Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative Launched at Vanderbilt Divinity School

Vanderbilt Divinity School recently launched its Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative. Under the initiative, funded by a $1 million grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the Divinity School will bring scholars, students, activists and public servants to Nashville for the next three years to work through the collaborative on programs to eradicate racism and all of its reciprocal forms of injustice and hatred. A top priority of the collaborative is the training of the next generation of leaders to engage the public on issues of racial justice through all forms of media.

Emilie M. Townes, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society, dean of the Divinity School, and leader of the collaborative, sated that “this is a particularly important moment to birth a collaborative that seeks to be a hub for a national conversation on public theology and racial justice. As a Southern, progressive university-based divinity school, we are situated strategically to lead this project as a collaborative formed by networking with groups locally and across the United States that are working for racial justice.”

Professor Townes was named dean of the Divinity School in 2012. Previously, she was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School. Dr. Townes holds a bachelor’s degree, a master degree in divinity, and a doctorate of divinity from the University of Chicago. She holds a second doctorate from the joint Northwestern University/Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary program. She is the author of several books including Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

California State University Sacramento Launches Black Honors College

Officially launching for the fall 2024 semester, the Black Honors College will support students from all backgrounds who study Black history, life, and culture by providing them with a specialized curriculum and mentoring opportunities.

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

In Memoriam: Norman B. Anderson, 1955-2024

Dr. Anderson was the assistant vice president for research and academic affairs at Florida State University at the time of his death. He had an extensive career in clinical psychology, which led him to become the first African American chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association.

Georgia State University Launches Program to Support Black Women in Tech

While Black women account for roughly 29 percent of the Georgia State University undergradaute student body, they represent only 10 percent of the university's computer science majors and 18 percent of the computer information systems majors.

Featured Jobs