Pacific School of Religion

Fall 2009 marks many transitions at PSR: President McKinney announces his retirement, and the school welcomes a new board chair, new dean, and two new faculty members.

Roberta and Richard Corson are two of the Distinguished Alumni/ae for 2009. Edited versions of their responses to the award are followed by first-year student Katie Thompson's impressions of PSR.

Professors Lynn Rhodes and Fumitaka Matsuoka will retire next June. “Lynn has a pastor’s heart, and the field education program has been her parish,” summed up a long-time associate. “More than anyone else, Fumitaka held this school together during the difficult years,” according to a colleague.

At a decisive period in the political and historical debate on immigration and undocumented workers, in January a group of PSR students, faculty, and staff spent two weeks in El Paso, Texas, USA and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The paper excerpted in this article, written by one of the students who took the trip, is a representative of their public theological voice.

There were no women teachers or preachers while Boyung Lee was growing up in Korea, and she decided to leave her country in part because, as a woman, she could not be ordained.

Several achievements this academic year highlight PSR’s commitment to advancing racial justice: Last fall’s entering class was the most diverse in the school’s history; the first woman of color was granted faculty tenure in October; and the first program director for dismantling racism was appointed in November.