Faculty, Staff, Student & Alumni Highlights:
January 2013
Seattle University's President Fr. Steve Sundborg, was featured yesterday in a special article from Crosscut, here: http://bit.ly/YbJIpq
Dean Mark S. Markuly, Ph.D. gave an encore presentation at the invitation of the Methow Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, this past weekend. Dean Markuly spoke on the topic "Finding New Ethical Moorings for American Society" at 10am January 20th at The Community School in Winthrop, WA. The talk was highlighted in Methow Valley News' Community Briefs section on January 16. Last year's presentation on the topic of "The Changing Role of Religion in American Society" was well-received by a standing-room-only crowd.
Dean Markuly will also be sharing on the topic of “Interfaith Dialogue and a Jesuit Catholic University Fifty Years After Vatican II” for Seattle University's Colleagues gathering. Dean Markuly was selected as speaker on the topic as the School has made ecumenical and interfaith dialogue an important part of its educational commitments, and yet is planted firmly in a Jesuit Catholic university.
Gloria Burgess, Ph.D. had the wonderful opportunity of presenting a keynote address to 1,000 Women Executives in Texas Government. John C. Maxwell highlighted Dr. Burgess' work via social media on January 21, posting this photo as well.
Upon the invitation of the editors of the Encyclopedia of Christian Education, Rev. Tito Cruz, SM, Ph.D. is writing three articles on the following topics:Transformational Leadership, Dialogue Education, and Alfonso Nebreda, S.J., which will be publishded in 2014 by Rowman and Littlefied Publishing/Scarecrow Press.
Terri Stewart, 2012 Master of Divinity alumnus, and currently enrolled in the Post-Master’s Certificate in Transforming Spirituality / Spiritual Direction,
was awarded by the Church Council of Greater Seattle with the 2012
Gertrude Apel Pioneering Spirit Award earlier this autumn. The Youth Chaplaincy Coalition
that Terri spearheads was acknowledged as an organization that lives and
breathes a truly ecumenical spirit in walking with young people in the
Youth Detention Center and Echo Glen. Involving ministers and lay
people from diverse Christian backgrounds and various faith traditions,
the ministry is being taken in new directions to support youth coming
out of incarceration and to provide a base of pastoral care for young
people in the community.
The Youth Chaplaincy Coalition's "My Action Plan" (MAP) Mentorship Program is seeking new volunteer mentors. Teenage crime, recidivism, and gang activity are increasing in Seattle, yet resources for incarcerated youth continue to decrease. This mentorship program is a re-entry planning program for incarcerated youth that emphasizes autonomy, empowerment, and goal setting through one-on-one mentorship relationships with young people incarcerated in the King County juvenile detention system. MAP Mentorship would be an excellent fit for someone passionate about volunteer work with marginalized youth interested in seeking a consistent and intentional way to directly serve this population. For more information or to request an application, contact Terri Stewart at YCC-Chaplain@comcast.net.
Core Faculty member and Director of Worship, Mark Lloyd Taylor, Ph.D., presented a paper entitled “Søren Kierkegaard as Liturgical Theologian? The Role of the 1830 Danish Altar Book in His Writing” at the annual meeting of the North American Academy of Liturgy in Albuquerque, NM, January 3-6, 2013. In addition to arguing (against stereotypical views of him) that Kierkegaard must be read as a liturgical theologian in order to be adequately understood, Taylor used Kierkegaard’s changing views of the public worship of the church of his day as a case study for us to get at such current questions as: can we, how can we, incorporate the critique of liturgy into the liturgy itself, that is, can we, how can we, embody liturgy’s brokenness liturgically? And can we, how can we, participate in, take leadership for, and bequeath to children and grandchildren the church’s liturgy as deeply countercultural training in the doing of justice and peace, rather than as ornament to our own comfort and privilege, a comfort that lives cannibalistically upon the suffering and marginalization of others?
Current class of 2014 Master of Divinity student, John P. Forman, is excited to announce that his book will be published by SUNY Press on May 1, 2013. Details here, including reviews.