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Gary Hall Named Ninth Dean of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary

Episcopal News Service. October 28, 2004 [102804-3-A]

Seabury-Western Theological Seminary has announced the election of the Rev. Dr. Gary R. Hall -- rector of Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania -- as its ninth dean and president. The announcement was made by Dr. Salme Harju Steinberg, chair of the seminary's Board of Trustees. The new dean and president is expected to take office in January 2005.

Hall, 55, has been rector of Redeemer, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania for three years. He was previously senior associate for education at All Saints' Church in Pasadena, California.

"My primary mission will be to help the school become financially secure and to do more to build up the Seabury Institute and recruit students," he said, "as well as consulting directly with parishes and dioceses to enhance the work with congregational development."

Hall said that Seabury is uniquely positioned as a seminary to be resourceful to the Episcopal Church around questions of congregational development and leadership development, especially through the Seabury Institute which makes studies in congregational leadership and innovation available to students in the M.Div. program of the seminary.

A native Californian, Hall received his A.B. at the University of California, Berkeley, before attending Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he earned his master's of divinity degree. He returned to California to study at UCLA where he earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. During this course of study he was the recipient of an Episcopal Church Foundation Graduate Fellowship.

Hall has served parishes in California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Pennsylvania in positions including vicar, rector and Senior Associate for Education. Hall has been chaplain at Cranbrook Schools in Michigan, chair of the Campus Ministry Study Committee, and for twelve years was chaplain at Camp Stevens in the Diocese of Los Angeles. He has also played key roles in diocesan programs as Bishop's Chaplain and, later, as Sexual Misconduct Officer.

The new dean and president has been a lecturer and adjunct professor at Yale Divinity School, Case Western University's School of Management, Claremont School of Theology, UCLA and the Department of Religion at Cranbrook Schools.

In announcing his appointment, the seminary's Board Chair Salme Steinberg praised the work of a trustee search committee which completed a comprehensive, national search in record time. She noted that "Dr. Hall is an impressive leader, teacher and administrator, and is the perfect choice to lead Seabury to an ever stronger role in leadership and service to the Church. The Board of Trustees looks forward with great anticipation to working with Dean Hall and sharing in his vision for Seabury's future."

The chair of the trustees' Search Advisory Committee was the Rev. Dr. Eugene Y. Lowe, Jr. Committee members included trustees James H. Hawk, Mary P. Murley, James Steen and Richard H. Winters, faculty representative Paula S. D. Barker and student representative Marianna Gronek. The Rt. Rev. Frederick H. Borsch -- retired bishop of Los Angeles and a former dean of the Berkeley, California, Church Divinity School of the Pacific -- served as consultant.

Hall succeeds former dean and president James B. Lemler who has accepted a national position with the Episcopal Church as director of mission.

[thumbnail: The Rev. Dr. Gary R. Hall...]