Here is the slate of nominees being offered by the nominating committee for positions which need to be voted on during the 2016 REA business meeting:
Vice-President and Program Chair-Elect: Kathy Winings, Unification Theological Seminary
Kathy Winings is the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Unification Theological Seminary and Professor of Religious Education and Ministry. She is also the Director of the Doctor of Ministry degree program. Kathy has been instrumental in developing a new campus in Clinton, Maryland, working with the administration of the Logos Christian College-Washington to launch the new campus.
Kathy is the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the International Relief Friendship Foundation, Inc., an international disaster and sustainable development agency, after serving as its executive director for 11 years. She is also President and Founder of Educare, an educational consulting firm with expertise in curriculum design, teacher training, and educational leadership. In this role, she has developed diverse curricula and ministry manuals for Sunday Schools and youth ministries. Kathy has authored numerous articles in academic as well as popular journals and publications and published her first book in 2002 entitled: Building Character through Service Learning.
Kathy received her Undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with a professional degree in Media Studies from Fordham University, her Masters of RE and Divinity from UTS, and her EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Recording Secretary: Russell Dalton, Brite Divinity School
Russell Dalton is Professor of Religious Education at Brite Divinity School on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He holds advanced degrees from Union Presbyterian Seminary and Harvard Divinity School. Russ is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches USA and before pursuing doctoral studies he served congregations in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Connecticut. His books include Children’s Bibles in America: A Reception History of the Story of Noah in US Children’s Bibles, Marvelous Myths: Marvel Superheroes and Everyday Faith, and Faith Journey through Fantasy Lands: A Christian Dialogue with Harry Potter, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, and Video, Kids, and Christian Education. He has also written several articles for the journal Religious Education as well as numerous other essays and articles.
Member-at-large: Sybrina Atwaters, Gifted Education Foundation
Sybrina Atwaters serves as the Life Development Director at Gifted Education Foundation in Atlanta. She is also an independent researcher and interdisciplinary sociologist with research interests in the sociology of technology (exploring religious practices and knowledge production through virtual world technologies); and social inequality (examining patterns of inequality within science, engineering and higher education). She has presented her work at several professional conferences, including the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR), the Association for the Sociology of Religion (ASR), and the Religious Education Association (REA). Dr. Atwaters broad experience includes collaborative research with scholars at the National Academies, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Iowa State University, The Forum for Theological Exploration, and the Association of Theological Schools. Her most recent research has been published by Spring International and John Hopkins University Press. Sybrina also served as networking coordinator for REA for over 6 years.
Chair, Religious Education in Faith Communities Standing Committee: HyeRan Kim-Cragg, St. Andrews College
HyeRan Kim-Cragg is Lydia Gruchy Professor of Pastoral Studies, at St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon, Canada. Hailing from South Korea, and having parents who were refugees from North Korea, she is consciously aware of the joys and the struggles of crossing boundaries and various borders. Her academic interests include postcolonial studies, feminist theology, intercultural ministries, and antiracism religious education. She has authored and co-authored 6 books, one of which, Wisdom Commentary Hebrews (Liturgical Press) received the third place book of the year award by the Catholic Press Associations of the USA and Canada, 2015. Her peer reviewed publications appear in the International Association of Practical Theology, Liturgy, and Religious Education.
Graduate Student Representative: Rachelle Green, Emory University
Rachelle Green is a third year PhD student of Religious Education and Practical Theology in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. Her interdisciplinary interests bring together theological ethics, moral philosophy and critical pedagogy to research theologies and philosophies of liberative education for marginalized populations. Her dissertation research will focus on theological education in women’s prisons. She currently co-directs the Certificate in Theological Studies Program at Arrendale Women’s Prison and recently completed a two-year term as the Assistant Director of the Youth Theological Initiative at Candler School of Theology. She comes to theological scholarship after a career in business management and strategic marketing where she focused intently on the needs of women and families of color.
Member, Harper Committee: Sarah Tauber
Professor Sarah Tauber is an assistant professor of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and a rabbinic candidate in the Jewish Renewal network’s rabbinic program (Aleph). Sarah’s trajectory as a teacher, writer, scholar and activist in the world of education and Jewish community traces its roots to her earliest learning experiences at a Jewish day school in Stamford, CT and to her family’s experiences as Holocaust refugees and survivors from Poland. Sarah’s commitments to religious education grew out of her passion for teaching and community building as a spiritual practice that generates renewal and restoration, healing and hope. Her career as a teacher began in the public schools of Berkeley, CA and then migrated as she moved across the ocean to Paris, France, and then Geneva, Switzerland. In those European settings she studied Jewish history and immersed herself in rebuilding Jewish life in Europe through leadership in communal education. Upon return to the USA after eight years abroad, Sarah completed her studies in Jewish Education at JTS, taught in a day school for many years before joining the faculty at JTS where she focuses on the intersection of education and students’ religious and spiritual lives and learning. She believes in the necessity of interreligious learning and partnership, and along with her participation in the REA teaches at Union Theological Seminary in New York City as an adjunct professor. Her book Open Minds, Devoted Hearts: Portraits of Adult Religious Educators was the second book published in the REA Horizons series.
Other selections
In addition, the Nominating Committee offers the following additions to standing committees, although they do not require election: Donna Eschenauer (Member, Religious Education and Faith Communities Standing Committee), Randy Litchfield and Mary Young (Members, Proposal Selection Committee), Dennis Gunn (REA Historian) and Mary Elizabeth Moore and Ina Ter Averst (Co-chairs, 2018 115th Anniversary Committee). Additionally, Boyung Lee will become the Chair of the Harper Committee and represent this committee on the REA Board.