Steven Charleston to resign as EDS' dean and president
Episcopal News Service. March 6, 2008 [030608-06]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) President and Dean Steven Charleston announced recently that he will resign from the seminary June 30.
The announcement came a week before EDS announced a partnership with Lesley University that will involve the two schools sharing the EDS campus, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Lesley University, a 12,000-student, multi-site university, will buy seven buildings from EDS for $33.5 million, while EDS will retain ownership of 13 buildings on its eight acre campus. The partnership also includes academic program enhancements and shared facilities for such uses a library, student dining and services, and campus maintenance, according to an EDS news release.
"I need to bring my tenure at EDS to a close so new leadership can carry out the next phase of growth for our school," Charleston wrote in his letter.
"For me, the good news is that I have helped to bring EDS to a place where I can say my work here is done," the former diocesan bishop of Alaska wrote. "EDS today is a strong spiritual community rooted firmly in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It trains some of the best and brightest leaders for the church who consistently offer what the church needs most: ministers who know how to work in the real world.
"With new technology and a great faculty, EDS has become a national resource for dioceses and congregations all across America. In every respect, EDS has matured in its vision and expanded in its outreach. I believe that is testimony enough for any ongoing ministry."
Charleston said he will "move into our alum community where I will continue to pray God's blessings on our school."
Brett Donham, chair of the EDS Board of Trustees called Charleston's work at the seminary "instrumental in helping restore EDS' reputation as a valuable resource to Church as well as reinvigorating the spiritual life of the School."
He noted that when Charleston was called to EDS in 1999, "he discovered a vital community dedicated to living into its mission of justice, compassion, and reconciliation, but also one that was misunderstood by many in the Church."
"A gifted speaker, his prophetic voice played a key role in helping the Church to see EDS as it is today: a seminary rooted in the Gospel that prepares leaders to carry out God's mission of justice, compassion, and reconciliation," Donham wrote.
Charleston told ENS that he has "absolutely no idea" what his personal plans will be after June.
"I wanted to do everything in my power to help EDS be all that it can be for the church," he said. "I have been so focused on that I haven't really had time to think about myself or what I'll do. It's a parting whose time has definitely come. It's time for EDS to take the next big step forward."