduation from this seminary. For five years, you led and cared for the congregation and its many ministries. Then, in 2008, a storm of great proportions dramatically intensified your leadership among the people you had been serving and the Galveston community.

Hurricane Ike did not spare you and your family, and it brought you face to face with significant damage to the historic church property and devastating personal loss for your parishioners. The storm hit the island on Saturday, and you ministered to a shocked congregation on Sunday morning.

You were in touch with your parishioners every day following the storm. Through email you reached out to locate each one scattered by the destruction. You kept them apprised of the status of their homes and the rebuilding that followed.

With your parishioners you transformed the parish hall into a food, help, and prayer distribution site. When people came to the church for assistance and comfort, you formed teams to respond. You coordinated local, diocesan, regional and national assistance during the days, weeks and months that followed the storm. You coordinated repairs to the church and facilitated Episcopal Relief and Development assistance to people in need.

The website for Grace cites its history on the island, where major storms have defined the identity of the people, the land, and the structures:“A survivor of the 1900 Storm and more recently Hurricane Ike (2008), Grace continues to stand strong in our community and serves as a spiritual home for a diverse congregation.”

In hospital rooms, in sanctuaries, and in homes, in times of recovery and in ordinary time, you share hope, compassion and the grace of God with your people. In recognition of your faithful ministry, we are delighted to award you the 2011 Hal Brook Perry Distinguished Alumni Award.

Douglas Travis Chad Vaughn

Dean and President Alumni Association

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Kyle Dice Seage

nancy — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:56:02 +0000

The 2011 Hal Brook Perry Award

Kyle Dice Seage

Parish priest, diocesan leader, stewardship advisor, inveterate fundraiser. You have a passion for God’s work that has not waned since you first felt a call to ordained ministry as a youngster at Camp McDowell in Alabama, your mother diocese. After graduation from University of the South, you became Alumni Director at Millsaps College before heading to 51��Ƶ as a postulant from the diocese of Mississippi.

Creative, energetic and flexibility have characterized your ministry. You have been pastor to congregations in transition and congregations of various sizes—family, pastoral, and program; you have facilitated a stewardship consultation group that you helped found; you have been president of the standing committee, and coordinator of fundraising efforts on your diocesan staff.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated Christ Church, Bay St. Louis, one month after you completed your ministry of interim rector there, the bishop asked you to lead a capital campaign, “Darkness into Day”, which raised over $3 million for desperately needed relief and rebuilding for the churches on the Gulf Coast. That campaign exceeded its goal, and like the churches you’ve served directly, the beneficiaries saw stability and hope return to their midst.

Your sense of humor is a gift appreciated by many, including your canon to the ordinary. He also observes that you have a marvelous sense of balance between your vocational role of priest and your role as parent and spouse. Your friends and family also know that if not ministering as a priest, your other passion, cooking, would be your call. Perhaps this is no surprise to those in your care, whether it be your daughters, your guests, or your parishioners. They see in your very presence one who knows God’s abundant love and one whose enthusiasm and devotion feeds the spirit and the community with exactly what they are hungry for.

In recognition of your faithful ministry to the Church and to her people, we are delighted to award you the 2011 Hal Brook Perry Distinguished Alumni Award.

Douglas Travis Chad Vaughn

Dean and President Alumni Association President

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James Scott Mayer Honorary Degree Citation

wpengine — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:27:24 +0000

May 11, 2010

James Scott Mayer

Native son of Texas, 51��Ƶ alumnus, Bishop of Northwest Texas, you lead as a true friend and lover of the people you serve.

Born in Dallas, educated at Texas Tech University, your work in sales was enjoyable, but a call to ordained ministry grew and persisted. That call was blessed by the Church of the Incarnation and the Diocese of Dallas, and you came to Austin for your seminary training and formation.

Your seminary dean recalls your quiet lack of self promotion and your genuine willingness to pursue the truth from whatever source.

You credit the experience you received over the years in a variety of congregations- small, large, evangelical, high-church, low-church, renewal, contemplative, liberal, and conservative- with playing a large part in your formation as priest.

Your appreciation and respect for the diversity of the Church, and your love for your parishioners surely was instrumental when, as rector during a particular time of division and strife in the greater Church, your congregation remained stable and harmonious while holding diversity of thought among the membership. Your former senior warden and close friend says, "He absolutely and totally loved the people. Everybody felt a great friendship with him."

As bishop, you are known for your ability to see everyone as a child of God and to articulate for your diocese a clear vision achieved through collaboration and incremental change. To quote your assistant, "He walks with us."

