Alumni/ae News
Rev. John L. McCullough (M.Div., ’79) received the Council of Bishops Ecumenical Award for 2012 during this year’s international United Methodist General Conference. Rev. McCullough is the executive director and chief executive officer of humanitarian agency Church World Service. Find more information on his award and work here.
Dr. Ronald Angelo Johnson (M.Div., ’06) was selected as the International Studies Professor of the Year by the students and faculty of the Center for International Studies at Texas State University.
Fr. Richard Butler (D. Min ’83) and his twin brother, Fr. Robert Butler, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their ordination in February at St. John Chrysostom Church, West Roxbury, MA. Both are now senior priests of the Archdiocese of Boston residing at Regina Cleri, 60 William O’Connell Way, Boston, MA.
Rev. Don F. Thomas (DMin ’83) is an adjunct instructor in Pastoral Care at Memphis Theological Seminary and adjunct religion instructor for Bethel University.
David Dismas (STH ’94, ’96) of Chelsea, MA recently facilitated a workshop on the bereavement needs of hospice volunteers at the Annual Educational Conference of the Hospice and Palliative Care Federation of Massachusetts. Contact David via email at: david.dismas.1996@alum.bu.edu
Dan Moore (STH ’79) is the author of two Science Fiction novels, Meridian’s Shadow, and The Rings of Alathea. They are available at Amazon.com in paperback and ebook editions. His next novel, Nixie’s Rise will be available April 1st. Join him on Twitter @danmooreauthor and facebook.
Aurora Joan Stone (STH ’96) relocated to Somerset, England in the autumn of 2010 after four years in the nether reaches of Orkney. With more opportunities for involvement, because the community is larger and more diverse she has been making up for lost time. Aurora is now Vice President of the South Petherton Women’s Institute; a Trustee of the Petherton Arts Trust and Chair of its Fundraising Committee; a member of the Bath and Wells Change Ringing Association and ringer in her local tower. Contact Aurora via email: aurorajstone@hotmail.co.uk
Reverend Gilbert Caldwell (STH 1958) is a co-participant in Truth in Progress.Com and is a member of the national board of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, as a straght ally/advocate of gay rights. He also recently wrote a response to “What’s Race Got to Do With It?” in the Sunday NY Times on 1/15/2012. You can read the response here.
Donald F. Megnin (STH ’60) has his seventh book published entitled Glimpses of the Past: Letters from Overseas, Outskirts Press. The letters range from the end of World War II to the nineteen eighties with particular focus upon the years the author spent teaching at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand as the representative of the Syracuse-in-Asia Association of Syracuse University as a Lecturer of English. His other books are: The Security of Silence; The Conspiracy of Silence; The Struggle to Survive; A Farm Boy Sees the World; and Moments in Time: A Memoir which also depicts his years as the Director of the Children’s Chapel Program at Marsh Chapel under the direction of Dr. Howard Thurman.
At the Fouth Midwest Annual Conference in Kansas City, Kansas, Rev. V. Gordon Glenn III (STH’97) was elected the second alternate delegate and will represent the Fifth Episcopal District at the 49th General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2012. At the close of the same Annual Conference Rev. Glenn was re-assigned to pastor St. John AME Church in Topeka, KS (www.stjohnametopeka.org) and wife Rev. Rachel Williams-Glenn (STH’97) was re-assigned to pastor Bethel AME Church in Manhattan, KS (http://bethelmanhattan.homestead.com/). They live in Topeka, Kansas.
Steve Wiggins (STH, 1987) is now the Religion Editor with Routledge in its New York office.
Reverend Scott Bryant (STH ’02) recently published The Awakening of the Freewill Baptists:Benjamin Randall and the Founding of an American Religious Tradition (2011, Mercer University Press). Rev. Bryant also has begun a new job as University Chaplain and Vice President for Spiritual Development at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, TX.
A. David Argo (STH ’72) has been appointed the Director of Connectional Ministries for the Baltimore Washington Conference. He has just completed eight years as the District Superintendent of the Greater Washington District.
Rev. Dr. Ralph A. Lawrence (STH ’56) recently published a new book, The McConnel and McConnell Families – True Pioneers of the American West, a genealogy and history of 11 generations from early frontier families to young families of the 21st Century. Dr. Lawrence retired after 41 years of ministry in 1995 and has been Assistant Pastor at First United Methodist – Cathedral of the Rockies in Boise, Idaho; he has also been interim pastor for other churches, and traveled extensively. Contact Dr. Lawrence via email: rlofida@aol.com.
