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On march 1, 2011, as part of a long-range planning pro-cess, the Yale Divinity school faculty approved a new mission statement that raises up YDs’s “commitment

to social justice.”

Just eight days later, on Ash Wednesday, YDs launched a multi-faceted anti-poverty initiative, one of the most visible, sustained social justice efforts the Divinity school has undertaken in recent years. the timing of the two was purely coincidental, but their temporal proximity underscored the kind of theory-to-practice dynamic that has long characterized teaching at YDs. [For more on the new mission statement and long-range planning, see the article by Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Emilie Townes on Page 51.]

the 40-day “mobilizing Faith, Fighting poverty” Lenten cam-paign, launched at the National press club in Washington, Dc, issued a “call to arms” of sorts to the religious community, urging renewed commitment to the eradication of poverty.

the event was a model of staff/alumni cooperation. co-hosting the launch was Washington-based International relief and Devel-opment, headed by YDs alum Arthur B. Keys Jr. ’73 m.Div. mod-erating a panel at the gathering was Linda Lader ’08 m.Div. the keynote speaker was u.s. senator chris coons ’92 m.A.r., ‘92 J.D. of Delaware, who had been involved in one of the most closely watched and hotly contested senate races in the country in 2010. there were over 100 attendees, half of them YDs alums.

the anti-poverty challenge raised up on Ash Wednesday reverber-ated well beyond the Washington beltway. Following the launch event, marketing of the “mobilizing Faith, Fighting poverty” campaign continued via the internet. A special YDs “poverty teach-In” web site was created for the campaign, as well as a YDs-sponsored “mobilizing Faith, Fighting poverty” Facebook page.

such outreach beyond the academy has been a hallmark of Dean Harold Attridge’s decade as dean, and as 2011 came to a close stu-dents, faculty, and staff were pondering what kind of style his successor might have—in the wake of Attridge’s announcement that he would step down as dean at the conclusion of his second five-year term on June 30, 2012.

On Dec. 19, a nine-member search committee for the new dean, led by Holmes professor of Old testament criticism and Inter-pretation John collins, submitted its recommendations to Yale president richard Levin after sifting through an initial pool of about 100 candidates, winnowing the field down to two principal contenders.

then began a waiting game that was still in progress as Spectrum 2012 went to press. Hopes were high that a new dean would be in place by July 1. Little was revealed publically about the two pri-mary candidates and three others whose names were also submit-

ted to Levin, except that all were reputable scholars with administrative experience as well, and all were protestants.

the five-year Divinity tomorrow capital campaign concluded on June 30, raising a record $37.4 million for numerous initia-tives, including financial aid (increasing annual scholarship assistance from $1.6 million to $5.4 million); three endowed faculty chairs; and expansion of the school’s global reach with enhanced sup-port for international students, inter-national exchange programs, and travel opportunities.

“the campaign has strengthened the Divinity school and will solidify its place among the world’s great divinity schools,” said Attridge. “I am very grateful for the generous support of our alums and friends. Your gifts have pro-vided critical support for the future of YDs in several key areas, including scholarship aid, endowments for faculty chairs, and programs.”

Of the $37.4 million total, YDs alumni contributed $10.8 million. Another $12 million came from alumni of the university’s other schools, including Yale college; $6.9 million from individuals who are not Yale alumni; $6.5 million from foundations; $122,000 from corporations; and $1.1 million from other organizations.

even as YDs appeared to be weathering the effects of the reces-sion, the YDs leadership boards continued to ponder questions related to the future of congregations at a time when mainline u.s. protestantism—the traditional backbone of YDs’s constitu-ency—is in steep decline.

presentations on that subject, with a keynote address by James Nieman of Hartford seminary, were part of a may 4-6 series of meetings that included joint sessions of four YDs-related leader-ship boards— the YDs Alumni Board, the YDs Board of Advisors, the Board of trustees of Berkeley Divinity school at Yale, and the Board of Advisors of the Yale center for Faith and culture. the

presentations were particularly relevant to YDs and its leadership in the midst of the long-range planning process intended to chart the school’s course over the course of the next decade and more.

three faculty members, all relatively recent newcomers to sterling Divinity Quadrangle, were appointed to endowed chairs in 2011.

theologian Kathryn tanner ‘79 B.A., ‘85 ph.D. was named the Frederick marquand professor of systematic theology, succeed-ing thomas Ogletree as marquand professor. A proponent of “constructive theology,” her research focuses on how christian thought might be brought to bear on contemporary issues of theo-logical concern using social, cultural and feminist theory. A month prior to her being named to the marquand chair, tanner was cho-sen to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the university of edinburgh in scotland in 2015-16. previously, tanner taught at the university of chicago Divinity school.

