William J. Abraham, Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies, received SMU’s 2018 Faculty Career Achievement Award, presented by Provost Steven C. Currall on May 7.
O. Wesley Allen Jr., Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics. served as the 2017 president of the Academy of Homiletics. As past president, he remains a member of the academy’s 2018 Executive Committee.
The Rev. Tamara E. Lewis, assistant professor of the history of Christianity, received the University’s HOPE (Honoring Our Professors’ Excellence) Award for Outstanding Service and Dedication Inside and Outside of the Classroom for 2017-18. She was also appointed to the Program Committee of the American Society of Church History and the Executive Committee of the Women and Religion Unit of the American Academy of Religion for 2018-19.
Steve Long, Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics, received the University’s HOPE (Honoring Our Professors’ Excellence) Award for Outstanding Service and Dedication Inside and Outside of the Classroom for 2017-18.
Natalia Marandiuc, assistant professor of Christian theology, received the Yale Center for Faith and Culture Junior Faculty Summer Research Grant funded by the John Templeton Foundation. She was also a Sam Taylor Fellowship recipient, awarded by SMU, which allows faculty in many fields to pursue research projects.
Abraham Smith, professor of New Testament, was appointed as a principal representative of the National Council of Churches to the Editorial Board of the Society of Biblical Literature. The Editorial Board will propose an update to the New Revised Standard Version, based on the most recent biblical scholarship.
Theodore Walker Jr., associate professor of ethics and society, delivered the SMU Maguire Public Scholar Lecture on Feb. 7, 2018. The title of his lecture was “Don’t Call King a ‘Civil Rights’ Leader: Toward abolishing poverty and war by correcting our fatally inadequate remembering of Martin Luther King Jr.
C. Michael Hawn (second from left in photo), distinguished professor emeritus of church music and director of the Doctor of Pastoral Music Program, was honored with the 2017 Roger Deschner Award for contributions to church music.
The award, named for the late director of the Master of Sacred Music Program at Perkins, was presented to Hawn on July 24 at the convocation of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts in Little Rock, Ark.
“His creativity in worship as a professor of sacred music at Perkins … and around the world has been celebrated by many,” said Brad Kisner (M.S.M. ’80), in introducing Hawn as the Deschner Award winner. Kisner, director of music, worship and arts at First United Methodist Church of Corpus Christi, is a former student and graduate assistant of Deschner’s at Perkins.
Hawn said of the award: “I am honored to receive it and particularly pleased since I shared Roger’s office in Kirby Hall for the last 25 years, having been hired to assume his former position when he died in 1991.”
Priscilla Pope-Levison, associate dean for external programs and professor of ministerial studies, is the 2018 president of the Wesleyan Theological Society. She was also appointed to a five-year term as a participant in the Methodist/Roman Catholic International Dialogue on the theme, “The Practice of Reconciliation.” In October 2017, Pope-Levinson (left) met Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner, professor of pastoral care, concluded her tenure in May 2018 as president of the SMU faculty senate. Her final official act was carrying the ornamental mace during the 2018 Commencement (pictured here in 2017).