A lifelong fan of baseball, holding an ever fading dream of pitching for the Yankees, you bring honor to your seminary by providing such an exemplary model of servant leadership. For the promise of your faithful ministry as bishop and friend, we are pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

May 11, 2010 Austin, Texas

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Danforth Honorary Degree Citation

wpengine — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:27:35 +0000

John Claggett Danforth

Episcopal priest, former three-term senator from Missouri, and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, you have dedicated yourself to reconciliation and peacemaking.

Born in St. Louis, graduated from Princeton University and then Yale University Law School and Yale Divinity School on the same day, you were ordained priest in the Episcopal Church and began your law practice and ministry in New York City before moving back to your home state of Missouri where you began a career in politics

Your faith and deep commitment to unity and reconciliation as the high calling of a disciple of Jesus Christ has led you to speak out against using religion to divide people struggling with difficult issues.

Convinced that prospects for peace depended on understanding religious differences, as a former special envoy for peace in Sudan you ultimately facilitated a peace agreement that eventually ended the twenty-year civil war.

From your deep conviction that Christianity is a religion of peace, you wrote Faith and Politics, sharing your conviction that Christians and our country need a good dose of humility and a commitment to reconstitute the center of American politics to stand for reconciliation, unity, and a system that is big enough for all kinds of people to be held together. In your book you quote Paul's letter to the Romans, "love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor."

We welcome you back to Texas, home to Jerry Jeff Walker and Luckenbach. You did this state proud by inviting Jerry Jeff to play your 70^th birthday party in St. Louis, and by striking out for a look at Luckenbach on a prior trip to the hill country.

We are honored by your presence with us, and we celebrate your dedication to public service and your passionate call to mutual respect, forgiveness, compassion, and unity, and we are pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

May 11, 2010 Austin, Texas

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James Scott Mayer Honorary Degree Citation

wpengine — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:27:03 +0000

James Scott Mayer

Native son of Texas, 51��Ƶ alumnus, Bishop of Northwest Texas, you lead as a true friend and lover of the people you serve.

Your seminary dean recalls your quiet lack of self promotion and your genuine willingness to pursue the truth from whatever source.

May 11, 2010 Austin, Texas

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Zane Wilemon

wpengine — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:26:29 +0000

The 2010 Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership

Zane Wilemon

Founder and Executive Director of Comfort the Children International, 51��Ƶ alumnus, priest in the Diocese of Kansas, you lead by empowering those you work with to reach their full potential.

In 2001, after a year in Africa, you returned to the States with a passion to improve the lives of the people of Maai Mahiu, Kenya. You had a vision to address the cycle of poverty with creativity and innovation, bringing hope and restoring dignity. Comfort the Children International was born, and you returned to Kenya with a handful of volunteers to share your life and build friendships while establishing a trade school.

Since that time you have led Comfort the Children into a lasting partnership with the people of Maai Mahiu and have transformed the lives of those you work with, both the volunteers from the United States and the people of Kenya. Your holistic approach to community development has provided the means for those you serve to lead independent, full lives. Time and again you have been heard to say that you are not ‘helping' the people of Kenya but building relationships.

In a 2007 interview you described your motivation for carrying on this work. "We are co-creators with God and that fleshes itself out by living alternative practices and ways of being in all the social, medical, relational, practical justice work that we do." You have found alternative practices in partnering with universities, non-government organizations, and the Kenya Ministry of Health.

You see challenges as opportunities to be creative. What began as a vision to provide people of one impoverished town with resources for breaking the cycle of poverty has resulted in an award winning polytechnic school, community gardens, a school for children with special needs, a business that allows women to support their families, a health clinic, soccer clubs for youth, a community center, and this summer work began on an HIV/AIDS clinic to offer free counseling, testing, and medication to a community of 30,000 with a 70% infection rate. These resources change lives.

Your grandmother often told you, "Your life may be the closest thing someone gets to reading the Bible." Reading your life we understand the Gospel of Christ more clearly. In appreciation of your commitment to serve "the least of these" we rejoice in presenting you the Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership.

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John Harry Gunkel

wpengine — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:25:57 +0000

The 2010 Hal Brook Perry Award

John Harry Gunkel

Physician, pilgrim, faithful Christian. You are a missionary who takes the Great Commandment to heart as a call on your life.

You dedicated your life to the healing arts as a neonatal pediatrician, medical school teacher, and pharmaceutical researcher. After years of that ministry, you returned to San Antonio for what could rightfully be called an active retirement.

