What’s new in the new year: YDS begins 2024-25

Buoyed by the arrival of 128 new students—21 percent of them international, from countries such as China, Brazil, India, and Ghana—Yale Divinity School began its 203rd year this week, continuing its traditional mission of preparing leaders for church and world.

“The core mission bears an unmistakable resemblance to that which animated Yale’s founding in 1701 and the Divinity School’s establishment as a professional school at Yale in 1822,” YDS Dean Greg Sterling said.

“Yet the way we pursue that mission, and the context in which we do so, could scarcely be more different. Theological education is entering a new era, and while it comes with more than its share of challenges, I am excited about what this School and our students will accomplish in the decades ahead.”

‘The Future of Theological Education’: Listen to Dean Sterling’s interview for the YDS podcast series

New class

Reflecting the global awareness goal in the YDS strategic plan, the new class represents nearly every continent and almost two dozen countries. Its members arrive at a time of heightened emphasis by YDS on international programs, including new summertime study-abroad opportunities and support for international visiting faculty. A group of students undertook a study trip to Hong Kong this past summer, and a program in Kenya is planned for the summer of 2025.

Overall, the new class is 49 percent female and 48 percent male; three percent identify as other or non-binary. The first-years join 183 returning students, forming a student population of 311 beginning the 2024-25 academic year.

In the entering class, 78 students plan to pursue the M.A.R.; 44, the M.Div.; and six, the S.T.M. Twenty-eight percent already hold advanced degrees; the most common among them are the M.A., M.S., M.Div., and J.D.

Their average age is 29.3 years, although the age range is wide—20 to 68.

In a message to students on the eve of the new year, Vicki Flippin ’08 M.Div., Associate Dean for Student Affairs, took up the perennial question: Why are you here?

“My guess,” she wrote, “is that most of you are here, learning from these brilliant faculty and these passionate peers, practicing your craft of community-building and meaning-making, so that you can equip yourself to do your part in the massive group project of building a more loving and just world. Whatever your reasons for being here, remember them.”

Opening Convocation 2024: Watch the video / View photos

As the School welcomes its new students, it celebrates a significant milestone in the continuing effort to make YDS affordable. This year, only 37 percent of students are having to borrow to finance their divinity education, down from 75 percent a dozen years ago when Sterling began his tenure as dean.

New faculty and staff

Beginning his YDS faculty career this week is Ryan Darr ’19 Ph.D., newly appointed Assistant Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Environment. Prof. Darr concentrates his research on environmental ethics, multi-species justice, structural injustice, ethical theory, and the history of religious and philosophical ethics. (Read more.) He is in a new faculty position created as part of the Divinity School’s broad effort to educate students to become “apostles of the environment.”

New Divinity Library Director Clifford Anderson now begins his first full year. Dr. Anderson, the former Director of Digital Research at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, N.J., and Chief Digital Strategist at the Vanderbilt University Library, began at Yale on May 1. (Read the Dean’s announcement here.)

The launch of the 2024-25 academic year marks a new leadership role for Jennifer Herdt, Gilbert Stark Professor of Christian Ethics, and the completion of the administrative restructuring YDS has been implementing over the past three years. Prof. Herdt now assumes the title of Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs. Her division includes Admissions & Financial Aid and the four YDS centers: the Center for Faith & Culture, the Jonathan Edwards Center, the Center for Continuing Education, and the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy.

Joyce Mercer, Horace Bushnell Professor of Practical Theology and Pastoral Care, continues as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, but with promotion to Senior Associate Dean. Her division includes Student Affairs, Leadership Initiatives, and Marquand Chapel.

New to the administration is Registrar Jamie Yen Tan, who joins the YDS community from The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church and Virginia Theological Seminary, where she served as Registrar and Associate Dean for Academic. (Read more about Ms. Tan here.)

Elizabeth Burns begins her first full year in Student Affairs. Ms. Burns is a licensed clinical social worker who serves as embedded counselor in support of students. (Read more.)

Joelle Siracuse is the new Senior Administrative Assistant for Faculty Affairs, supporting Jennifer Herdt. Ms. Siracuse comes to YDS from the School of Medicine, where she was Senior Administrative Assistant in YSM Student Affairs. She has also served at Benjamin Franklin College and at the Cancer Biology Institute on West Campus.

The Office of Student Affairs has a new member: Muriel Drake, who will serve as Student Services Coordinator. Ms. Drake has previously worked as Admissions Counselor at Maclay School in Florida, Office Manager for Goizueta Business School at Emory University, and as a substitute teacher and classroom instructional assistant.

Macie Bridge ’24 M.A.R. is the new Operations Coordinator at the Center for Faith & Culture at YDS. Although new in the position, she is a familiar team member at the Center, having worked part-time as Communications Assistant during her YDS student days. Ms. Bridge has also worked as Events and Communications Coordinator for L’Arche in North Carolina.

Volker Leppin, Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology, takes on a new role this year. He will handle faculty oversight responsibilities for the M.A.R. and M.Div. programs in place of professors Chloë Starr and John Pittard during their semester-long leaves—for Prof. Starr in fall semester and Prof. Pittard in the spring. Starr and Pittard are faculty coordinators for the M.A.R. program and M.Div. program, respectively.

 New spaces and campus upgrades

Those returning to the Quad after a summer away are noticing dramatic changes on the site where the Living Village is under construction. The three main sections have taken shape, complete with walls, roofs, and the unique design elements familiar to those who have been viewing renderings the past several years.

Next month, crews will start installing the solar tiles on the roofs, a key part of the design that will allow the Living Village to generate more power than it uses. The Living Village—which will be the largest living-building residence hall at any university—is on schedule to open next summer.

Returning students are also finding new and improved landscaping at the labyrinth behind Marquand Chapel, designed by landscaping professional and current YDS student Chris Freimuth ’25 M.Div.

In the upcoming year, YDS is modifying three Quad entrances to make them ADA-compliant—part of the multi-pronged effort to advance DEIB at the School.

Ahead in the new year

In January, the faculty will vote on one of the most significant curricular changes at YDS in decades: a revision of the M.Div. program, part of the strategic plan adopted two years ago. The revisions will take effect next year. More details about the proposed changes will be communicated in the weeks and months ahead.

Also this year, the faculty will vote on a proposal to launch a Ph.D. program at YDS to complement the doctoral program operated by Yale’s Religious Studies Department. Here, too, more information will be shared as the year progresses.

Part of the ongoing effort to reflect the School’s diversity in its art and iconography, YDS will unveil a new portrait in the Common Room this fall. The subject is Alexander Crummell ’23 M.A.H., who studied at the Divinity School in the 1840s and, along with James Pennington, was granted a posthumous degree last fall.

Over the course of the academic year, the Divinity Library will be exploring a remodeling, with a plan expected by year’s end.

Editor’s note: For updates throughout the year, follow YDS on social media, read Notes From the Quad (which is delivered to your inbox every month), and visit the News area of the YDS website.