McCormick Presidential Inauguration
01-03-2012
By Emily McGinley
The McCormick Theological Seminary Board of Trustees cordially invites you to the inauguration of McCormick's tenth president, the Rev. Dr. Frank Yamada on 8-9 February 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.
The View from 2040
Click here to watch the Inauguration live click on this link http://acogportal.publishpath.com/ beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning a the Apostolic Church of God. You will click in the box which says "Click anywhere to view the player."
Click here to read the Tweet Wall of messages from the past couple of days.
In February, we will be looking into the futures. No, this is not a spelling error! The plural “futures” refers to McCormick’s presidential inauguration theme, The View from 2040: The Futures of Theological Education. A shift is taking place in theological education to address the multi-layered realities of vocational ministry and McCormick is poised to address this with energy, intelligence, and imagination.
Inaugural Events
The inauguration events were planned to reflect this commitment to a broader understanding of ministry, beginning on Wednesday, February 8th with an education and service partnership opportunity addressing immigration reform and refugee rights. This event honors our new president as the Rev. Dr. Frank Yamada seeks to shed light on critical issues in our communities and encourages the McCormick Theological Seminary community to become an active initiator of change. The day will close with a provocative panel discussion on The View from 2040: The Futures of Theological Education, where distinguished leaders in the academy and church (see the schedule and list of panelists here), will reflect on the multifaceted futures of theological education.
On Thursday, February 9th at 10am, the McCormick community and its supporters will gather at the Apostolic Church of God for the presidential inauguration service. Apostolic Church of God is one of many long-time partners to McCormick in developing Christian leadership, which has served many generations of God’s faithful. Immediately following the service, all are invited to continue celebrating during the hors d'oeuvres reception.
A History of "Firsts"
Serving as the seminary’s tenth president, Dr. Frank M. Yamada is the first Asian American president of a Presbyterian (U.S.A.) seminary. Yamada succeeds the Rev. Dr. Cynthia M. Campbell, who became the first female president of a Presbyterian (U.S.A.) seminary seventeen years ago. Dr. Yamada joined the McCormick faculty in 2008 and served as an Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and its Director of the Center for Asian American Ministries.
“McCormick has a long and rich history of being on the cutting-edge of change in theological education. I believe that we will be leaders in that change. This is what we have always done. This is what we will continue to do. This is who we are,” affirms Yamada.
McCormick is “moving into an exciting new chapter and I am eager for us to step into this next stage faithfully and boldly. These are challenging times but we are poised to do something great. It is in this type of climate that God calls individuals and communities, to face the future with courage ‘for such a time as this’ (Esther 4:14).”
About Frank M. Yamada
Prior to joining McCormick’s faculty, Dr. Yamada was an Associate Professor at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. A graduate of Southern California College, he earned his Masters of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he studied Hebrew Bible with an emphasis on hermeneutics, feminist theory and culturally-contextual biblical interpretation.
Dr. Yamada was an editor of and contributor to The Peoples' Bible, a cross-cultural study bible from Augsburg Fortress Press (2008) and is the author of Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary Analysis of Three Rape Narratives (Peter Lang, 2008). His writing has appeared in several collections, bible dictionaries, lectionary volumes, websites, and periodicals including The Christian Century. He is a recognized and sought after speaker and consultant on issues of diversity and cross-cultural theological education. He has provided leadership through the Association of Theological Schools, within the academy, and in the local and national church. He is a minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