Jennifer Herdt is the new Gilbert L. stark professor of christian ethics, succeeding margaret Farley. Herdt joined YDs after 11 years on the faculty of theology at the university of Notre Dame. Her primary interests are in early-modern and modern moral thought, classical and contemporary virtue ethics, and contem-porary theological ethics and political theology.

mary clark moschella now holds the roger J. squire chair in pastoral counseling, an endowed chair that was elevated from junior to senior faculty status in 1999. Lee mcGee ’69 m.A.r. held the chair from 1987 to 1997. A pastoral theologian accomplished in academe and experienced as a pastor in the united church of christ, moschella came to YDs from Wesley theological semi-nary in Washington, D.c.

New staff appointments included maggi Dawn as associate dean for marquand chapel, succeeding siobhán Garrigan; Lucinda Huffacker, director of supervised ministries, succeeding Bar-bara Blodgett; and sean mcAvoy ’11 m.A.r., assistant director of admissions, succeeding melissa pucci ’04 m.A.r.

the Yearin review

Pursuing mission, new and old, as Harry attridge enters final year as dean and caPital camPaign boosts resources by $37.4 million

By Gustav Spohn, Director of Communications and Publications

Delaware senator chris coons

YDs china travel seminar participants

James Nieman addresses YDs leadership

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Dawn, an accomplished author, musician, and theologian, came to YDs from the university of cambridge, where she had respon-sibilities as chaplain at Kings college, then at robinson college and taught in the Faculty of Divinity. Huffaker previously served as executive secretary of the religious education Association and as director of the Wabash center for teaching and Learning in theology and religion. mcAvoy was co-chair of the senior class Gift committee in 2011, for which he designed and implemented a multi-pronged, donor-centric strategy that resulted in a new record for class participation.

Journey of the Universe, the sweeping documentary film about the nature of the universe produced by Yale Divinity school senior Lecturers and research scholars mary evelyn tucker and John Grim, a husband-and-wife team, was shown on scores of pBs stations in virtually every corner of the country during Decem-ber. the 55-minute film is designed to inspire a new and closer relationship with earth in a period of growing environmental and social crisis.

As usual, YDs students had a busy year, punctuated by trips to china, egypt, tanzania, and the Dominican republic.

From may 6-19, 14 YDs students were in china on a travel semi-nar, accompanied by Assistant professor of Asian theology chloë starr and Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Anna ramirez. they visited seminaries, rural and urban churches, con-fucian temples, and mosques, in addition to famous sites such as the Great Wall of china, tiananmen square, the Forbidden city, and the tomb of Genghis Khan.

During the first week of December 2010, five YDs students trav-elled to the Dominican republic with Willis Jenkins, the marga-ret Farley Assistant professor of social ethics, where they joined 40 episcopal church leaders from 10 countries in four days of discussion about the environmental justice impacts of climate change—and the challenges of addressing those impacts.

the turmoil in egypt forced an abrupt end to a trip that would have inaugurated a pioneering initiative between YDs and Al-Azhar university in cairo. under the supervision of Joseph cum-ming, director of the Divinity school’s reconciliation program on christian-muslim relations, seven YDs students arrived in cairo on Jan. 26—ready to begin a semester-long course of study at Al-Azhar in Arabic and Islamic thought. But by Feb. 1 the students were on a plane bound for Amsterdam, and on Feb. 4 they were safely back in New Haven.

the tanzania trip, entitled “catalysts for social change: the Quest for social Justice through music, theatre, and Liberation theologies,” was a collaborative effort between YDs and the Yale school of Drama. eight students and three faculty members from YDs and Drama spent a preparatory week in New Haven, fol-lowed by a month in tanzania in July. through discussions with religious leaders, ethno-music historians, storytellers, poets, and public health administrators, students investigated the issues of marginalized communities.

the Yale Divinity school LGBtQ coalition produced and released a short film featuring nine students telling their own stories of how, over time, life gets better for them as LGBtQ persons. the project was part of a global campaign by ItGetsBetter.org to reach out to queer youth who experience bullying or may be considering suicide. Long before the end of 2011, the film had gotten in excess of 16,000 “hits” on Youtube.

two student groups on divergent sides of the abortion issue now have official club status on sterling Divinity Quadrangle. After the community Life committee (cLc) officially recognized the YDs right to Life Fellowship (rtLF), making it the first offi-cially recognized abortion-centric group on campus, seminarians for reproductive justice (srJ) also applied for official club status, which was granted just a few months later. In a divisive socio-political-religious climate, the two groups hope a commitment to authentic humility can provide a foundation for fruitful dialogue.

the YDs ultimate Frisbee team offered up a resounding response to a challenge thrown down by Harvard Divinity school with a stunning 15-11 victory in April against their HDs counterparts. Following the contest, peter panagore ’86 m.Div., a co-founder three decades earlier of YDs’s original ultimate Frisbee team, “ultimate Divinity,” arranged to have official shirts made for the team, the back emblazoned with a quote from late professor emeritus of Old testament Lansing r. Hicks.

