Date: January 13, 2025
We use our campus year round. This is good. There is no point having this campus empty; it should be used. Today, I want to lift up the Doctoral Thesis Week intensive, which happened last week.
We are incredibly grateful to PJ Hobbs (Acting Director of Doctoral Programs) and to Jenn Baker for all of their help and flexibility this week – they did so much behind the scenes with student travel, snow arrangements and meal arrangements amongst other things. We appreciate so much Dr. Sharon Heaney, who delivered the course. And we appreciated the support of Writing Consultations offered by Susan Sevier, and Library Consultations offered by Vincent Williams.
We had 7 students (5 VTS and 2 GTS) who travelled from across the US to join us. Their topics of writing and research are broad and varied exploring aspects of educational and ministerial leadership including Children’s Ministry, Biblical Performance Criticism, Gender Roles in Ministry, Humility, Vulnerability and Proximity of Ubuntu, Christocentric Prayer, the Sharing of Theological Understanding in Congregations through Small Group Discussions, Digital Ministries, and more.
Thank you to all those involved. I am grateful.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, PhD.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary