25th Anniversary Convocation
for the Wake Forest University School of Divinity
“Faith for Tomorrow”
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
9:00am – 5:00pm
Wait Chapel
Morning Conversation
Worship
Service
Afternoon Conversation
Convocation Address
About Convocation
The theme for the 25th Anniversary Convocation is “Faith for Tomorrow.” Convocation will feature the Faculty of Divinity critically engaging the question “What is pressing Wake Divinity beyond our certainty, ourselves, demanding more than we ever dreamed possible?”
These conversations will offer a distinctive space to examine multiple responses to this question as the School of Divinity embarks on its next quarter century and Wake Forest University prepares to engage its third century.
Join us as we celebrate 25 years of justice, reconciliation, and compassion and as we look ahead to the next 25 years of transformative theological education.
Schedule of Events
9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Convocation Opening
9:30 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Conversation I
Moderator
Jill Crainshaw, Vice Dean for Faculty Development and Academic Initiatives and Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology
Conversationalists
Gary Gunderson, Professor of Faith and Health of the Public
Kevin Jung, Professor of Theological Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Alton Pollard, James and Marilyn Dunn Chair in Baptist Studies and University Professor of African American Studies
Melva Sampson, Assistant Teaching Professor of Preaching and Practical Theology
John Senior, Assistant Dean of Vocational Formation and Director of Doctoral Education
Wynnetta Wimberley, Assistant Teaching Professor of Practical Theology
11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
25th Anniversary Convocation Worship
Bill J. Leonard, Founding Dean and Professor of Divinity Emeritus (1999-2018)
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
25th Anniversary Community Lunch
1:30 p.m.- 2:50 p.m.
Conversation II
Moderator
Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Earley Associate Professor of Catholic and Latin American Studies
Conversationalists
Derek S. Hicks, Associate Professor of Religion and Culture
Austin Rivera, Assistant Professor of Church History
Katherine A. Shaner, Associate Professor of New Testament
Stacy W. Smallwood, Executive Director of the Faith COMPASS Center
Neal H. Walls, Associate Professor of Old Testament Interpretation
2:50 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
Break
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
25th Anniversary Convocation Address
Corey D. B. Walker, Dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity and Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities