On October 22, Emory University launched the most ambitious fundraising campaign in its 185-year history: “2O36.” With the title as a nod to the university’s upcoming bicentennial, the four-year campaign will focus on investing in people for the benefit of people.
This emphasis on applying knowledge in service to humanity dovetails beautifully with Candler’s mission of educating faithful and creative leaders for the church’s ministries throughout the world, says Candler Dean Jan Love. “The Candler community lives into our mission every day, producing field-defining scholarship, shaping students who put God’s love into action, and fueling positive transformation in the church and the world. These things have been true of Candler for generations, and they will continue to be true as we look to the year 2036 and beyond.”
Candler’s goal is to raise $85 million during the campaign, emphasizing the following priorities:
- Student scholarships, with the ultimate goal of making the MDiv program tuition-free, removing financial hurdles for students and the burden of debt for graduates.
- Faculty recruitment and retention, including the establishment of three endowed professorships—biblical studies, interfaith understanding and engagement, and Episcopal and Anglican studies—so Candler remains a top destination for world-renowned scholars.
- Enhancing Candler’s Contextual Education offerings by allowing students to pursue additional Con Ed experiences anywhere in the world while continuing their Candler coursework through remote learning.
- Additional investments in Candler’s Laney Program in Moral Leadership, enabling programming that reaches more students and the greater community.
- Building Candler’s capacity for public theological education through improvements in technology and strong partnerships with churches and community organizations to ensure Candler’s offerings address their needs.
- Increasing support for Pitts Theology Library, making it an even more useful resource for scholarship and research through both online and in-person offerings.
- Promoting annual gifts to the school’s Fund for Excellence to form a broad base of support to enhance students’ educational experience and allow Candler leaders to respond quickly as needs shift, expand financial aid, and create opportunities for dynamic engagement and worship.
You can read further details about Candler’s funding priorities on the 2O36 website.
Candler’s 2O36 campaign co-chairs are Kathelen Amos 79C, president of The Aflac Foundation, and Dan Amos, chairman and CEO of Aflac Incorporated; Bill Britt 83T, senior pastor of Atlanta’s Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, and Karen Webster Parks 16T, executive pastor of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta.
Dean Love made the case for supporting Candler in an address at the 2O36 launch event.
“If you want to join us in striving to heal a wounded world—in collaboration with those of good will from other religious traditions and none—invest in Candler faculty and students,” she said. “We need and deserve your support for this crucial, life-giving work.”