CDSP Faculty Transitions

Dear Friends:

Late last week, Professor Lizette Larson-Miller let me know that she will conclude her time at CDSP in January 2015 after teaching at the intersession. I am grateful to her for her 12 years of service, both in the classroom and as dean of All Saints Chapel, and I am glad that we will have the rest of the semester to appreciate her ministry and say goodbye.

I don’t yet know who will assume Professor Larson-Miller’s duties as dean of the chapel, but we feel confident that we can use the remainder of the semester to assess how best to continue her good work. I will keep you informed about our plans. As you know, Academic Dean Ruth Meyers and Professor Emeritus Louis Weil are both renowned liturgical scholars, and I have every confidence that CDSP will continue to be known as a center of excellent liturgical teaching and training.

We find ourselves in the midst of several faculty transitions this semester, and although we would not have chosen to bid farewell to anyone who is leaving, we now have several opportunities to invite new faculty to join us and to add expertise that will help us learn more about leading a changing church.

Two joint searches with Pacific Lutheran School of Theology—one for an Old Testament faculty member and one for an ethics faculty member—are now underway, and we will soon name a student representative to that search committee. We expect to post these positions soon and to interview candidates at the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature meeting to be held in San Diego in November.

I am delighted to report that the Rev. Dr. William Stafford, visiting professor of church history, has agreed to stay with us at CDSP for three years. During that time, we’ll be able to assess what opportunities we might have to collaborate with partners in teaching church history that is both distinctively Anglican and ecumenically informed. You can read more about Professor Stafford and his career as a professor and dean at Virginia Theological Seminary and School of Theology at University of the South (Sewanee) on our website.

We are also close to announcing an opening for a new position for a faculty member who will oversee extended learning and continuing education and teach practical theology. Sarah Quinney will serve as the student representative to that committee. Adding this position will give us even more ability to offer flexible theological education to lay and clergy leaders across the church and to people who are hungry for the generous theological perspectives that CDSP offers to the church and the world.

This is an exciting time at CDSP, and I am grateful to be a part of this community with all of you. If you have questions about our faculty transitions, please talk with Ruth Meyers via email or at 510-204-0720.

Faithfully,

The Very Rev. W. Mark Richardson
Dean and President