Kelly Brown Douglas is dean of the Union Theological Seminary’s Episcopal Divinity School in New York City. She also serves as a canon theologian at Washington Cathedral. She is one of the first Black female Episcopal priests in the United States and the first Black person to head an Episcopal Church-affiliated educational institution.
Dr. Reavis was the pastor of several churches and taught for more than two decades at Virginia Union University. In 2000, he was named president of his alma mater, now called Virginia University of Lynchburg. He served in that role until 2015.
Taking on new roles are Brigette A. Bryant at Arcadia University in Pennsylvania, Rita L. Walters at Union Theological Siminary in New York, Rolanda Burney at the University of Massachusetts, Bryle Henderson Hatch at North Carolina A&T State University, Carol E. Henderson at Emory University in Atlanta, and Rhae-Ann Booker at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Walrond has served as the executive pastor of the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, for over 10 years. When she assumes the presidency of the New York Theological Seminary on June 3, 2019, she will be the first woman to lead the educational institution.
Rev. Butts has led the university since 1999. He will go on study leave for the spring semester of 2020 and plans to return as professor of American Studies in the fall of 2020.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Fairfax served as dean of women at what is now Kentucky State University in Frankfort and at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
The Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation has announced the selection of 25 individuals in this year’s class of MacArthur Fellows. The honors, frequently referred to as the “Genius Awards,” include a $625,000 stipend over the next five years which the individuals can use as they see fit.
Dr. Cone was the Bill & Judith Moyers Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he taught for nearly a half century. He is known as the father of Black Liberation Theology.
The Grawemeyer Award in religion is given to individuals who publicize creative and significant insights into the relationship between humans and the divine. The award comes with a $100,000 prize.
Since 2012, Dr. Hakim J. Lucas has served as vice president for institutional advancement at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. Earlier in his career, Dr. Lucas held fundraising posts at SUNY-Westbury and Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.
Michelle Alexander is a visiting professor at the Union Theological Seminary and a senior fellow at the Ford Foundation. Earlier, she taught at Ohio State University and Stanford Law School. Professor Alexander is being honored for her research on racial disparities in incarceration rates.
Dr. Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary, called Professor West, “the leading public theologian of our age.”
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