Brian Lugioyo
Seattle Pacific Seminary
Seattle Pacific University Provost Laura Hartley has named the Rev. Dr. Brian Lugioyo as the next dean of the School of Theology and Seminary, beginning in July. He succeeds the Rev. Dr. Douglas M. Strong, who – since 2007 – has been the dean of the School of Theology and the founding dean of Seattle Pacific Seminary. Strong will assume an endowed professorship at the university.
Lugioyo has been Professor of Theology and Ethics at Azusa Pacific University since 2011. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor at Spring Arbor University. He is a graduate of Westmont College, Fuller Theological Seminary, and the University of Aberdeen, and his research expertise is in theological anthropology, liturgical theology, and historical theology. An ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church, Lugioyo and his wife, Nicole, have three children.
The School of Theology at Seattle Pacific University includes faculty who teach both undergraduate courses in theology and graduate courses. The School of Theology is ecumenical and has been rooted in the Wesleyan Holiness tradition since the university’s establishment in 1891.
Molly T. Marshall
United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
The Rev. Dr. Molly T. Marshall began duties as Interim President of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities on March 1, 2021, succeeding President Lewis P. Zeidner, Ph.D., who announced his retirement
in December 2020 after serving as president since 2016.
Marshall recently served as the president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas from 2004 to 2020. She is a Christian theologian who has taught at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Ordained in 1983, she received Privilege of Call from the American Baptist Churches in 1997.
Thomas C. Gibbs
Covenant Theological Seminary
Covenant Theological Seminary’s Board of Trustees has named the Rev. Dr. Thomas “Tom” C. Gibbs as the institution’s sixth president. Gibbs will assume office on July 1, 2021, and succeeds Dr. Mark Dalbey, who announced his retirement after eight years in the office and more than 20 years on the faculty and staff.
Gibbs has served as senior pastor for Redeemer Presbyterian Church of San Antonio, Texas, a church he planted in 2002. A graduate of Auburn University, he has overseen numerous church plants through his role as the chairman of the Southwest Church Planting Network and currently serves as church planting assessment director with Mission to North America (MNA). He and his wife, Tara, have four children.
Covenant Theological Seminary, founded in 1956, became the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church of America in 1982.
Edgardo Colón-Emeric
Duke Divinity School
The Rev. Dr. Edgardo Colón-Emeric has been appointed by the Duke University provost to a two-year term as dean of the Duke Divinity School, succeeding Dean L. Gregory Jones, who has been appointed president of Belmont University in Tennessee.
Colón-Emeric is currently associate dean for academic formation, director of the Center for Reconciliation, and the Irene and William McCutchen Associate Professor of Reconciliation and Theology at Duke.
Colón-Emeric is an ordained elder in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. He directs the Central American Methodist Course of Study and the Peru Theological Initiative, and he serves in the United Methodist Committee on Faith and Order and on both national and international Methodist-Catholic dialogues.
Asa J. Lee
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Rev. Dr. Asa J. Lee was appointed President of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in March by the Board of Directors of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Lee, who previously served at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., began his duties on June 7.
Lee served as Vice President for Campus Administration, Associate Dean for Community Life, and director of African American Studies at Wesley. He has taught courses in religious studies, Christian formation, preaching, and church leadership as well as theology in the African American context, and was the inaugural director of African American Church Studies.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Hampton University, followed by a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary and a doctorate in ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary. He is married to the Rev. Chenda Innis Lee, an ordained United Methodist elder. Together, they have four daughters.
Rev. Lee succeeds the Rev. Dr. David Esterline, who retired after serving for six years as president at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Ruth McGillivray
Northwest Seminary and College
Northwest Seminary and College’s Board of Governors named Ruth McGillivray as Interim President. The position at the school in Langley, British Columbia, became effective March 1.
Ms. McGillivray joined Northwest in 2017 as Director of Competency-Based Education; in 2019 she transitioned to Chief Innovation Officer, and a year later became Chief Operations Officer.
She holds a Master of Arts in Learning and Technology from Royal Road University. She succeeds Dr. Kent Anderson, who had served as president since 2010.
Thomas J. Egger
Concordia Seminary
A longstanding member of the faculty at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, has accepted the call from the Board of Trustees to serve as the institution’s 11th president. The Rev. Dr. Thomas J. Egger began his new role in March and will be installed on Aug. 27.
Egger has been a member of the Concordia faculty since 2005. He also is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents for Concordia University Chicago.
He earned both his M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees at Concordia, and before being called to the seminary served as pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Storm Lake, Iowa. He and his wife, Victoria, have six children.
He succeeds the Rev. Dr. Dale A. Meyer, who retired last year after serving 15 years as president. Meyer also has been awarded status as president emeritus and professor emeritus.