Alumni News
COVID-19: Important Updates from Deans Moore, Stone, and Hickman-Maynard
This message was originally posted at 4:04pm on Friday, March 13, 2020. It will be updated as more information becomes available. Please see additional resources for our community at the bottom of this message.
Dear Beloved Community,
You have been remarkable in your calm and careful preparation as we shift to a largely virtual community of teaching, learning, and gathering. Thank you for your heroic efforts! You have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with minimal panic and maximal goodwill. Administrators, faculty, and staff have stepped into this learning curve superbly well, and we already see students doing the same. The next days and weeks will require a lot of effort and flexibility, and I hope you will take time each day to breathe deeply and center yourselves in ways that are important to you. With this email, your three deans want you to know how much we care for you and our shared community.
Below we explain some of the basics you will want to know, with messages from each of us about the overall STH situation (me), remote teaching (Dean Stone), and events and community and spiritual life (Dean Hickman-Maynard).
From Mary Elizabeth Moore: The University is open and is offering full services for teaching and learning, community life, and structural supports. We will simply be far more virtual in our “new normal,” and we will learn as we go. Many of our customary ways of functioning will change (as in remote teaching and event cancellations); however, we are developing alternatives to address the primary purposes of an academic and living community during this period of serious health risks.
- Staff will be available during their normal working hours, even though most will work parts of each week from home. You can reach people by email during regular hours, and they will also work in rotation to keep the offices open for support and immediate services.
- The Library will remain open, though the hours will be shortened and staff will rotate in their on-campus presence. The staff will also provide extra online services, and you will receive a more detailed note about this very soon.
- Public spaces in our school will remain open, e.g., the library and the Community Center, and the spaces will have sanitizers and reminders about social distancing and handwashing. This is needed because many students are remaining on campus for important reasons.
From Bryan Stone: STH Faculty are working hard to re-think their courses in light of our move to remote teaching for the next several weeks. Faculty will be in touch with students about the specifics of each class, but classes will always be held at the exact same time as scheduled, using Zoom. The University link for downloading Zoom for free is at https://www.bu.edu/tech/services/cccs/conf/online/zoom/. We suggest you familiarize yourself with Zoom and do some practice runs with a friend before classes resume next week. Any student who anticipates having technology or internet access problems in getting online remotely should be in contact quickly with Academic Dean Bryan Stone. If you will need to participate from a time zone outside of the US, please let him know that as well. Please always check your blackboard course websites for information and for Zoom links in the coming days. All courses will have a blackboard website, even if they did not have one previously. Writing Works will continue through virtual means (Google Hangouts), and more information will be coming about that soon.
From Teddy Hickman-Maynard: We are asking that students, staff, and faculty who have events planned between March 16 and April 13 to either cancel the event or transform it into an online event. Due to the uncertainty of the University’s plans for the remainder of the semester, we do not recommend that you plan to hold these events later in the semester. If student leaders require assistance in rescinding any contracts with outside guests or vendors, they should contact Dean Teddy Hickman-Maynard for assistance.
Despite this pause on in-person gathering, we fully intend to maintain a robust spiritual and community life program. Office of Students and Community Life staff will be working over the next few days to reimagine ways of coming together in virtual spaces to continue the work of nurturing meaningful relationships with one another. We are thankful that many students have already inquired about ways that they can help to support one another. We invite you to continue offering helpful suggestions as we put a plan in place.
From All of Us:
We encourage you to watch for updates. In the next 3 days, we will provide an overall information sheet, Monday’s Collegium, and a web information center for students and faculty. Please let us know (now or later) if you have any questions or concerns. We are here for you! At the same time, we wish you moments of breathing and blessing.
With hope for your wellbeing,
Mary Elizabeth Moore
Additional Resources:
COVID-19 Resources for Faculty
COVID-19 Resources for Students
Boston University COVID-19 Website
STH Library COVID-19 Information
Updated Monday, March 16 at 8:03am: BU Today Daily COVID-19 Updates
Updated Tuesday, March 17 at 2:32pm: STH Alums & Friends Events
BU Moves All Classes Online Due to Coronavirus: Questions and Answers
This following article was originally published on Wednesday, March 11 at 12:35pm. Please view the original article here as updates will be posted as the story develops.
By Doug Most
Boston University, reacting to the fast-spreading coronavirus, announced on Wednesday, March 11, that it is moving all classes to online only. Students who are away for spring break are advised not to return to campus after break ends Sunday—but residence and dining halls will remain open for those who need to remain on campus because of particular challenges, according to BU’s leadership.
