Convocation to Mark New Year, New Name for Deanship
Candler School of Theology will open the 2017-2018 academic year with fall convocation on Thursday, August 24 at 11:05 a.m. in Cannon Chapel. During the service, Jan Love will be installed by Emory University President Claire Sterk as Candler’s inaugural Mary Lee Hardin Willard Dean, made possible by a gift from the estate of Mary Lee Hardin Willard that created a permanent endowment supporting the Candler deanship. Emory’s new provost, Dwight A. McBride, in the role since July of this year, will also take part in the installation ceremony.
Dr. Douglas A. Hicks, dean of Oxford College of Emory University and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Religion, will give the convocation address, entitled “Does God Take Sides?” Hicks came to Oxford from Colgate University, where he served as provost and dean of the faculty. He was professor of leadership studies and religion at the University of Richmond and founding director of the university’s Bonner Center for Civic Engagement. Hicks is the author of four books, a former president of the Academy of Religious Leadership, and has held visiting faculty positions at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond and Harvard Divinity School.