GST and Marin Updates

Photo by Coco McKown ’04, ’10

Kathy Ogren, provost and executive director, Marin Campus School of Business professor Christina Walker addresses a group of SFTS and U of R alumni during Alumni Weekend.

Photo by Cris Gebhardt

GST and Marin campus updates

By Kathy Ogren, provost and executive director, Marin Campus

It is with great optimism that I write to share with you some updates about San Francisco Theology Seminary (SFTS) and the Graduate School of Theology (GST). We have begun to emerge from our hunkered down COVID-19 lives. This opening up to the new light of longer days has enabled us gradually to reopen the campus for our classes, meetings, and gatherings, as well as safely managed conferences and events. We are delighted that 2021 Commencement took place outdoors on Geneva Terrace.

Enrollments and program development

By the fall semester, we expect campuses to be fully open. At SFTS, many classes will be in person, and we will also offer online degree and certificate programs. Master’s enrollment for fall 2021 should see an incremental increase from fall 2020, with 15 master’s students who have confirmed their intent to join us. Like other schools at Redlands, students continue to seek distance learning options for their degrees; we expect 50 percent of the master’s students to do so. The launch of the Seminary’s master’s degrees online beginning fall 2020 has been key to increased master’s enrollment. Few theological schools have access to nontraditional seminary education options that include public or poverty policy, business communications, health education and welfare, or social services— all areas that concern churches and religious groups. The Schools of Business, Education, and Continuing Studies plan to more fully share those opportunities with SFTS post-COVID. New certificates in spiritual entrepreneurship and nonprofit management through collaborations with the GST, the School of Business, and the School of Continuing Studies should be available to all our students and alumni by fall 2021.

Enrollment for the Seminary’s spiritual direction program hit an all-time high in January 2021 since the program launched its certificate program in January 2018, with 19 new students (75 percent certificate students and 25 percent diploma students). And the Shaw Institute is also slated to increase enrollment in the Certificate in Trauma and Spiritual Care program.

Campus activation

Two years out from our 2019 merger, we continue to balance and integrate the primary needs of our academic programs and residential students with community outreach, including providing housing, events, and conference capacity. The revenue earned through the use of our physical assets is crucially important to the long-term financial health of SFTS because it diversifies income for the GST and the University. It is also a way that we share our community with others, much as we share our open campus with all those who walk through our grounds to enjoy its serene beauty.

Leadership transition

In March, I shared that Rev. Dr. Jana Childers was stepping down from her administrative role as dean of SFTS and GST and returning to the faculty on July 1. We will miss Jana’s insightful and steady contributions to academic affairs leadership, but we know that she is looking forward to returning to full-time classroom teaching and new professional opportunities. I am pleased to announce that Professor of Church History Christopher Ocker follows Jana in a new and expanded role as the assistant provost for the GST, beginning in our new academic year. Chris has primary responsibility for academic affairs and student services; academic budgets and financial planning; GST strategic planning; enrollment, recruitment, and marketing; accelerated pathways and partnerships with the College of Arts and Sciences and Schools at Redlands; and leadership in alumni and community relations.

Chris will also serve as the interim dean of SFTS for 2021-2022, aiding the Seminary in developing a new description for the dean position and chairing a search to fill it. A distinguished member of the SFTS faculty since 1991 and a member of the core doctoral faculty at the Graduate Theological Union, Chris brings extensive academic and administrative experience into this role. Additional information on his appointment will be forthcoming. 9