In a letter to all students, faculty, and staff, Robert A. Brown, University president, and Jean Morrison, provost and chief academic officer, outlined the reasoning behind various decisions related to COVID-19 and explained how the changes would be implemented.
The changes, effective Monday, March 16, through Monday, April 13, do not impact BU’s day-to-day routine staff business or University research, but employees who are uncomfortable being on campus are encouraged to speak with their managers about working from home. Officials plan to revisit the situation and update the community around April 1.
View the full article here.
Boston University Launches COVID-19 Information Website
This week, Boston University launched a website dedicated to inform our community on the Coronavirus (COVID-19). The site was launched in collaboration with Student Health Services, Admissions, Dean of Students, Global Programs, Human Resources, and many others. The website will be kept up-to-date as news develops.
The launch of the website was also announced Tuesday, March 3 by the BU Today. "University officials have been meeting daily and communicating with students, parents, faculty, and staff, both in Boston and at programs across the United States and around the world. The University already had in place a response plan for major infectious diseases, and that plan has now been updated to specifically address the coronavirus (COVID-19)."
Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore addressed students, faculty, and staff on Monday, March 2 that "the toxicity of the disease is also connected with another kind of toxicity that is presently affecting Asian members of our community. We are aware of instances in BU and even in STH in which persons of Asian descent are avoided or addressed in an ostracizing way. This is devastating and just as toxic as the disease." She and Deans Stone and Hickman-Maynard urge the School of Theology community to be active by following these strategies:
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"Due to the crisis situation, we have entered a time to act for health – physical, psychological, and social. We highly recommend three strategies:
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COVID-19 Information: https://www.bu.edu/covid-19-information/
“We Pray With Her”, Authored by Multiple STH Alum’s, All Women
Nearly 70 United Methodist clergywomen (elders and deacons) under the age of 40 comprise the list of writers in "We Pray With Her." These clergywomen serve all over the United States and they lead in a variety of ministerial roles in the local church, chaplaincy, academia, and more. Formed in 2016 as a private Facebook group, they committed to pray for United Methodist presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and they continue today to share prayers and devotions with each other in support of women in leadership. Through this work, they invite readers to join in supporting women who lead in all walks of life - with prayers, through mentoring, and through daily acts of solidarity with the women in their own lives.
The following authors in "We Pray With Her" are STH graduates.
- Monica Beacham (STH '11) serves Cedar Grove United Methodist Church in North Carolina.
- Sarah Harrison-McQueen (STH '07) serves Central United Methodist Church in Virginia.
- Lorrin Radzik (STH '13) serves Independence and Seven Hills United Methodist Churches in Ohio.
- Allie Scott (STH '12) serves the Family Church in Neenah, Wisconsin.
- Megan Stowe (STH '04) serves Saint Paul’s United Methodist Church in Vermont.
- Megan Thompson (STH '08) serves Steward and Creston United Methodist Churches in Illinois.
All royalties from the forthcoming book, “We Pray With Her: Encouragement for All Women Who Lead,” will support scholarships for young women who are certified candidates enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at one of the 13 United Methodist Seminaries.
For more information, please visit their website: https://wepraywithher.com/
"We Pray With Her" can be purchased at: https://www.abingdonpress.com/wepraywithher
Tom Reid (’19) receives the Ecumenical Service Recognition Award
Congratulations to Tom Reid (STH ’19) for being honored by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) with the Ecumenical Service Recognition Award. Tom is one of three awardees. He was chosen for the Individual Interreligious Award. As many of you know, Tom now serves as Associate Director of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership at Hebrew College, and is active in coordinating the collaborative relationship between BUSTH and Hebrew College, which supports shared programs and the Journal of Interreligious Studies. He is also working with an STH team on a MOOC on interreligious leadership. He will be honored with the Interreligious Award at the 224th meeting of the PCUSA General Assembly on June 23, 2020.
Professor Wesley Wildman Named to New BU Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences
Boston, MA – Dr. Wesley Wildman, Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics, was named to the inaugural faculty of the new Boston University Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) academic unit. A new initiative for the University, CDS will serve as a link between the traditional academic departments at Boston University and scholars interested in data and computing sciences, and how data and computing sciences apply to all fields of study.
"Data science is a natural partner for an enormous variety of theoretical research tasks as well as practical problem-solving efforts, including what I do as a philosopher of religion, so I am pleased to be involved in the new faculty group. It’s the practical application of computational methods and data science to urgent and seemingly intractable human problems that I find most energizing," says Professor Wildman. "My Center for Mind and Culture is dedicated to applying these methods to complex and pressing human problems, ranging from immigrant integration and extremist religious violence to commercial exploitation of children and the social consequences of climate change. I have been profoundly moved to see the same impulse thriving within our university’s leadership, faculty, and students, and a matching determination to support institutional resources capable of making a difference. I am particularly looking forward to representing the computational humanities in the new Computing and Data Science Faculty. Data science, computational techniques, and humanities skills work best in league with one another, promising a far larger potential impact on the world."
