Convocation & Reunions

8:30am Registration and Continental Breakfast, Croll Family Entrance Hall 

10:00 – 11:00 Living Village Tour, with Joel Lohr, Sustainability Specialist and Living Village Building Manager; departs from Croll Family Entrance Hall

11:30 – 12:30pm Beecher Lecture in honor of the late Rev. Dr. William C. Turner Jr., James T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor Emeritus of the Practice of Preaching at Duke Divinity School, with Bishop William J. Barber II, Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy, Marquand Chapel 

12:45 – 2:00 Lunch and Panel: Theological Education in the 21st Century with Dean Gregory E. Sterling; Javier A. Viera ’00 S.T.M., President and Professor of Education and Leadership at Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary; and The Very Rev. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Dean Emerita, Seminary of the Southwest, Old Refectory

2:15 – 3:15 Dessert Reception, hosted by Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School, Old Common Room

3:45 – 5:00 Poetry in a Time of Crisis, with Pádraig Ó Tuama, Professor in the Practice of Spirituality and Poetry, and Chris Wiman, Clement-Muehl Professor of Communication Arts; Moderated by Jane Tylus, Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Italian and Professor of Comparative Literature, Niebuhr

5:30 – 7:30 Reception of Gratitude celebrating the fifteenth and final year of Gregory E. Sterling’s deanship and the successful conclusion of the We Are Called campaign, Living Village Campbell Terrace

8:30am Registration and Continental Breakfast, Croll Family Entrance Hall 

9:00 – 10:15 Class Visits - Christian Spirituality and Practice with Professor Pádraig Ó Tuama - Ticket required*

9:20– 11:10 Class Visits - The History of Early Christianity from the Beginnings to the End of the Fourth Century with Professor Teresa Morgan - Ticket required*

9:20– 11:10 Class Visits - Black Religious and Political Thought with Associate Professor Clifton Granby - Ticket required*

9:20– 11:10 Class Visits - Musicality of Black Preaching with Professor Braxton Shelley - Ticket required*

10:15 – 11:15 Panel Discussion - YDS Alumni Impacting the Greater New Haven Community with Erik Clemons ’26 M.A.R., CEO and President of ConnCAT; and Chris Freimuth ’25 M.Div., Acting Director of New Haven Pride Center; and The Rev. Heidi Thorsen ’19 S.T.M., Assistant Rector of Trinity on the Green. Moderated by Rev. Dr. Frederick “Jerry” Streets ’75 M.Div., Professor in the Practice of Divinity and Social Work, Great Hall

11:30 – 12:00pm Marquand Chapel Worship Service

12:15 – 1:30 Alumni Awards Luncheon, Old Refectory 

Awardees:

• Rev. Dr. Willard C. Ashley ’84 M.Div., ’92 D.Min. ANTS, Andover Newton Seminary Spirit of the Hill Award  
• Samuel Chuka Ekemam ’72 M.A.R., Distinction in Congregational Ministry 
• David F. Ford ’73 S.T.M., Distinction in Theological Education
• Tracy Johnson Russell ’95 M.Div., William Sloane Coffin ’56 Award for Peace and Justice 
• Kerry Alys Robinson ’94 M.A.R., Lux et Veritas

1:30 – 3:20 Class Visit: Moral Issues in Public Policy: Poverty, Health Care, and Voting Rights, with Bishop William J. Barber II, Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy - Ticket required*

2:30 – 4:00 Yale University Sacred Spaces Tour - departing from Phelps Gate, 344 College St., New Haven

2:30 – 3:30 Kavanagh Lecture, L. Edward “Ed” Phillips, Associate Professor of Historical Theology and Christian Worship, Candler School of Theology, Miller Hall

3:30 – 4:30 Living Village Tour with Dean Gregory E. Sterling and Joel Lohr, departing from Croll Family Entrance Hall

5:00 - 6:00 Welcome Reception, Berkeley Divinity School’s 15th Dean: The Rev’d Dr. Gabrielle R. Thomas, Croll Family Entrance Hall

5:15 – 6:00 YDS Class of 1976 50th Reunion Memorial Service, Labyrinth

6:30 – 8:00 YDS Class of 1976 50th Reunion Dinner, Greenberg Conference Center (By Invitation Only) 

*Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis. Please see the registration desk for availability* 

8:30am Registration, Croll Family Entrance Hall 

9:30 – 10:30am Coffee Reception and Student Exhibition hosted by YDS Alumni & Community Engagement Office, Sarah Smith Gallery / Remarks in Day Missions Reading Room

10:15-11:15 Immigration & Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Immigration with Yii-Jan Lin ’14 Ph.D. ’11 M.A. ’11 M.Phil., Associate Professor of New Testament and Jennifer Herdt, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs; Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics, Professor of Religious Studies, Latourette Hall

11:30 – 12:00pm Marquand Chapel Worship Service with Rev. Dr. Janet Anti ’76 M.Div.

12:30 – 2:00 BDS Graduate Network Lunch, Old Refectory

2:00 – 3:00 BDS Academic Convocation with Conferral of Honorary Degrees and Cheney Lecture, Marquand Chapel

Honorary Degree Recipients:

• The Rt Rev’d C. Andrew Doyle – 9^th Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas
• The Rt Rev’d Miguelina Howell – Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts
• The Rt Rev’d Steven Charleston (ret.)

Cheney Lecturer: The Rt Rev’d Andrew Doyle 

3:00 – 4:00 Refreshments, Old Common Room

4:00 – 5:00 BDS Panel Discussion: Leading with Wisdom with Karen Kilby ’94 Ph.D. ’86 B.A. - Bede Professor of Catholic Theology and Director of the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University, UK; The Hon. Margaret H. Marshall ’76 J.D., Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (ret.); The Rt Rev’d Miguelina Howell, Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts; Dr. Westina Matthews, Author, theologian, spiritual director, and educator. Chair: The Very Rev’d Dr. Gabrielle R. Thomas, Dean & President, Berkeley Divinity School, Old Refectory

5:00 – 6:00 Networking Reception, Old Common Room

6:00 – 7:00 BDS Community Eucharist with the Installation of The Very Rev’d Dr Gabrielle R. Thomas, 15th Dean of Berkeley Divinity School, Marquand Chapel

7:15 Depart Sterling Divinity Quadrangle for Berkeley Center 363 St. Ronan St, New Haven, CT 06511

7:30 Celebration of the Installation of The Very Rev’d Dr. Gabrielle R. Thomas, 15th Dean of Berkeley Divinity School, Berkeley Center Terrace

The accommodations listed here are located within a short distance of campus:

Residence Inn by Marriott New Haven/Hamden
2312 Whitney Ave
203-691-5123
Book your group rate for Yale Divinity School

The Study at Yale
1157 Chapel Street
866-930-1157

Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale
155 Temple Street
800-THE-OMNI
Book your group rate for Yale Divinity School or contact Ashley Tucker at the Omni: 203-974-6727 or ashley.tucker@omnihotels.com

The Blake Hotel
9 High Street
203-390-5352