2013-14 Nominations

Below is the slate of nominees for open positions on the REA Board of Directors and Forums. Elections will be held Sunday, November 10, 2013, during the annual meeting in Waltham, MA.  Per REA by-laws, additional nominations may be made from the floor of the annual meeting or by mail.

Vice President & 2015 Program Chair: Harold (Bud) Horell

Harold (Bud) Horell is a tenured Assistant Professor of Religious Education at the Fordham University Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education. Bud served as Associate Director for Academic Affairs at the Boston College Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry (IREPM) from 1997-2003.  Prior to that (1991-1997) he was the Director for Lay Ministry for the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in central Pennsylvania. Bud holds an interdisciplinary doctoral degree in theology and education from the Boston College IREPM (1997). He received an MTS from Harvard Divinity School (1988), and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Dayton, OH (1984). He also holds a BA with a double major in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Dayton (1981). His primary academic and teaching interests are in the history and foundations of religious education, moral education, education for peace and justice, and the religious development of children, youth, and young adults. Bud’s primary vocation is as a husband and father. He and his wife Barbara Jean have been married for 27 years and have three children: twins Gareth and Brendan (23) and Rose (15).

Recording Secretary:  Virginia Lee

 Virginia A. Lee is Associate Professor of Christian Education and Director of Deacon Studies at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Before coming to Garrett-Evangelical two years ago, she taught at Memphis Theological Seminary for 12 years. Virginia holds degrees from Duke University Divinity School (Master of Religious Education) and Union-PSCE (Doctor of Christian Education).  She is an ordained deacon in The United Methodist Church and is a clergy member of the Virginia Annual Conference where she served churches as an educator before moving to Tennessee to teach. She is very active at First United Methodist Church (Evanston) in a variety of teaching ministries. Virginia’s current research is in the areas of teaching and multicultural competence, and the educational legacy of Georgia Harkness.

Religious Education in Faith Communities Forum Forum / Call for Papers Committee: Carmichael Crutchfield

Carmichael D. Crutchfield is the General Secretary of Department of Christian Education for the Christian Methodist Episcopal (C.M.E.) Church and Assistant Professor of Christian Education and Youth Ministry at Memphis Theological Seminary.

His education includes a Bachelor of Science with a major in Accounting from the University of Tennessee Martin; a Master of Science (M.S.) in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas; a  Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Memphis Theological Seminary.  His doctoral work was entitled “A Model of Christian Education based on Spiritual Formation and Discipleship” continues to be a teaching and research interest.  He also holds the Doctorate in Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Christian Education and Congregational Studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary.  His dissertation was entitled “How Can Leadership Formation of African American Adolescent Males in the Church be Transformative and a catalyst for Social Reform.”

Crutchfield is an ordained elder in full connection with the C.M.E. Church and served as a pastor for 16 years in the denomination prior to being elected to his present position in the church in July, 2002. In addition to spiritual formation and discipleship, Crutchfield’s research and teaching interest is youth ministry that includes the function of the brain in adolescent learning, the relationship between theology and education, and critical pedagogy.

Religious Education in Academic Disciplines & Institutions Forum / Call for Papers Committee: Ryan Gardner

 Ryan Gardner currently teaches as professor of religious education at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho. He has worked professionally in religious education for the last 15 years with both secondary level and university level students. He received a master’s degree in religious education from Brigham Young University-Provo and a doctorate degree in education with an emphasis in curriculum and instruction from Utah State University. He has published various articles and book reviews in journals such as Religious Education, Teaching Theology & Religion, and The Religious Educator. Since doing his doctoral work on models and practices of professional reflection for religious educators, he has been exploring various aspects of the ecology of religious education and continues to pursue research interests relative to improving learning and teaching in religious education.