CDS will be housed in a new building on BU's East Campus that will be completed in 2022, which will also be shared with the Departments of Mathematics & Statistics and Computer Engineering. The full list of founding faculty members can be found here.
More background on Dr. Wildman's work can be found on BU Today.
Faithful Witness in a Fractured World: Models for an Authentic Christian Life by Nicole L. Johnson (STH ’07)
Nicole L. Johnson, Professor of Religious Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies and Director of the Peacebuilding & Social Justice Program at University of Mount Union in Alliance, OH has recently co-authored a book entitled Faithful Witness in a Fractured World: Models for an Authentic Christian Life. Dr. Johnson graduated with her Doctor of Theology degree from BU School of Theology in 2007 where she focused her studies on Practical Theology. Dr. Johnson notes, "The book is picking up some momentum and leading to speaking opportunities at local churches and regional conferences, as well as interviews with radio stations and local papers." If you would like a copy of the book or more information, please click the following link: https://wipfandstock.com/faithful-witness-in-a-fractured-world.html.
Dean Moore: A Moment to Move!
Dear Beloved Community,
Welcome to a new semester and the new opportunities it will bring! The seismic shifts that are shaking our world make this semester a special moment in time. This is a MOMENT TO MOVE! We stand in an axis of history where everything we do matters, for good or ill. How fitting that the day that spring classes begin follows the day we have honored Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth, I am starkly aware that King’s life mattered; he recognized the moment to move, and he moved. On January 20, 2020, the world has never been more in need of people who move, and who do so by the forces of love and justice. In the Boston MLK Breakfast, Bishop Michael Curry reminded the full house that King’s work is not done; what is needed now is for human beings to trust in God and be like strong trees “planted by water” (Jeremiah 17:8). Curry concluded that people in this moment of time need to develop root systems that run wide and deep – wide to strengthen relationships and deep to find the nourishment to love. This is our challenge as we enter the spring semester: to strengthen relationships and reach deep toward the source of love and justice.
This moment is auspicious for me in a particular way because it is the last semester of my deanship in STH. I hope that, in a world of suffering, we can recognize this semester as a moment to build STH ever more fully toward a beloved community – that dances in the joy that runs through us, engages ideas that enlighten us, faces hard issues that grieve us, and builds relationships soaked in love and moving toward justice.
As I wrote on social media a few days ago, much has happened in this world during the winter recess. Earthquakes and aftershocks in Puerto Rico have killed at least one person, injured many others, left thousands homeless, and strained the already strained infrastructures. In the Philippines, 30,000 people have fled their homes in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption with another expected. Fires have swept across much of Australia, destroying animals and habitats in heart-breaking numbers, fueled by the effects of global warming. The United States has walked to the precipice of war with Iran. Five faithful Jews were murdered during Hanukah celebrations in a rabbi’s home in New York City, and the West Freeway Church of Christ in Fort Worth experienced the shooting of two members (one with family connections with one of our students) and the shooter. During the same days, the 2019 statistics are rolling in, marking a continued high rate of police shootings of people of color, with the proportion of African Americans shot being 2.5 times higher than that of whites and with high comparative percentages for Native American and Latinx peoples as well. The statistics for incarceration are dramatically disproportionate for the same ethnic communities and for people living with disabilities.
Faced with such destruction, this is a MOMENT TO MOVE! It is a moment to feel the pain of global urgencies, to draw deeply from the wellspring of God’s love, and to build relationships of justice in our immediate communities and far beyond. King’s voice still rings in the words inscribed on the monument we pass daily on Marsh Plaza: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” King penned those words in 1963 in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. He added: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” You and I still move in a web of mutuality, and the web will be shaped by how we live and move at this moment.
May this semester be a blessing to you, and you to those around you!
Mary Elizabeth
Challenges for Churches: A Season of Epiphany Message from Dean Moore
Challenges for Churches
We are in the Christian season of Epiphany – a season of special meaning for Christians but with a message at least partially apropos to persons in other faiths. The focus is on spreading light and doing the work of Jesus – the work of love – in the world. To quote Howard Thurman, this is the season when “the work of Christmas begins.” In such a season, churches are challenged to ponder their missions and spiritual-ethical life, even when the earth's family is reeling from tragedy after tragedy.
