ABSW WELCOMES NEW PROFESSORS

Three new professors have joined the ABSW faculty.

Dr. Ron Burris, who has taught church history in an adjunct capacity since 2001, has been named assistant professor of church history. He will teach in the junior and middler colloquiums plus offer electives in church history.

Burris holds a Ph.D. in history from the Graduate Theological Union. While working on his doctorate, he was a Henry Newhall Fellow and a Dissertation Fellow through The Fund for Theological Education. He earned his masters degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.

He has been an adjunct at the GTU, Notre Dame De Namur University, and Patten College. He also taught in the public school system for more than 10 years. His scholarly interests range from African church fathers to the theology of the U.S. civil rights movement.

Joining Burris on the faculty is Jennifer Wilkins Davidson, a Ph.D. candidate at the GTU focusing on liturgical studies and systematic and philosophical theology. A former contributing editor for The Other Side magazine, Davidson writes and speaks frequently. She will be assistant professor of worship at ABSW and direct chapel services.

This past spring Davidson was an adjunct professor at the Pacific School of Religion. Also a Newhall Fellow, she has taught at Alternative Seminary in Philadelphia and Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa.

Currently associate pastor for worship and spiritual growth at Shell Ridge Community Church in Walnut Creek, Calif., Davidson earned her M.Div. at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, where she was a Ministry Fellow of The Fund for Theological Education.

The Rev. Danté Quick, a Ph.D. candidate in systematic theology at the GTU, was a teaching assistant this past spring in ABSW's junior colloquium. This coming academic year, he will be the Howard Thurman Doctoral Fellow.

Quick received his M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. In addition to his studies, Quick has been active in several faith-based organizations and is currently a consultant with PRAXIS, Inc., which assists churches and organizations on faith-based programmatic initiatives.

Following his undergraduate studies at Morehouse College, Quick was a legislative representative for the Atlanta Board of Education and an administrator of special programs for the Fulton County District Attorneys Office in Atlanta.

"We are delighted about these new appointments. Each of them brings not only a variety of experiences and perspectives but also a range of scholarship and a passion for ministry that will enhance our community," says Dr. Judy Yates Siker, dean of the faculty and associate professor of New Testament. "The diversity represented in these appointments honors the seminary's ongoing commitment to students and partner churches as we live out our mission to prepare men and women for ministry in a multicultural and multiracial world."