It is with pride, gratitude, and some sadness, that Seminary of the Southwest announces that the Rev. Dr. Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, the Duncalf-Villavaso Professor of Church History and Dean of Community Life, has accepted a position as the Kraft Family Professor and the Director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College. This appointment calls Joslyn-Siemiatkoski into a prominent leadership role in an area close to his heart and of great importance.
“My time at Southwest has been nothing but a blessing,” said Joslyn-Siemiatkoski. “I have been deeply shaped by the people and values of this place and I intend to carry its spirit with me in the work that lies ahead. The gift of Southwest is that it seeks to nurture each person into the fullness of their calling. That has certainly been true for me and I am truly grateful for it.”
Joslyn-Siemiatkoski joined the Southwest faculty in 2014, having taught for a decade at Church Divinity School of the Pacific and other Episcopal seminaries. On February 2, 2018, he was ordained a priest in Christ Chapel at Seminary of the Southwest. In 2020 he was appointed Dean of Community Life, a newly-created role that broadly ministered to the student community at Southwest. His teaching and research focuses on the Anglican and Episcopal identity with the broader sweep of Christian history and Jewish-Christian relations. He is the author of The More Torah, The More Life: A Christian Commentary on Mishnah Avot and Christian Memories of the Maccabean Martyrs and has authored multiple chapters and articles.
“The seminary community has received so much from Dan, as a colleague, as a teacher, an advisor, and an administrative leader,” said the Very Rev. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Dean and President. “This has been the place where he has pursued and shaped his call to ordination and come into his own as a professor and a priest. I have enormous respect and great affection for Dan as a professional, and even more as a person. Boston College will be very fortunate. In the meantime, I celebrate his accomplishments and begin the hard work of saying goodbye.”
“Dan has been a trusted colleague for eight years, and over that time I have come to rely on his insights and instincts,” said Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, Academic Dean. “He has a deep commitment to the good of the church, a passion for training priests, and a faith that infuses all he does with charity. As Dean of Community Life, Dan always kept an eye out for students who were struggling and was an advocate for student concerns. He is a good listener, and he balances the no-nonsense directness born of his New England upbringing with a strong commitment to mutuality and relational integrity.”
Joslyn-Siemiatkoski returns to his alma mater to lead the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College from which much of the inspiration for his professional journey was derived. While each member of the Southwest community bids him well, the strong bonds that he formed that made his presence so deeply felt on campus lead to a bittersweet farewell.
Bader-Saye summarized the feelings of most on campus when reflecting on his colleague:
“I am going to miss Dan greatly, not only because I could always rely on him to pitch in when I needed something but because I trust his judgments, which is just another way to say that I count him as a friend.”
Joslyn-Siemiatkoski’s final day at Seminary of the Southwest will be June 30, 2022.
