YDS welcomes most select class in school history as 2025-26 academic year begins
Dean Greg Sterling speaking at Opening Convocation / photo by Blake Long ‘27 M.Div.
Welcoming 113 new students, Yale Divinity School has begun its 204th year—a year highlighted by a new living-building residence hall, a new M.Div. curriculum, and several new faculty members.
Addressing the entire school at Opening Convocation on August 26, Dean Greg Sterling congratulated the members of the entering class for being part of the most select entering cohort in the School’s history, coming from a record-high applications pool.
Joining 189 returning students for a total student population of 302, the first-year students come from a dozen countries in addition to the United States. Forty-five are pursuing the M.Div. (Master of Divinity), 56 the M.A.R. (Master of Arts in Religion), and five the S.T.M. (Master of Sacred Theology). The group includes three non-degree students and four exchange students.
Representing a vast array of ages and experiences, the first-year class has an average age of 30 and ranges from 20 to 78 years old. Many come to YDS with advanced degrees, including the Ph.D., D.Min., and J.D. One is a former senior adviser to the Department of Defense, and no less than five have been department chairs at other universities.
“It is exciting to have such a talented and capable group of students arriving here from so many different places, backgrounds, and stages of life,” Sterling said. “It is even more exciting to contemplate what they will accomplish during their time here, and after.”
The new class represents at least two “firsts.” In its ranks are the first YDS students to live in the Divinity School’s newly opened regenerative residence hall, Carol B. Bauer Hall at the Living Village. The residential complex, which opened August 25, meets the highest standards in sustainable design, reflective of the School’s growing leadership in ecotheology.
Also, members of the new class pursuing the M.Div. degree are the first to study in the School’s revised Master of Divinity curriculum. Unanimously approved by the faculty in January, the revised M.Div. program features a new cohort model for students and sets forth a restructured learning design for required coursework. (Returning M.Div. students will continue under the previous curriculum and requirements.)
“We thought about the needs of students in the 21st century,” Sterling told the standing-room-only crowd in Marquand Chapel at Opening Convocation, “and hope that these curricular revisions help address the changing landscape of theological education today.”
Berkleley Dean Andrew McGowan leading faculty procession at Opening Convocation 2025 / photo by Blake Long
New faculty and staff members
Three tenure-track professors began their active service on the YDS faculty as the new year began.
Two of them, Nina Glibetić and Gabriel Radle, were appointed a year ago but spent their initial year on research fellowships in Germany. Both are Assistant Professors of Liturgical Studies at YDS and the Institute of Sacred Music. Prof. Glibetić pursues research drawing from liturgiology, medieval history, ritual studies, and Byzantine and Slavic studies. Prof. Radle specializes in early and medieval Christian liturgy, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean world.
Ra’anan Boustan is a scholar of Judaism who was at YDS last year as a Presidential Visiting Fellow. He now officially joins the faculty as Associate Professor of Jewish Studies. Prof. Boustan’s work explores the dynamic intersections between Judaism and other Mediterranean religious traditions in late antiquity, with a special focus on the impact of Christianization on Jewish culture and society.
Two scholars who recently completed their Ph.D.’s will be at YDS the next two years as Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellows. One is a YDS graduate—An Hoa Nguyen ’21 M.A.R., who did her Ph.D. at Boston College. Dr. Nguyen is an ethnographer with a special interest in faith formation and religious education. The other is Dorothy Chang, a Fordham University Ph.D. graduate who studies theological anthropology, Reformation/post-Reformation, Byzantine theology, and pneumatology.
Beginning his first full year at the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at YDS is Tony Tian-Ren Lin, the Center’s Associate Director and Director of Research. Also new at the Center is Elliott Smith, Program Administrator for Student Engagement.
The opening of the new academic year marks the beginning of the final year for two distinguished faculty members: Andrew McGowan and Mark Heim. Dean of Berkeley Divinity School and McFaddin Professor of Anglican Studies and Pastoral Theology, McGowan will retire from the Berkeley deanship at the end of spring semester following a transformative 10 years as the Dean of BDS. Heim, Samuel Abbot Professor of Christian Theology at Andover Newton Seminary at YDS, will also retire at year’s end, concluding 50 years of active service to Andover Newton.
Students and other members of the YDS community at Opening Convocation / photo by Blake Long ‘27 M.Div.
Preparing for new endowment tax
The 2025-26 academic year brings a significant challenge to Yale Divinity School. Like other academic institutions with large endowments, YDS must prepare for an 8 percent federal tax on endowment earnings set to take effect on July 1, 2026. Sterling will host an information session for the YDS community later this semester after the University has established its budget parameters for 2026-27 and beyond.
“None of us welcomes this significant new tax and the effects it will have on YDS, which relies nearly exclusively on endowment earnings,” Sterling said. “But this School has faced numerous daunting challenges over our 200-plus years and has always come out stronger. I am confident that we will do so once again. While we will make significant adjustments, we will move forward.”