Starting in September 2011, Dr. Julian Gotobed (STH ’10, STH ’11) will be the Lecturer in Ministerial Theology at Roehampton University.
Rev. John H. Emerson (STH ’62) is a retired clergy member of the California-Nevada Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church and pastor emeritus of First United Methodist Church, Reno. He has published two major articles on the history of Methodism in Nevada. These articles contain the first comprehensive history of the denomination covering the entire state from 1859 to 2010. The articles may be accessed on the internet at the Nevada Encyclopedia, clicking Community and Society, then clicking Religion, and finally clicking Methodism in Nevada Part I and Methodism in Nevada Part II.
Emerson is a published author in professional journals, of poetry; and composes music, hymns and choral pieces. In semi-retirement, which he calls “reFIREment,” he serves as a chaplain for Circle of Life Hospice in the Reno area.
Rev. Bryant Oskvig (STH 1999) will serve as the new full-time director of the Protestant chaplaincy at Georgetown. He will officially begin when he concludes his service as senior pastor at Linden-Linthicum United Methodist Church in Clarksville, MD. Oskvig has served Georgetown’s Protestant chaplaincy in a part-time capacity since 2006, including this past year as interim director. Georgetown’s Office of Campus Ministry chose him as full-time director after a yearlong, national search.
Elizabeth Costello Keck (STH ’04) completed her Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Boston College in Feb ’11. Her immediate plans focus on research, writing, and publishing. Elizabeth lives with husband Adam and daughter Sophia in Massachusetts.
Rev. Dr. Benjamin Berinti (STH ’91) was elected Vice-Provincial Cincinnati Province of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood, May 2010, for a four-year term. Rev. Dr. Berinti also published and released his first collection of essays on the Christian spiritual journey in February 2011 entitled Firestarters: For the Seasons of Our Life (Outskirts Press). He is currently ministering in the Diocese of Orlando, FL at the San Pedro Spiritual Development Center.
Pastor Floyd Knight (STH ’88), a former Martin L. King Jr. Scholar, and Marsh Chapel intern, was recently awarded the Carter G. Woodson Fellowship as Ph.D. Student In Linguistics at Northern Illinois University.
Dr. Mark McKim (Th.D. ’93) has returned to his position as Senior Minister of First Baptist Church, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada after a four month sabbatical. During the autumn was a Visiting Fellow of the Senior Common Room, Regent’s Park College, Oxford University, and in January traveled to Singapore where he taught an intensive course in Church History at the Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Jesse E. Brown, Jr. (STH ’84) graduated from Roberts Wesleyan College being conferred upon with a Master of Education, May 2010, from the Urban Teacher’s Program, Transitional B Childhood/Special Education Certification Program. He graduated with a distinctive honor of 3.82 GPA, thus given the recognition for his academic achievement Magna Cum Laude. Currently, Dr. Brown is into his third year of teaching with the Rochester City School District at Clara Barton School #2, grade 6.
Marco McNeil (right) presents a plaque to Dr. James Arthur Holmes (STH ’89, STH ’97), distinguished Dr. Martin Luther King Scholar, on the steps of the Dunn North Carolina City Hall. Dr. Holmes served as the Key Note speaker for the Dunn Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Parade and Remembrance Program. Dr. Holmes is a former Captain-Chaplain of the United States Army is currently an Assistant Professor of Church History at the Shaw University Divinity School.
Cynthia Rapp (STH ’05) married Dr. Faraz Sandhu on August 8, 2010 in Stowe, VT. She left her job in International Affairs and the Middle East Center at Northeastern University in Boston in September 2010 to move with Faraz to Farmington, NM. Cynthia will begin a position as an adjunct faculty in the history department at San Juan College starting this fall (2011) teaching two sections of Western Civilization since 1700.
Paradise Gray (STH ’80) has published two new books of poetry entitled, “Golden Pearls From Heaven” and “The Hidden Treasures of Paradise.” Visit his new website: www.paradisegrayenterprise.com. He is also an Associate Minister at New Hope B.C. in Seaside, CA.