Religious Education in Public Life and the Global Community Forum / Call for Papers Committee:  Dean Manternach

 Dr. Dean P. Manternach is currently Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Clarke University and was the former Chair of the Religious Studies Department.  He recently returned from sabbatical in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. There he worked on his Spanish language skills and did research on pilgrimage practices for shaping young adult ministry and use in higher education classroom experiences.  He has been at Clarke since 2003.  He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Agronomy. He holds an MA in Theology from The Catholic University of America where he was also in seminary for two years.  This degree work helped him discern a call to full-time parish ministry serving parishes in Iowa and Kentucky. After years of ministry he returned to complete his Ph.D. in Theology and Education at Boston College.  He speaks regularly on topics of catechesis, mission, and adult faith formation in parishes within the region, teaches graduate level ministry courses at Loyola University Chicago, and is active as a leader in various professional organizations including the REA and the certification review process with the National Association of Lay Ministry (NALM). He also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the NETWORK Education Program, a national Catholic social justice lobby group in Washington, D.C. Dean is married to Linda and has four children: Thea (19), Sophia (17), Grace (15), and Micah (12).

REA At Large Board Member, 2-yr term: Mualla Selçuk

 Prof. Dr. Mualla Selçuk graduated from Ankara University School of Divinity with a B.Sc. degree. She was appointed as a research assistant in the same school and later granted a Ph.D. following the dissertation of her doctoral thesis called “Religious Patterns in the Education of Pre-School and School Age Children.” In 1999, she was appointed as a full professor at Religious Education Department.  Currently Director of the Continuing Education Center, Mualla has also served as Dean of Faculty of Divinity and in a number of national positions, including her tenure as the first female member of the Religious High Council for the Presidency of Religious Affairs. Her research includes published work on religious education in Turkish and Islamic schools, religious education in democratic cultures, interfaith religious education, and teaching the Qur’an.

REA At Large Board Member, 3-yr term: Arch Wong

 Arch Chee Keen Wong was born in Malaysia and came to Canada as a child. He is currently Professor of Practical Theology and was the former Academic Dean in the Faculty of Theology at Ambrose University College and Seminary in Calgary, Alberta. He has been at Ambrose since 1999. Previously, Arch was the Pastor at the Scarborough Chinese Alliance Church for nearly 10 years in Toronto, Ontario and is an ordain minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. Arch is a graduate of McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Religious Studies and from McMaster Divinity College with a Master of Divinity degree. He also holds a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Regis College (University of Toronto), the Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary, and the Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Regina in Education. Arch’s current research is in the areas of reflective practice, the relationship between theory and practice, qualitative research methodologies for practical theology, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and theological and religious curriculum. Arch is married to Anita and they have two children: Joshua (20) and Timothy (18).

Harper Committee Member: Boyung Lee

 (The Rev.) Boyung Lee is Associate Professor of Practical Theology, Education and Spiritual Formation at the Pacific School of Religion and Core Doctoral Faculty at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA.  She holds a B.A. and Th.M. from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, an M.Div. from Claremont School of Theology, and a Ph.D. in Theology and Education from Boston College.  Boyung is an ordained United Methodist clergyperson whose ministry experience ranges from one of Korea’s poorest communities to an affluent New England suburb. She considers Korea’s poor, particularly its women, to be brilliant commentators on justice and realized eschatology.  Her research interests include communitarian Christian religious education, postcolonial biblical pedagogy, Asian feminist theology, and racial/ethnic and sexual identity formation.

Student Representative to the Board:  Kevin Sandberg

 Kevin J. Sandberg, CSC, is a Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross.  He is a Ph.D. candidate in religious education at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education. He has directed collegiate experiential learning seminars in Hispanic ministry and education, taught high school scripture and church history, and was founding director of Young Adult Community at St. Clement Church in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. His research interests include the neglect of listening and its restoration through religious education, pedagogies of compassion, and an interpretation of the theologian John Dunne, CSC, as religious educator. Prior to pastoral ministry, he was a trust officer with the Northern Trust Bank in Chicago and a financial economist with the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C.