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Convocation – a rare treat

Date: October 11, 2022

This week we celebrate our wonderful alumni as we welcome them “home” for Class Reunions and Alumni Convocation. The Class Stewards and the Alumni Association Executive Committee (AAEC) also hold their fall meetings on campus this week. As we continue to emerge from the COVID-era, it is a particular joy to welcome our alumni back to campus for in-person gatherings.

Yesterday our Class Stewards gathered, and in the evening the classes celebrating reunion years gathered to reminisce and catch up with one another. After the disruption of the pandemic, we are back “face to face” (while of course continuing to encourage people who wish to wear a mask). Our class stewards are our ambassadors. For their continuing care of this place, I am grateful.

Today is Convocation, featuring Malcolm Guite, Priest-Poet, whose focus will be:  A Virginia Quintet: a reading and reflection on five new poems to celebrate the VTS Bicentenary — the first public readings of a new sonnet sequence commissioned for the VTS Bicentenary, with reflections on the making and shaping of the poems in light of his visits to VTS, the liturgical seasons, and our shared history.

It is an extraordinary honor to have the Rev. Dr. Malcolm Guite in our midst. Wewill hear a creative poet share his poetry about a particular place (Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA) and through the lens of the Church calendar. It will be a memorable treat.

Prior to the keynote, today’s Convocation leads off with a Seminary update for our alumni that I will offer, following welcoming remarks by AAEC President, the Rev. Jennifer Andrews-Weckerly ’09. The day ends with the service of Academic Convocation Evensong, with Jennifer Andrews-Weckerly preaching, and the awarding of an honorary degree to Malcolm Guite. A Festive Reception follows Evensong in Scott Lounge. Do join us!

We are very grateful to the student body for their thoughtful planning, ensuring students will be on hand to offer hospitality to our alumni as they return to campus – some visiting for the first time in years – eager to connect with our seminarians and to see the newly renovated campus spaces.

I encourage you to take advantage of and enjoy the opportunity to connect with our amazing alumni this week. My grateful thanks in advance for offering them our hallmark hospitality!

The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President

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