For Immediate Release

Princeton Seminary Faculty Member Honored at Princeton YWCA Banquet

Princeton, NJ, March 24, 2006– Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, Princeton Seminary’s William Albright Eisenberger Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis and the director of Ph.D. studies, was honored Wednesday, March 8, at the Princeton YWCA Tribute to Women 2006 Awards Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Princeton. The YWCA honored sixteen women and the organizations that have stood behind them for the women’s contributions to their professions, communities, educational institutions, or organizations. “One of the driving forces to select an honoree is that the person exemplifies the YWCA mission—to eliminate racism and empower women,” said Patricia Orr, director of public relations for the YWCA Princeton. “Dr. Sakenfeld stood out for her contributions in both these areas.”

Sakenfeld grew up in the rural south of eastern Tennessee in a world of prejudice, but with parents who taught her the evils of racism and a grandfather who had marched with the nineteenth-century feminist leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Sakenfeld’s scholarly activities have focused on the relationship of women, the church, and society, and in 1975 she was one of the organizers of the first women’s studies program at the Seminary, which also included a significant component regarding racial justice. She was also instrumental in the founding of both the seminary’s Women’s Center and the Council on Women in Church and Ministry, and has continued to advocate for women’s and racial justice throughout the world.  She was elected president of the Society of Biblical Literature at its annual meeting in Philadelphia this past November, and in 2007 will become only the fourth woman to serve in that capacity in its 125-year history.

The dinner, which was attended by colleagues and family members of the honorees, featured speakers from the YWCA, along with video presentations of pictures of the honorees from their childhoods to the present, and a brief history of the honoree. The evening was an encouraging reminder of the mission of the YWCA, which seeks to embody its mission in all its activities and programs, and further urges others to likewise empower women and eliminate racism.