Date: May 11, 2026
Every spring, a great deal of energy in the office of Academic Affairs and Student Life is consumed with preparations for commencement that include ordering robes, printing degrees, and inputting grades. I’m proud of the team who works so diligently and with such good cheer to ensure that all that the details are sorted so that our graduates feel properly honored and celebrated.
Even as this wonderful and complicated dance is taking place, other aspects of AASL are also rolling along. One of these is the wrapping up of the major faculty reviews that happen every year. The Faculty Handbook sets out that all non-tenured faculty be reviewed every three years and that all tenured faculty be reviewed every seven years. This is a robust process during which the faculty member under review reflects on their vocation, teaching, and scholarship, and the committee prepares a 7-10 page report. Last week, the Board of Trustees read through these reports for both VTS and GTS faculty and they now stand as part of the permanent records of both schools. I’m grateful for the twenty-one faculty and six students who participated in this process, and extremely proud of the faculty colleagues whose work was reviewed. Congratulations to Profs. Perez-Bullard, Burnett, Stace, DeLashmutt, Roland. As a result of a robust and thoughtful process, both our schools and our faculty are stronger.
In addition to faculty reviews, AASL was busy this year admitting students, transitioning the student information system to Populi, and training and deploying student workers in crucial roles. Over the next week you’ll read more about this, as well as a reflection on the work of administration as an act of ministry. I hope that you enjoy this week’s peek into the work of AASL at VTS.
Melody D. Knowles, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer
Associate Professor of Old Testament
Virginia Theological Seminary and The General Theological Seminary