At commencement in may, Vernice (Hopie) randall and robert Holden, both students in the m.Div. program, received YDs’s top prizes for graduating students—respectively, the Henry Hal-lam tweedy prize for exceptional promise in pastoral leadership

and the Julia A. Archibald High scholarship prize. A total of 130 students walked up the marquand chapel steps to receive their diplomas. the class presented YDs with an Annual Fund check of $10,356, representing a record 72 percent participation rate for a graduating class gift.

Over 300 alumni and spouses, faculty, staff and others took part in convocation and reunions 2011, which featured several cre-ative new elements—including reunions for “interest groups” like the sacramental Winers, who celebrated their twentieth reunion, and the ultimate Divinity Frisbee team; special lectures by YDs faculty; and reunion gatherings for recently graduated alumni. combined with ever-popular fare such as the Beecher, Kavanagh and pitt lectures, inspirational preaching, and alumni award cel-ebrations, these new elements helped ensure that the Oct. 10-12 gathering had something for everyone.

Delivering the Beechers was Brian Blount, president of union pres-byterian seminary, on the subject Invasion of the Dead: Preach-ing Resurrection through the lens of Apocalyptic Eschatology.

Don saliers ’62 B.D., ’67 ph.D., the William r. cannon Distin-guished professor emeritus of theology and Worship at the candler school of theology, gave the Institute of sacred music’s Kavanagh Lecture on The Failure of Language: Liturgy in a Time of Excess.

tony Jarvis, director of the educational Leadership and minis-try program at Berkeley Divinity school, delivered the BDs pitt Lecture on the subject The Worst of Times, The Best of Times.

Faculty members who addressed alumni included miroslav Volf, director of the Yale center for Faith and culture, who discussed his new book, Allah: a Christian Response; Willis Jenkins, the margaret Farley Assistant professor of social ethics, who spoke about climate change as ethical challenge; and robert Wilson, the Hoober professor of religious studies and professor of Old testament, who reflected on the life and legacy of Old testament scholar Brevard childs.

Graduates honored with alumni awards included: evalyn Wakusama ’01 m.Div., ’02 s.t.m., who founded a school in Kenya for children who are orphans or who have been affected by the AIDs crisis (Lux et Veritas Award); Barbara rossing ’81 m.Div., pro-fessor of New testament at the Lutheran school of theology at chicago (Distinction in theologi-cal education); Otis moss III ’95 m.Div., pastor of trinity united church of christ in chicago (Dis-tinction in congregational minis-try); and christopher Doucot ’08 m.A.r., founder and leader of st. martin de pores catholic Worker House in Hartford, ct. (William sloane coffin ’56 Award for peace and Justice).

In addition, a special award, the first-ever Dean’s Award for Out-standing service, was presented to Fred Brooks ’61 m.Div., who since 2008 has served as secretary for the class of ’61, led his class’s 50th reunion planning committee, served as YDs delegate to the Association of Yale Alumni, and has been instrumental in recruit-ing outstanding students to YDs.

Just 10 days after convocation and reunions, YDs hosted the conference “same-sex marriage and the catholic church: Voices from Law, religion, and the pews,” which brought to marquand chapel academics and activists, lawyers and parish workers, clergy and laity to examine roman catholic teaching on sexual diversity. Among the principal organizers of the conference were michael Norko ’10 m.A.r., associate professor of psychiatry at the Yale school of medicine, Associate professor of New testa-ment Diana swancutt, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs emilie townes, and professor emerita margaret Farley.

Nine YDs alumni were among 149 clergy from around the coun-try selected for the 2010 class of Lilly endowment Inc.’s National clergy renewal program, which provides christian congrega-tions with grants of up to $50,000 to support extended periods of intentional reflection and renewal for ministers.

In the Nov. 2 elections, three Yale Divinity school alumni pre-vailed in congressional contests. In a race that was prominent nationally, chris coons ’92 m.A.r., ’92 J.D. won the Delaware senate seat formerly held by Vice president Joseph Biden. In the

House of representa-tives, YDs winners were David price ’64 B.D., ’69 ph.D. a longtime con-gressman representing North carolina’s 4th District, and Lois capps ’64 m.A.r., who has rep-resented california’s 23rd District for more than a decade.

Vernice (Hopie) randall at commencement

michael Norko addresses same-sex marriage conference

Beecher Lecturer Brian Blount

sacramental Winers reunion concert