Seminary welcomes 37 students and dedicates Harrison Fellows Program at Matriculation

Bishop Dena A. Harrison, Southwest alumna and chair of the board and bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Texas was honored at the seminary’s Matriculation service on August 30, 2015 with the announcement and launch of the Bishop Dena A. Harrison Fellows Program.
Episcopal Health Foundation of Houston, Texas, made a significant gift to Seminary of the Southwest to establish the Harrison Fellows Program, an innovative partnership that supports the training of graduates of the seminary’s counseling program to meet the mental health needs of disadvantaged counties in East Texas.
Episcopal Health Foundation news release: “New partnership between Episcopal Health Foundation and Seminary of the Southwest aims to increase access to mental health care”
At dinner following the service, Bishop Harrison reminded the almost 200 guests including board members of the Health Foundation,  of “the centrality of big visions,”  and that God will send the resources for those visions.
Bishop Harrison led the seminary’s recent Campaign for Leadership which raised $16 million for faculty chairs and scholarship funds, and she chaired the St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System Board in the transfer of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System to Catholic Health Initiatives which resulted in over $1 billion to create the Episcopal Health Foundation.
The annual Matriculation service welcomed and celebrated the 37 new students entering Seminary of the Southwest in 2015  for their leadership formation for lay and ordained ministry. Dean and President Cynthia Briggs Kittredge presided and Diocesan Bishop C. Andrew Doyle preached at the service of Evensong. Bishop Doyle’s homily
Academic Dean Scott Bader-Saye installed new full time faculty Dr. Gena Minnix and Dr. Stephanie Ramirez. Minnix and Ramirez teach counselor education for the seminary’s master’s in counseling degree.
The Cook Award in Servant Leadership, named for Faculty Emeritus Charles J. Cook, is presented at Matriculation and was awarded this year to Susan Rushing, chief executive officer of Burke, the mental health facility in East Texas where the first fellows in the Harrison Fellows Program are working. Read the citation presented to Ms. Rushing