Office of Enrollment Management: Spaces Are Filled With Hope

Dear Friends:

I write this brief article filled with gratitude to God for a marvelous team of staff, faculty and administrators serving Perkins School of Theology. This fall, we are experiencing robust classes, community energy, a boost in Chapel presence, a swell of conversation and laughter at meal times in the Refectory, an upsurge of participation in CHAP (Community Hour at Perkins) and high levels of enthusiasm from both our Dallas and hybrid Houston-Galveston Extension Program new students.

Here’s a look at this year’s incoming students. Overall, ages range from 21-79, with 61% female and 37% male. The Master of Divinity degree program is the most sought-after program (no surprise there). We welcome eight international students from South Korea, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Chad; and, our representation of religious traditions is vastly diverse: UMC, CME, Lutheran, Anglican, Church of Christ, Presbyterian, Quaker, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal bodies and Assembly of God. With the advent of the Houston-Galveston program, we are seeing students from as far as Florida, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana. In Dallas, students are coming from Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Oklahoma, Delaware, Missouri, Tennessee, Oregon, North Carolina and, as is usually the case, the majority hailing from Texas.

In this climate of change and uncertainty, I’m elated to report an increase of 21.3% over last year’s fall new student headcount, thanks be to God. (This translates into an increase of 16 % in credit hours taken, in large measure likely due to a bump in younger students taking full-time classes and more full-time students in the Houston-Galveston hybrid program.)

Headcount Comparisons (includes Doctor of Ministry and Doctor of Pastoral Music degree programs)

Increase in incoming headcount from Fall 2016 to Fall 2019: 135 %

We are filled with hope for various reasons: new faces; more faces; God’s faithful call on individual lives to vocational ministry; renewed energy; enthusiastic community; and a continuing confirmation of our purpose and mission as a school of theology that is preparing leaders for the church and beyond. We humbly ask for your continued prayers.

Sincerely,

Rev. Margot Perez-Greene, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Enrollment Managemen

“This group has presence…they join in on everything! I love ‘em!”

Second-year student about the incoming class