School Notes: Yale Divinity School
January/February 2014

Former dean’s portrait unveiled

During Convocation and Reunions 2013, the YDS community gathered for the unveiling of a portrait of Sterling Professor of Divinity Harold Attridge, commemorating his service to the school as dean from 2002 to 2012. On campus to celebrate was Emilie Townes, former YDS associate dean of academic affairs and professor of African American religion and theology. “You helped me understand that administration can be—and should be—a ministry,” said Townes, who was recently installed as dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School. A world-renowned New Testament scholar, Attridge brought YDS through some of its most challenging periods, including the complete renovation of Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, and YDS’s success in the Yale Tomorrow capital campaign. The artist, Peter E. Poskas III, was unable to attend the unveiling, but his father, Peter Poskas Jr., offered remarks, including anecdotes about his wife, Janet Tanner ’98MAR, who recently passed away after leaving an important legacy at YDS, including establishing the Harold and Jan Attridge Scholarship Fund. The audience erupted with applause when the portrait was unveiled. “Who knew to be framed and hung could be such a pleasure?” joked Attridge, who was seeing the portrait for the first time.

Community matters

Following last year’s all-school conversation on racial justice, issues of sexual orientation and gender identity have come to the foreground as part of a three-year cycle of discussions dealing with power, privilege, and inequality. A new school-wide initiative called Community Matters, led by the student council and the YDS Diversity Committee, seeks to ask difficult questions about areas for improvement as a divinity school community and as a partner with our neighbors in New Haven and the wider society. As part of the initiative, YDS hosted members of the Cornell Interactive Theater Ensemble, who led two sessions of performances followed by discussion of race and LGBTQIA issues. The Diversity Committee, in addition to facilitating events that prompt interactions around these questions, has been charged by Dean Sterling with monitoring the school’s efforts to diversify faculty and students, and serving as advocates for inclusivity. He has also requested the development of a ten-year diversity plan to ensure an ongoing focus on privilege and marginalization.