The World Is Hurting Too Much for Faith Communities to be Fainthearted
While the School of Theology has been in winter recess, our neighbors and the world have experienced devastation. Earthquakes and aftershocks in Puerto Rico have killed at least one person, injured many others, left thousands homeless, and strained the already strained infrastructures. In the Philippines, 30,000 people have fled their homes in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption with another expected. Fires have swept across much of Australia, destroying animals and habitats in heart-breaking numbers, fueled by the effects of global warming. The United States has walked to the precipice of war with Iran. Five faithful Jews were murdered during Hanukah celebrations in a rabbi’s home in New York City, and the West Freeway Church of Christ in Fort Worth experienced the shooting of two members (one with family connections with one of our students) and the shooter. During the same days, the 2019 statistics are rolling in, marking a continued high rate of police shootings of people of color, with the proportion of African Americans shot being 2.5 times higher than that of whites and with high comparative percentages for Native American and Latinx peoples as well.
The Challenge Is to Live from the Center of Faith
These and other devastations challenge churches and all faith communities to find the center of their mission or purpose and to live courageously into it. This challenge calls for courageous searching of ourselves and reshaping of our visions for a future of genuine hope. This is true for all faith communities, but I will relate it below to the United Methodist Church (UMC) due to questions erupting in the public press. Before I proceed, I want to emphasize strongly that BU School of Theology is committed to support and include all people, to honor their dignity, and to stand unequivocally for justice and compassion. We are not perfect in our efforts, but we will not abandon our commitment. We are also committed to welcome persons in all varieties of Methodist and Wesleyan theological traditions and to welcome persons in the wide range of ecumenically Christian and interfaith traditions, as well as those who are searching or unaligned. These commitments run deep, and they will not change. Our Wesleyan Student Association, for example, has enacted these commitments by voting to be a Reconciling Organization. We do not know what future structures will bring, but our challenge is to live into our deep commitments with ever-increasing efforts to learn together and sow compassion and justice.
The UMC Challenge Is to Find its Best Possible Direction
Some of you have asked me to comment on the latest United Methodist effort to offer an alternative to the “Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation,” which is not yet a full proposal, but which is now being developed into proposed legislation. Only then can the conversation examine details, and only in General Conference will the decisions be made. Until then, the conversations and decisions, remain open. Now is the time for much more conversation in STH, local churches, and other venues.
The two major directions of the Protocol are to provide for a separation of churches that identify as “traditionalist” if those churches so choose and to provide for a United States regional conference within the structures of the UMC. The significance of the regional conference is that the UMC, as a body, would no longer require agreement on all matters in The Book of Discipline; instead, the UMC in the U.S. would have regional flexibility in decision-making, which central conferences outside the US already have. (See details on the Protocol on websites listed at the end of this letter.)
The Protocol was developed by the most representative group of plan-developers thus far, and it is grounded in sustained conversation and mediation. For these reasons, some have named this as the “best next step.” At the same time, some people express a wish that the planners would have represented even more diversity, with more representation from LGBTQIA, African, young, and more wide-ranging ethnic communities. Many also want to ensure that, if such a plan were to be implemented, it would be accompanied by removal of all restrictive language regarding human sexuality and would include other assurances that justice would prevail in the continuing United Methodist Church. The conversations continue.
What must we do?
In the BU School of Theology, our challenge is to keep praying and talking about movements in the UMC, the ecumenical church, the interfaith community, and the larger world. They all affect one another. The challenge further is to open ourselves to the deep conversations we have already begun and to conduct them with the greatest of honesty, compassion, and respect so we all may learn and live into our best selves.
With appreciation for all of you,
Mary Elizabeth
Relevant Links:
- The Protocol
- Statement by Presidents and Deans of UMC Schools and Colleges (NASCUM)
- Responses from United Methodist Schools and Colleges
Christmas Message from Dean Moore
Dear Beloved Community,
On this Christmas Eve, I am thinking of all of you! The blessings of Christmas are not just for Christians, but also for peoples of all faiths and no faiths, and for all of God’s creation. The love of Christmas is a cosmic love and, for Christians, that love is revealed in the wonder of a baby’s birth. May love touch your life during this season in whatever form it comes to you. May the human family learn to live in a love that transcends violence and hurt.
Awaiting the birth of Jesus …
In a world filled with despair
Where children are separated from their parents
Where the climate warms with accelerating speed
Where people live in dire poverty.
Where we await the good news that a baby is born!
God is present in our midst
Hope is reborn
Love has come yet again to wipe away hate
throughout God’s creation!
Blessed Christmas and abundant Love to all of you!
Mary Elizabeth