Reverend Kathryn A. (Kaye) Hult (STH ’83) was honored as a “Community Catalyst” by Southeastern Vermont Community Action in May 2010, along with the group of concerned citizens with whom I worked, for having founded the Greater Falls Warming Shelter, which provided overnight lodging for the homeless. She was also honored with a Vermont House of Representatives concurrent resolution stating that “the Reverend Kathryn Hult has devoted her life, in both her religious and non-sectarian endeavors, to serving individuals in need … [and] … has become a compassionate and programmatically creative advocate for both her own congregants’ quality of life and that of the broader community….” Kaye recently moved to Coeur d’Alene, ID to be near family.
ABC reporter Alison Morrow Abrahamsen (STH 2007) recently interviewed another STH alumnus, Alexander (LX) Harris (STH 2006) about a song LX wrote in honor of two slain police officers. Click the following link to view the video:
Rev. Julie Todd (STH ’96) was one of 13 students selected for the Dempster Graduate Fellowships, which supports students who are committed to serving the church by becoming seminary professors who will educate the next generation of United Methodist pastors. Todd is a member First United Methodist Church in North Andover, MA. She is enrolled in Joint Ph.D. in Religious and Theological Studies at the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology in the fall of 2011. She is writing her dissertation on a religious-ethical understanding of violence and nonviolence in modern U.S. social movements. Todd is also serving as Adjunct Faculty at the Iliff School of Theology, teaching courses in religion and social change. The fellowships are funded by the Ministerial Education Fund through General Board of Higher Education and Ministry’s Division of Ordained Ministry. Awards—based on the student’s academic achievement, their commitment to Christian ministry, and their promise as educators—carry a value of up to $10,000 annually, with a maximum of $30,000 over a five-year period.
Alice Goodman’s (STH ’97) opera “Nixon in China” is being performed at the Met in NYC. Rev. Goodman, a priest in the Church of England, is chaplain at Trinity College, Cambridge University. The New York Times wrote an article on the opera that can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/arts/music/04nixon.html?_r=1&hp!
Carol Raymond (STH ’08) completed an additional 3 units of clinical pastoral education at the UC Davis Medical Center hospital in Sacramento, California and is currently in the process of working toward Board Certification as a Hospital Chaplain. In the meantime, Carol is working at Kaiser Hospital in south Sacramento as a volunteer Spiritual Care Intern, and conducts communion services at a nursing home for the elderly in rotation with other members of her local parish.
STH alumni/ae and students participate in 350, an international campaign working to promote solutions to the climate crisis. Find out more at www.350.org
Rev. Dr. Donald E. Messer (STH ’66, GRS ’69) received an inaugural United Methodist Global AIDS Leadership Award, Saturday, October 15, at the “Lighten the Burden III” Conference in Dallas, Texas. Messer is Executive Director of the Center for the Church and Global AIDS, Centennial, Colorado.
Jubalani McCalister (STH ‘ 05) has been called to the Providence, RI Calvary Baptist pastorate, beginning in January. Reverend McCalister will be joined by his wife, Nikita McCalister (STH ’05), and their son, Jaden. The installation service will take place on April 9, 2011 at 2pm.
Dr. Romeo L. del Rosario “Romy” (GRS ’81) currently works as Country Director and is involved in the Cambodian Methodist Bible School. He writes, “I will be in the USA itinerating in my covenant churches in May and June 2011. Please be in touch with me and with Miriam and Dale Smith of the California-Pacific Conference as soon as possible: miriam@covenant-rbw.org I also anticipate visiting my covenant churches in Arizona and Hawaii.”
Lawrence Whitney (STH ’09, STH ’11) and Danielle Tuminnio (current STH student) were selected as Contributing Scholars to State of Formation, a forum for the country’s top emerging leaders in religion and ethics. State of Formation (www.stateofformation.org) was founded this year by the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue in partnership with Andover Newton Theological School and Hebrew College and in collaboration with the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. It is designed to capture the singular kernels of wisdom possessed by those undergoing faith or ethical formation and the years immediately thereafter in order to inform inter-religious discourse, leadership, and edification.
On October, 20, 2010, Reverend Elizabeth Findley Hazel (STH ’90) preached during the STH community worship service. To view the video of the service, go to BUniverse and search for ‘Hazel.’
If you have alumni/ae news to share with the STH community, please email Jaclyn Jones at sthalum@bu.edu.