An ad for the 1999 Harvey Lectures led you to friends of the seminary who directed you to the seminary's website which led you to call then Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry director, Corinne Ware. You signed up for the program during that phone call.

While a student, you made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Your life has not been the same since.

Like the Good Samaritan, you saw the suffering of the people and were moved to respond. For nearly two years, you patiently wrestled with discerning the exact nature of your response. Finally, after testing the shape of your call by serving in a variety of local ministries, your experience led you to seek training from the Episcopal Church Mission Personnel Office. You then asked for and were assigned to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

As you commented regarding your missionary experience for a story in the seminary's magazine, Ratherview, "It changes your world…You hear the Gospel differently. You hear the Word of God differently."

You have formed relationships, worked in medical clinics and helped out as needed in villages. You have "become friendly with what's alien." One of your former classmates writes, "Harry Gunkel represents the best the church has to offer in terms of committed lay people working for peace in one of the most war torn, oppressive societies in the world. Harry is a true soldier for Christ."

You have served and loved as the Good Samaritan, and we are pleased to present you with the 2010 Hal Perry Distinguished Alumni Award.

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Esteban Saucedo-Nava

wpengine — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:25:15 +0000

The 2010 Hal Brook Perry Award

Esteban Saucedo-Nava

Minister for fifty-three years to congregations in Texas, Mexico and New Mexico, you have served God and the people of God as priest, pastor, counselor, and evangelist.

Born in Mexico City to a family of priests and bishops, you were studying music in your home town when God called to you through the voice of the diocese of West Texas to found a Spanish congregation, St. Paul's Episcopal Mission in Brownsville, Texas. Studies followed at 51��Ƶ and you were ordained Deacon in 1957 by then bishop of West Texas, Richard Dicus. You returned to St. Paul's Mission in Brownsville as priest in charge.

You established missions in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico where you spent sixteen years. The diocese of Dallas needed you next, and you led a congregation in McKinney, ministering in Spanish and English.

After "retirement" in 1990, you were interim priest for the Spanish speaking congregation at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Dallas, and then organized and served as priest in charge of a Spanish speaking congregation at The Church of the Holy Nativity, Plano for ten years. One fellow ordained minister who regards you as his mentor explains that you are a man of integrity who "teaches with his life".

Still in your "retirement", you have served St. David's, Denton, Texas as assisting priest for most of the last 19 years.

Your long time friend, Frederick Chenery, first director of the now Booher Library here at 51��Ƶ, wrote, "Steve has special gifts as a pastor and counselor. His warm personality and good sense of humor attract people to him and they respond to his preaching of the Gospel." Much like Hal Perry, say those who knew him.

In recognition of your exceptional ministry building up the Church and her people, we are delighted to award you the 2010 Hal Brook Perry Distinguished Alumni Award

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Raymond Pickett

wpengine — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:24:22 +0000

The 2010 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award

Raymond Pickett

Faithful pastor, patient teacher, wise counselor, you taught biblical studies in Austin, Texas as a member of the Lutheran Seminary Program in the 51��Ƶ faculty from 1996 until 2009. Lutheran and Episcopal students in the Master of Divinity program, people preparing for vocations in the CCMV program, the congregation of St. Martin's Lutheran church, clergy and church people all over the country have been challenged, provoked, surprised, motivated, and transformed by your exploration of Christian sacred texts.

You initiate and accompany your students in a process of reading and interpretation that is grounded in the text and its history and drawn forward into the world in which we live out our faith.

Trained in New Testament, you read the gospels and letters of Paul in the rich soil of first century Jewish piety and faithfulness, within the economic and social context of the Roman Empire, and with a critical perspective on the political realities of present day Austin, Chicago, America, and the world.

Graduates speak of taking Greek reading every semester with you because of the power of simply reading the Greek New Testament with their classmates. In electives you opened up the treasures of Matthew, Luke, Philippians, Romans, and Parables. Always you asked how these texts motivated ancient readers, what values they conveyed, and what practices they engendered.

Your teaching is effective because in your attentiveness, your commitment, and your integrity, you exemplify the spirit of the texts – you are honest, self-critical, compassionate, and humble.

You left LSPS and 51��Ƶ to take a position as Professor of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. There you exercise your scholarly gifts and pedagogical wisdom in mentoring and supervising doctoral students, teaching students preparing for ordination, and in your research, writing, and speaking.

In thankfulness for the profound ways that you have shaped our curriculum, our colleagues, and our community, we are pleased to present you with the 2010 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award.

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