New Faculty Appointments and Promotions

After its annual May meeting, the Seminary’s Board of Trustees is pleased to announce new faculty appointments and promotions.

Upon recommendation of the President and Faculty Senate, the Board approved the following new faculty members:

Dr. Keri L. Day as tenured Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion, effective July 1, 2017.

Dr. Day comes to Princeton Seminary from Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She received her PhD in religion from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She earned an MA in religion and ethics from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Tennessee State University in Nashville. Her research focuses on how black religious thought addresses political and economic injustices, especially among black women. Her published work includes the book Unfinished Business: Black Women, the Black Church and the Struggle to Thrive in America (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2012).

Dr. Mary K. Farag as Assistant Professor of Early Christian Studies, on tenure track, effective July 1, 2017.

Dr. Farag, whose love of languages led her to a degree in linguistics from Harvard, is fluent in both English and Egyptian Arabic, with advanced knowledge of German, and reading knowledge of French, Arabic, Coptic, Greek, and Latin. With this background, her graduate work at Yale focused on liturgics and Ancient Christian Studies, and she was awarded her PhD this spring with her dissertation, Sacred Things: The Legal Making of Churches in Late Antiquity. Farag is active in educational work in Coptic and Eastern Orthodox parishes, and she has served with ministries for imprisoned women, and on behalf of Amnesty International.

Dr. Hanna Reichel as tenured Associate Professor of Reformed Theology, effective January 1, 2018.

Dr. Reichel comes to the Seminary from Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg in Halle (Saale), Germany. She earned her ThD and MDiv from Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, holds a B.Sc. in economics from Fernuniversität Hagen and a BA (Vordiplom) in theology from Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Reichel's published work includes articles on Karl Barth and the mission of the church, and a monograph titled, “Theologie als Bekenntnis. Karl Barths kontextuelle Lektüre des Heidelberger Catechisms” (FSÖTh, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2015), eng. Theology as Confession: Karl Barth’s Contextual Readings of the Heidelberg Catechism. Her areas of expertise include systematic theology, philosophy, and hermeneutics.

Dr. Dirk Jacobus Smit as the Rimmer and Ruth de Vries Professor of Reformed Theologies of Mission and Public Life, effective July 1, 2017.

Dr. Smit currently serves as professor of systematic theology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Before his appointment to Stellenbosch, Smit served on the faculty at the University of the Western Cape. He has also served as a pastor. Over the past three decades, Smit has emerged as one of South Africa’s most significant theologians. He has written extensively, in both English and Afrikaans, on the legacy of the Reformed tradition and its relevance to contemporary theological, social, and political questions. He has been a particularly prominent and influential voice in the church’s repudiation of apartheid. Smit was one of the primary authors of the Belhar Confession. Written in 1982 and adopted by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in 1986, the Belhar Confession boldly declared the sinfulness of apartheid and was a call for justice, reconciliation and unity among all people. It has recently been adopted as part of the PC(USA) Book of Confessions.

Upon recommendation of the President, the Board has appointed Dr. Jacqueline E. Lapsley as Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs, effective July 1, 2018.

Upon recommendation of the President and Faculty Council, the Board appoints Dr. John R. Bowlin to be promoted from Robert L. Stuart Associate Professor of Philosophy and Christian Ethics to Robert L Stuart Professor of Philosophy and Christian Ethics, effective July 1, 2017.

Upon recommendation of the President and the Faculty, Dr. F. W. “Chip” Dobbs-Allsopp has been appointed as the James Lenox Librarian, effective January 23, 2018.

Upon recommendation of the President and Faculty Senate, the Rev. Dr. Chester Polk Jr. be appointed Director of Field Education, Administrative Faculty, effective July 1, 2017.

Upon recommendation of the President, the Board approved the following:

Dr. Ellen T. Charry be appointed as the Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Systematic Theology Emerita, effective July 1, 2017.

Dr. Kathleen E. McVey be appointed as the Joseph Ross Stevenson Professor of Church History Emerita, effective July 1, 2017.

Dr. James H. Moorhead be appointed as the Mary McIntosh Bridge Professor of American Church History Emeritus, effective July 1, 2017.

Deborah Kerr Davis be appointed as Director of Field Education Emerita, effective August 1, 2017.