March 22, 2018 – Berkeley, CA
For immediate release
The Presidential Search Committee at the Graduate Theological Union is pleased to announce that it has chosen two finalists for consideration to become the next president of the GTU. The two candidates, whose names have not been publicly announced, will both visit the GTU campus during the first week of April, where each will participate in further conversations with the search committee, the board of trustees, and other GTU constituencies. Each will also offer a presentation and will answer questions at a forum open to all GTU students, faculty, staff, and administration.
When elected, the new president will become the eighth president in the fifty-six-year history of the Graduate Theological Union, succeeding Dr. Riess Potterveld, who is scheduled to retire on June 30, 2018.
The two finalists have been selected from a diverse pool of applicants and were the consensus choices of the presidential search committee after its preliminary evaluations and a series of interviews with six candidates. “Both of our finalists have demonstrated outstanding academic and leadership skills, and each has out-of-the-box qualities that the board believes will be extremely attractive in the next president of the GTU,” said search committee chair William Glenn. “We believe each of these people has the requisite experience and background to serve capably as our next president. We look forward to bringing each of our finalists to Berkeley for further conversation with the GTU community, in order to select the right individual to lead this unique interreligious academic institution into its next era.”
About the Graduate Theological Union: The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, is a unique consortium of some more than 20 member schools, centers, and institutes, with a world-class library. Founded in 1962, the GTU is the most comprehensive center for the graduate study of religion in North America, bringing together scholars of the world’s great religions and wisdom traditions to grow in knowledge, thrive in spirit, and unite in solutions.