2015 Honorees

2015 Distinction in Congregational Ministry

The Right Reverend Michael B. Curry, ‘78 M.Div.

At the heart of YDS is the commitment to train women and men for the lay and ordained ministries of the Christian church. The award for Distinction in Congregational Ministry is awarded to a lay or ordained individual who has shown exceptional pastoral competence in the work of developing the ministry and mission of local congregations.

SPECIAL UPDATE: On June 27, 2015, the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry was elected the 27th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church at the 78th General Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. Elected on a first-ballot vote, Bishop Curry will be installed in his position as Presiding Bishop on November 1, 2015.

Currently, Michael Bruce Curry is the 11th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.He was ordained to the diaconate in June 1978 at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo, New York, and to the priesthood in December 1978, at St. Stephen’s, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

He began his ministry as deacon-in-charge at St. Stephen’s, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1978 and was rector there 1979-1982. He next accepted a call to serve as the rector of St. Simon of Cyrene, Lincoln Heights, Ohio, where he served 1982-1988. In 1988 he became rector of St. James’, Baltimore, Maryland, where he served until his election as bishop.     

In his three parish ministries, Bishop Curry was active in the founding of ecumenical summer day camps for children, the creation of networks of family day care providers and educational centers, and the brokering of millions of dollars of investment in inner-city neighborhoods. He also sat on the Commission on Ministry in each of the three dioceses in which he has served.

During his time as Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina, Bishop Curry has taken the Diocese into 21st-century Galilee, the complex modern world that churches must engage in order to continue spreading the Gospel. He instituted a network of canons, deacons, and youth ministry professionals dedicated to supporting the ministry that already happens in local congregations, and he refocused the diocese on the Episcopal Church’s Millennium Development Goals through a $400,000 campaign to buy malaria nets that saved over 100,000 lives. Throughout his ministry, Bishop Curry has also been active in issues of social justice, speaking out on immigration policy and marriage equality.
 

2015 Distinction in Theological Education

David H. Kelsey, ‘58 B.D., ‘60 M.A., ‘64 Ph.D.

One of the finest traditions of YDS is the excellence of its faculty. Thus, the recipient of the award in Theological Education will be an individual whose scholarship, teaching or leadership and contributions to vocational formation for ministry reflect the best of YDS traditions.

David H. Kelsey is the Luther A. Weigle Professor Emeritus of Theology at Yale Divinity School. Kelsey graduated from Yale with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1958 and with a Ph.D. in 1964. He was on the faculty at YDS from 1965 to 2005, during which time he published several books including Imagining Redemption (Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), Between Athens and Berlin: The Theological Education Debate(Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), and To Understand God Truly: What’s Theological about Theological Education? (Westminster John Knox Press, 1992). Most recently he has published the two-volume title, Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology, (Westminster John Knox Press, 2009). In 2011 he gave the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary, entitled “Glory, Kingdom, and Power: Stammering about God.” In 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Tubingen in Germany, a great honor for an international scholar.

2015 William Sloane Coffin ‘56 Award for Peace and Justice

Anne Stanback, ‘85 M.A.R.

The Coffin award is given in honor of the life and ministry of William Sloane Coffin, former Chaplain to the University and one of the 20th century’s most significant religious leaders. The recipient of the Coffin award will be someone who shares Coffin’s passionate and prophetic witness, a courageous devotion to the dignity and worth of all persons, and who has made a notable contribution to the work of peace and reconciliation.

Anne Stanback has spent 30 years working for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights, including her work as the founding Executive Director of Love Makes a Family, the lead organization that successfully fought for the freedom to marry in Connecticut. In addition, Anne served as the volunteer Co-Director of the Connecticut Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights during the passage of the 1991 law that prohibited discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. She later worked as part of the Connecticut Equality coalition to add gender identity and expression to the state’s nondiscrimination law.

Prior to her work with Love Makes a Family, Anne was the Executive Director of both the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) and the Connecticut affiliate of the National Abortion Rights Action League(CT NARAL).

Currently, Anne serves as the Director of Strategic Partnerships at Equality Federation, working in states around the country to advance equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

Anne has received numerous awards for her work on behalf of women and the LGBT community and in 2006 was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.

Anne is an active member at Immanuel Congregational Church (UCC) in Hartford. She is a graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina and Yale Divinity School.  She lives in Avon, Connecticut, with her wife, Charlotte Kinlock.

2015 Lux et Veritas

George E. Rupp, ‘67 B.D.

The Lux et Veritas award is given to someone who has demonstrated excellence and distinction in applying the compassion of Christ to the diverse needs of the human condition through the wider church, institutional ministries, ecumenical organizations, not-for-profit organizations, government, or industry.

George Rupp is the chair of the International Baccalaureate Organization and an adjunct professor of religion, public health, and international affairs at Columbia University as well as a visiting scholar at Columbia’s Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life.

Dr. Rupp served as President of the International Rescue Committee from 2002 to 2013.  As the IRC’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Rupp led a staff of more than 12,000 colleagues and oversaw the agency’s relief and development operations in over 40 countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs in 22 cities in the United States.  During his tenure, the budget of the IRC tripled (to over $450 million).  The IRC also closed out a $60 million capital campaign at $110 million.  Along with the growth of programs in service delivery, advocacy efforts were increased in Washington and New York and also in London, Brussels, Geneva, Nairobi, and Bangkok.

Before joining the IRC, Dr. Rupp served as president of Columbia University.  During his nine-year tenure, he focused on enhancing undergraduate education, on strengthening campus ties to surrounding communities and New York City, and on increasing the university’s international orientation.  Earlier, Dr. Rupp served as president of Rice University, and before that he was was the John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity and Dean of Harvard Divinity School. 

Educated in Europe and Asia as well as the United States, he is the author of numerous articles and six books, including the forthcoming Beyond Individualism: the Challenge of Inclusive Communities (2015).

George Rupp and his wife, Nancy, have two adult daughters, both professional anthropologists, one with a specialization in Japan and the other with a focus on Africa. They also have six grandchildren.

2015 Dean’s Outstanding Service

Richard Hays ‘77 M.Div.

2015 Dean’s Outstanding Service

Kwame Osei Reed ‘79 M.Div