As the Divinity School approaches its 75th anniversary, the school's administration is depending on a year-long celebration to draw attention to its academic strategic plan.
"We don't want this anniversary to be only retrospective," explained Dean of the Divinity School Gregory Jones. "We want to look to the future as well as the past."
The focal weekend of the celebration will be Nov. 9 and 10-the same weekend that the school's inaugural celebration occurred in 1926. The anniversary weekend will offer a gala celebration and special worship services. Organizers also hope to see the groundbreaking for a new Divinity School building.
As part of the year-long celebration, the Divinity School will commemorate important figures in its past, bring in lecturers to speak to the public and host youth events. "We hope it will raise visibility of what we are already doing," Jones said. "Visibility will enable us to tell the story more effectively and introduce challenges for the future."
Jones said the celebration's focus-transforming ministry-has two meanings: the ministry transforms people's lives, and the Divinity School transforms its ministry to offer the best education and experience possible.
"Most ministries we compare ourselves to have been around for almost 400 years, yet by most reckonings the Divinity School would be ranked third or fourth nationally," Jones said.
The celebration will also highlight the school's recent accomplishments. Enrollment of women has reached 40 percent, and the enrollment of Baptist students has surpassed 100.
Jones credited the Divinity School's development to the work of excellent leadership in the past. For example, in 1948 the Divinity students began petitioning for racial integration at the University. Jones also pointed to Tom Langford, who came to the Divinity School as a student in 1951 and stayed there as a faculty member until he passed away last year; he experienced two-thirds of the school's history.
Current faculty members such as professors Moody Smith, Mickey Efird and professor emeritus Harmon Smith, who have each been with the Divinity School for over 40 years, have seen these rapid transformations take place. "They lived through the transition and got us where we are today," Jones said.
Currently, Divinity School Program Director Susan Jones, the dean's wife, is leading the process of planning themes and emphases for the Divinity School's 75th anniversary celebration. She stressed the importance of the school to the University, noting that the York Building Chapel, which is the Divinity School's chapel, was part of the University years before the Duke Chapel was built.
"The Divinity School has always occupied a central place in the University," she said.
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