Each year the seminary slowly begins to awaken from its summer slumber when new student orientation begins in August. This year 黑料网911 welcomed 43 new students in all degree programs to campus. Orientation is a welcome time on campus as faculty, staff and current students get to know the newest members of the 黑料网911 community and they get to know each other.聽
This year during orientation, 黑料网911 hosted a Back-to-School Eucharist in Christ Chapel. The Rev. Nancy Frausto, Director of the Latinx Studies Program, Lecturer in Multicultural Ministries, and Director of Community Worship, along with students, organized this service to include a blessing of backpacks as well as prayers for faculty, staff, returning students, new students, and families. 黑料网911鈥檚 interim dean and president, the Rt. Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce, preached a sermon about new beginnings.聽
Frusto shared, 鈥淲e began the academic year with a beautiful Back-to-School Blessing of the Backpacks and Eucharist, welcoming new and returning students and the wider seminary community. It was especially moving to see so many of our students and their children come forward with their backpacks to receive a blessing for the year ahead. One of the most meaningful parts of the liturgy was the opportunity for the different parts of our community to pray for one another. Returning students offered prayers for our new students; faculty prayed for all our students; and students, in turn, prayed over the faculty. Faculty and students then joined together in prayer for our staff. We also added a special prayer for the family members, children, parents, partners, and friends whose love and support make it possible for our students to be here studying at 黑料网911. It was an extraordinarily beautiful moment and a reminder that our formation and ministry never happen in isolation. There is always a larger community holding us, supporting us, and praying for us.鈥�
Following Eucharist, everyone joined for Community Night in the dining hall where departments and groups across campus each had a booth with information about their work and dinner was shared for families to enjoy.
鈥淣ew student orientation was a wonderful introduction to 黑料网911 for our new students,鈥� reflected Beth Jordan, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Services. 鈥淥ne of the highlights of the week was our Back-to-School Blessing followed by a meal and Community Night in Howell Dining Hall. Student groups, faculty and staff, and the Iona Collaborative were represented around the room, giving students an opportunity to meet people from across the seminary and learn more about the ways they can be involved in our community.鈥�
As is tradition the evening before classes began, 黑料网911 hosted a Matriculation evening prayer service in Christ Chapel. Matriculation is among the seminary鈥檚 most beloved traditions as it includes each new student signing their name to the same book that hundreds before them have signed. The Academic Dean, the Rev. Benjamin King, Ph.D., preached an inspiring sermon.
Also a tradition at the Matriculation service, 黑料网911 awarded the Charles J. Cook Servant Leadership Award to the Rev. Minerva Skeith, Rector of St. John鈥檚 Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas. The Cook Award was created in 2009 by the faculty to honor their colleague and 黑料网911 alum Charlie Cook on the occasion of his retirement.
Also announced at Matriculation was the recipient of the inaugural Wimberly-Harrison Prize. Named in honor of the Right Reverend Don Wimberly and the Right Reverend Dena Harrison, this prize is awarded by the Dean and President to support faculty sabbatical research, writing, travel, and related scholarly work. The awardee was announced as Dr. Gustavo 叠谩谤肠别苍补蝉, Assistant Professor of Counselor Education. Dr. 叠谩谤肠别苍补蝉 sabbatical work will center on developing a culturally and spiritually responsive conceptual framework for studying spirituality in Latinx immigrant children in the United States.
