August 31, 2022
YDS Dean Greg Sterling made the following announcement today to the YDS community.
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Dear Colleagues,
As I announced at our Opening Convocation yesterday, I am pleased to present our new Associate Dean for Student Affairs, the Rev. Vicki Flippin ’08 M.Div.
Rev. Flippin comes to YDS from First & Summerfield United Methodist Church in New Haven. She has served as pastor of the multi-racial, justice-seeking congregation since 2018. One of the more notable aspects of her ministry is that this church has provided a shelter for newly arrived refugees and sanctuary for people at risk of deportation, including one well-known case of a long-time New Haven resident. She pastored two congregations in New York prior to her current church.Vicki is already part of the YDS community and known to many of you. In addition to being an alum, she has been serving as Director of our Methodist Studies Certificate Program since 2018. She has also been a Lecturer in our Supervised Ministry program the past year and, reflective of her contribution to the wider Yale community, has been Pastoral Advisor to the Yale Progressive Christian Students group the past four years.
A University of Chicago graduate (A.B. in South Asian Languages and Civilizations), Rev. Flippin has pursued social justice advocacy work at the national level for her denomination and beyond. Among other leadership roles, Vicki has been Co-President of the National Board of the Methodist Federation for Social Action and served as an Elected Delegate to the 2016 and 2019 General and Jurisdictional Conference. In addition, she is the former Secretary to two Methodist bodies: Methodists in New Directions (an LGBTQ advocacy group) and the New York Annual Conference Commission on Religion and Race. She has also been a clergy volunteer for an Asian Pacific Islander Rainbow Parents PFLAG group.
As demonstrated by these contributions, Vicki brings to YDS—especially to our students—an extraordinary set of skills, experiences, and insights. I am thrilled to have her taking on this expanded role in our community and look forward to what she will contribute to our students and to the School more broadly.
She will work half-time in September as she transitions from her local ministerial work and will begin full-time at YDS October 1st.
Please join me in welcoming Vicki Flippin as Associate Dean and in supporting her in this vital work!
Best wishes,
Greg Sterling
August 31, 2022