Funds
With the generous help of our donors, the Boston University School of Theology offers many scholarships and fellowships to students pursuing seminary. The funds below reflect a wide array of what our full list offers. If you aren’t sure to which fund you’d like to donate, be sure to contact our Alumni/ae and Development Office with your questions.
Anna Howard Shaw Center Fund
Empowering Woman and Honoring Diversity
The Anna Howard Shaw Center at Boston University School of Theology promotes structures and practices that empower women and honor diversity. The Center is named after the Reverend Doctor Anna Howard Shaw, a Methodist minister, medical doctor, and suffragist. Ten years after its founding in 1978, the Shaw Center was designated as the women’s center for the Northeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. Ecumenical in its activities, the Center’s primary goals are in the four following areas: Research, Education, Support, and Advocacy.
“Without the Shaw Center, I would probably not survive. The place, coffee, food, people, and conversation—everything the Shaw Center offers sustains and nourishes me.” —Hyebin Hong, (MTS, 2013)
To Donate: Click on “Choose a Fund” and select “Anna Howard Shaw Endowment Fund.”
Center for Global Christianity and Mission Fund
Learning from Global Scholars
The Center for Global Christianity and Mission aspires to be a community of learners, researchers, and doers who live out their missional callings through critical reflection, faithful witness, and thoughtful engagement with multiple cultures around the world.
Its weekly speaker series brings leaders to BU to teach about religious movements and developments across the globe. The Center also seeks to document and digitize the contours of global Christianity. For example, the Korean Diaspora Research Project documents the stories of Koreans in the Boston region. The Center is also home of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography, the premier source of information on African Christian biography.
To Donate: Click on “Choose a Fund” and select “Center for Global Christianity and Mission Endowment Fund.”
Center for Practical Theology
Studying Theology in Action
The Center for Practical Theology brings together scholars and ministry leaders to strengthen the relationship between theological research and the experiences and visions of faith communities. The Center sponsors research on vocation, spiritual formation and church life, finding faith today, and youth ministry. It also hosts consultations on preaching and postcolonial theology, poverty and justice, and feminist practical theology. An endowment would help the Center continue to create opportunities for students and visiting scholars to participate in consultations and research that deepen the understanding of faith in action—the practices of faith in diverse faith communities and public forums.
To Donate: Click on “Choose a Fund” and select “Center for Practical Theology Endowment Fund.”
Faith and Ecological Justice Program Fund
Developing Competencies in Ecologically Informed Spirituality and Practices
“The Faith and Ecological Justice Program equips STH students to tackle ecological justice issues including deforestation, toxic pollution, environmental racism, and climate change using political activism, theological development, educational programming, and spiritual practices. Giving to the FEJ ensures that we can keep preparing future leaders to tackle some of the most significant public health, social justice, and environmental issues we will face in the 21st century.” – Professor Becky Copeland
To Donate: Click on “Choose a Fund” and select “Faith and Ecological Justice Fund.”
Global & Contextual Engagement Fund
Send Students Around the Globe to Do Good
“The STH seminar trip to Israel and Palestine provided an intensive lens through which to engage the histories of a diversity of world religions within a single area. It called upon us as students to broaden our horizons and learn by openly exploring tensions occurring in difference. Furthermore, it pushed our limits so we could listen more deeply to the human story in others. I am grateful for the transformations, subtle and deep, that occurred.” ~Lauren Andrea-Lucia Hobler (STH ’16), center, in black
The newly endowed Global & Contextual Engagement Fund will award fellowships to STH students participating in enrichment experiences in the Boston area and around the world. Thanks to an anonymous donor, every dollar you donate up to $250,000 will be doubled.
To Donate: Click on “Choose a Fund” and select “Global and Contextual Engagement Fellowship Fund.”
Raíces Latinas Program in Theology, Leadership, and Research Fund
Providing Formational Support to Students and Leaders in/from Latinx Communities
Since 2019, the Raíces Latinas Program in Theology, Leadership, and Research offers formational support for students and leaders in or from Latin American and Latinx communities through studies, research, and mentorship. The program aims to generate and support interdisciplinary studies of Latinx peoples as well as intellectual and religious traditions. We also seek to provide spaces for communal learning and engagement through colloquia, collaborative research projects, and opportunities to connect with organizations within and beyond Boston University, the church, and the wider community. Many of these offerings are in coordination with the Certificate in Theology and Latinx Studies, the Hispanic Summer Program, and the Hispanic Theological Initiative, among others.
To Donate: Click on “Choose a Fund” and select “Raíces Latinas Program in Theology, Leadership, and Research Fund.”
Religion and Conflict Transformation Program
Working for Peace
The Religion and Conflict Transformation Program prepares students to lead change and build peace through imaginative action. Its certificate program trains leaders in the theology, theory, and practice of faith-based conflict transformation in faith communities and in the world. The program provides opportunities for practical engagement and contextual education beyond the classroom through internships and contextual education placement. Its travel seminars enable students to learn directly from global peace-builders. The Program also sponsors research and symposia that explore the complexities and possibilities of interfaith peacebuilding.
To Donate: Click on “Choose a Fund” and select “The Tom Porter Religion and Conflict Transformation Program Endowment Fund.”
Religion and Science Fund
Where Faith and Science Meet
“Over many decades, Boston University has built up a strong international reputation in religion-and-science research, with numerous graduates specializing in this field, many collaborative research projects, a large number of scholarly publications, and extensive outreach efforts. This area of scholarship directly addresses the challenge modern people face in integrating religious beliefs with the scientific worldview, and nothing is more vital for religious self-understanding in our time. The Religion and Science Fund supports students, research, and outreach activities, enhancing depth and adaptability of religion-and-science programming.” – Professor Wesley Wildman
To Donate: Click on “Choose a Fund” and select “Religion and Science Gift Fund.”
