McCormick Announced the Distinguished Alumni/ae Awards for 2015
07-23-2015
And there are two of them! Congratulations to Pauline Coffman (M.A. '64) and the Rev. Trey Hammond (M.Div. '80)
Nominated by other alums, the Distinguished Alumnus/a award is a deep and special acknowledgement of the importance this person not only has had in the life of the one who nominates him or her, but also the impact this person has had within the church and their role as Christ's hands and feet in the world.
Be thinking ahead to 2016! Make your nominations now!
The form is now online!
This year we are pleased to honor both Dr. Pauline Coffman (M.A. '64) and the Rev. Trey Hammond (M.Div. '80).
Pauline Coffman, Ed.D (M.A. '64) was Dean of Student Life at McCormick Seminary, 1980-86, and worked in student services until completing the Ed.D. in adult education at Northern Illinois University in 1989. Her dissertation studying the use of inclusive language can be found in the JKM Library. She served as Director of Adult Learning at North Park University until retiring in 2004.
Pauline became invested in the Middle East (an interest sparked by a junior year abroad in Beirut, Lebanon) and has led several traveling seminars to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine for the Middle East Task Force of Chicago Presbytery. She is a founding member of the Israel Palestine Mission Network of the PC(USA), and is currently Moderator of the Syria-Lebanon Mission Network. She is one of the authors of Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide, and Zionism and the Quest for Justice in the Holy Land. She is a member of the Chicago Faith Coalition on Middle East Policy.
Pauline credits the church with giving her a heart for justice advocacy. Campus Ministry encouraged her to go to Beirut, and then to McCormick Seminary. A summer in the California Migrant Ministry as a seminary intern in 1962 included meeting Cesar Chavez as he began the grape boycott to press for better wages for farm workers. Pauline lives in Oak Park, IL, with her husband Rob (MTS B.D, 1963), and they have two sons and five grandchildren. They have served churches in Honey Grove, Dallas, Baltimore, and Chicago.
Rev. Trey Hammond (M.Div 1980) has been pastor at La Mesa Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, since 1999. He previously served for as the coordinator for the Urban Ministry Office on national staff of the Presbyterian Church (USA). His work has focused on helping urban congregations in multicultural settings relate to their community around issues of hunger, homelessness, poverty, public education, affordable housing, and community organizing.
Trey was the founding board president of the Albuquerque Opportunity Center, a program for men experiencing homelessness. The organization also coordinates a citywide “Housing First” initiative called Albuquerque Heading Home. He has served as a co-chair of Albuquerque Interfaith for the past 14 years and was a founder of the La Mesa Arts Academy, an afterschool art program partnering with the neighboring elementary school. He also works with the Presbyterian Hunger Program as a liaison to community organizing efforts nationally. In 2008, he wrote a study guide for Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce’s book Places of Promise, Finding Strength in Your Church’s Location by Westminster/ John Knox Press. In 2001, he edited an issue entitled “Homelessness: The Church Responds to an Enduring Tragedy” for Church and Society, which received an award from the Associated Church Press for “excellence in content.”
For recreation, Trey is an avid fly-fisherman.
