NEW YORK (W.) Feb. 27 – For the first time in Union Theological Seminary's 172-year history, it will have a woman at the helm.
Serene Jones has been selected to become the 16th president Union Theological Seminary in New York. Jones starts on July 1. She replaces Joseph Hough Jr., who is retiring after 9 years as president of the non-denominational seminary.
Jones is a professor of Theology at Yale Divinity school. She serves as chair and faculty member of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. She's also held faculty appointments at Yale Law School and in the Department of African American Studies and Religious Studies.
"Dr. Jones's exceptional leadership style and distinguished scholarship make her the ideal person to lead this vibrant theological institution, which has been home to notable scholars Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer," said David Callard, chairman of the seminary's board. "With Dr. Jones's vision and commitment, Union is positioned not only to continue its role as a leading institution of theological education but also to be a strong voice at a time when religion, with all its pluralistic manifestations, has become an increasingly powerful and divisive issue."
Jones expressed her hope and vision for the school as it moves into the next chapter of its life and mission.
"In the intellectual Christian world, Union Theological Seminary has long held a preeminent position shaping not only American religious life but its cultural and political values as well. At the present historical moment, in North America and globally, Union stands ready to assume this role with renewed vigor, intellectual acuity and abiding faith," Jones said.
Jones has published 37 articles and book chapters since 1991. She is the author of Feminist Theory and Theology: Cartographies of Grace (2000) and Calvin and the Rhetoric of Piety (1995). She co-edited Feminist and Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics (2006), Constructive Theology: A Contemporary Engagement with Classical Themes (2005), Liberating Eschatology: Essays in Honor of Letty Russell (1999), and Setting the Table: Women in Theological Conversation (1995).
Jones earned her M.Div. from Yale Divinity School (1985) as well as her Ph.D. in theology from Yale University (1991). She holds a B.A. from the University of Oklahoma (1981) and is an ordained minister in both the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ.
Union Theological Seminary was founded in 1836. It describes itself as "an independent, ecumenical graduate school of theology with the mission to educate men and women for ministries in the Christian faith, service in contemporary society, and study of the great issues of our time."
