Welcoming new students, installing academic dean, honoring servant leader
On Sunday, September 8 the community and friends of Seminary of the Southwest gathered for Matriculation Evensong in Christ Chapel on the seminary campus.
The Very Rev. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, dean and president, presided at the service which included the presentation of the Charles J. Cook Award in Servant Leadership, the installation of Dr. Scott Bader-Saye as academic dean, and the matriculation of 23 new students in the seminary’s master's degrees and diploma program.
The seminary faculty chose Judith Rhedin to receive the 2013 Servant Leadership award. Ms. Rhedin is president of the board of trustees of St. James' Episcopal School, Austin, and assistant director at Texas Performing Arts at The University of Texas. Her citation highlights her “incarnational” ministry. “You bring your entire being to every endeavor, you keep your word, you lead with grace and have high expectations for others without being overbearing.” Rhedin citation
Scott Bader-Saye began his appointment to academic dean on June 1. Appointed by Dean and President Kittredge, Dr. Bader-Saye has been a member of the seminary faculty since 2009 and he holds the Helen and Everett H. Jones Chair in Christian Ethics and Moral Theology. Dean Bader-Saye also serves as Theologian in Residence at St. Julian of Norwich Episcopal Church, Austin, Texas. He welcomed the new students in his sermon at the Matriculation Evensong. Dean Bader-Saye’s blog about institutional virtue and his role as academic dean is posted on the seminary’s website.
The installation of Cynthia Briggs Kittredge as the seminary’s eighth dean and president will be held on Friday, September 13 at 7:00 p.m. at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin.