El Centro: A New Name and Increased Support for Latinx Studies
04-04-2022
Funded by a grant from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity in partnership with Asociación para la Educación Teológica Hispana, McCormick will be strengthening its ability to reach and serve Latinx communities.
What was first called the Hispanic Ministries Program in 1973, became The Center for the Study of Latin@ Theology and Ministry in 2003. Going forward, it will be called El Centro. “For years, Latinx students have called the center that focuses on Latinx studies El Centro,” says its director, Dr. Leslie Diaz-Perez, M.Div.’06, D.Min.’12. “The name spread across the seminary so we’re staying with it.”
El Centro also is staying with and strengthening McCormick’s longstanding commitment to the formation of Latinx churches and theological leaders. Earlier this year, it received a grant from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity in partnership with Asociación para la Educación Teológica Hispana. El Centro will use the funding to determine ministry and programming gaps it can fill to better serve Latinx communities; evaluate and continue to develop models of instruction that will serve both Latinx and non-Latinxs working in Hispanic ministries and theological education; and design communication, recruitment, and retainment strategies for the continued success of Latinx students.
“Another major part of this work is staff and adjunct professor development,” adds Dr. Diaz-Perez. “They deliver our curricula and complement the language and contextual ministry experiences for McCormick students and faculty.” Developing their capacities will help to ensure that the seminary’s educational standards, practices, and values are consistent, she notes. “Plus, the training they receive can form the basis for models for delivering theological education in other areas of the seminary,” she states.
Seminary-wide alignment
The initiatives that are being undertaking by El Centro align extremely well with efforts that are happening across McCormick, emphasizes Dr. Itihari Toure, associate dean of Curriculum and Evaluation. Dr. Toure joined McCormick last summer and has been working across all the seminary’s departments to help develop and deliver relevant teaching practices, inside and outside the classroom, whether online or in-person.
“Latinx students are part of the growing trend that’s being documented across all theological institutions,” says Dr. Toure. “Students are entering seminary at older ages…they’re already engaged in ministry…and they’re reluctant to put their lives on hold to go to seminary. The pandemic sped up the need to address those realities and it has also called for us to factor in the trauma that has come from the pandemic and the anxiety that’s been part of the past few years of social, racial, and political unrest.”
Any new learning models will have to be cognizant of the impact of these changes on students, faculty, churches, and communities, Dr. Toure continues. “You’ll see learning from our trauma-informed healing initiative part of El Centro’s programming,” she says, “and best practices from the work El Centro is doing will be shared, strengthening the collaborative practices across the seminary.”
These efforts, Dr. Diaz-Perez believes, will deepen the relationships McCormick enjoys with ministries serving Latinx communities and churches worldwide. “Our workshops, conferences, certificate and degreed programs are helping faith leaders who want a contextualized theological education that’s innovative and empowering,” she says. “More than a name change, we’re reimagining how we can be more responsive to today’s and tomorrow’s students.”
Dr. Leslie Perez-Diaz, M.Div.’06, D.Min.’12
“More than a name change, we’re reimagining how we can be more responsive to today’s and tomorrow’s students.”
Dr. Itihari Tourne
“…best practices from the work El Centro is doing will be shared, strengthening the collaborative practices across the seminary.”