The Rev. Dr. Stephanie M. Crumpton Promoted to Associate Professor and Awarded Tenure

05-07-2019

By Lisa Dagher

On May 2, 2019 the McCormick Theological Seminary Board of Trustees approved the faculty’s recommendation to grant the Rev. Dr. Stephanie M. Crumpton tenure and promote her to the rank of Associate Professor. Dr. Crumpton began her service with McCormick's faculty in 2017 as Assistant Professor of Practical Theology. 

Before joining McCormick’s faculty, Dr. Crumpton was assistant professor of Practical Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. Prior to that she served as professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Hood Theological Seminary. She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

President David Crawford says, "We are blessed by Dr. Crumpton’s leadership, her scholarship, and her spirit. The granting of tenure along with promotion are so well deserved and reflect the deep appreciation we have for Dr. Crumpton, and her extraordinary work.”

A native of Chicago, Dr. Crumpton’s specialty is pastoral theological methodology, theories of personality development, historical and social dimensions of pastoral counseling, pastoral counseling as a specialized form of the church's ministries, family systems theory. She teaches courses in pastoral care, education, social justice, and rituals through womanist and feminist lenses.

Dr. Crumpton is the author of A Womanist Pastoral Theology Against Intimate and Cultural Violence, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. "After the 911 Call: A Pastoral Theologian Reflects on Family Violence Advocacy," Cross Currents Magazine, Spring 2013. In 2019 she is under review to publish, Sanctuary: An Ethic of Care in the Movement for Black Lives. She was named one of Six Black Women at the Center of Gravity in Theological Education in July of 2017 by NBC News.

Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Steed Davidson states, “We are delighted to honor the tremendous gifts that Dr. Stephanie M. Crumpton brings to theological education and that we at McCormick can have the benefit of those gifts. Stephanie’s potential to transform the field of Pastoral Theology with her passion for drawing theological meaning out of the work of activists and the challenges these pose for pastoral care marks a major shift in the field. As a womanist scholar Stephanie brings an invaluable voice to our community and a voice that has been taken seriously that we look forward to hearing from even more.”

"I am grateful to my colleagues who worked on my tenure review, and to the Board of Trustees for this promotion," says Dr. Crumpton. "Chicago is my home town. I left home to go to seminary and I've returned home as a seminary professor. Promotion and tenure to do the work that I love as a teacher, scholar and minister is very exciting.  It’s a beautiful, full circle moment."