The Rev. Tiffany Steinwert was named the sixth dean of Hendricks Chapel Wednesday afternoon by Thomas Wolfe, senior vice president and dean of Student Affairs and the chapel’s fifth dean. Wolfe said he expects her to replace Interim Dean Kelly Sprinkle March 1.

‘Dr. Steinwert was selected due to her strength and experience in scholarship, counseling and building understanding in diverse communities,’ Wolfe said in a news release issued Wednesday announcing the appointment. ‘I am confident that her unique combination of interfaith work and higher education experience makes her an excellent match for Hendricks Chapel. She will do an outstanding job leading the chapel into the future while helping it continue its tradition of being a home for all faiths and a place for all people.’

Steinwert was one of three candidates for dean selected from a pool of 70 applicants. Each finalist met with Wolfe, Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Hendricks Chapel staff members, chaplains and students and held a public presentation on the theme ‘Interfaith Work in a Diverse Society.’

The committee tasked with naming the next dean then submitted a suggestion to Wolfe based on evaluations of those who met with the candidates and attended their public presentations during the candidates’ visits to campus.

‘She was very well received by all the people who encountered her during her interview,’ Wolfe said of Steinwert, ‘and she just carries a wonderful set of skills and experiences to lead the chapel into the future.’

Steinwert is currently the senior pastor of Cambridge Welcoming Ministries, an organization she founded that advocates for the inclusion of persons of all sexual orientations in United Methodist ministry. She has also worked as an interfaith consultant and a teaching fellow at Boston University and Harvard University.

‘I think she has a great ability to work with people from a lot of different backgrounds,’ said the Rev. Michael McQuitty, the chapel’s Baptist chaplain.

Barbara Fought, chair of the dean search committee and director of the Tully Center for Free Speech, said the committee was impressed by Steinwert’s unique experiences in interfaith work.

‘I admire her for her missions work in Nicaragua, for her experiences and outreaches to the LGBT community, for her pastoral skills and especially for her community-organizing experience, which I think will be very helpful in working across campus,’ Fought said.

One challenge Steinwert will face is entering the position during the middle of a semester, said Ginny Yerdon, events coordinator and administrative specialist for Hendricks Chapel. The sixth dean was originally scheduled to fill the position Jan. 1, but the date was pushed back in order to ease Steinwert’s move from Massachusetts to Syracuse.

‘I’m looking forward to working with her,’ Yerdon said. ‘She seemed like a good listener and was interested in the chapel and what we do here at SU.’

Wolfe hopes she’ll make several visits to SU before officially beginning her new role. He and Sprinkle, the chapel’s interim dean, will assist her with the transition.

Sprinkle, one of the applicants for the position, said he is unsure whether he will return as Hendricks’ Protestant chaplain. He held the position from 2004 to 2008, when Wolfe was appointed the interim senior vice president of Student Affairs.

Steinwert continues the tradition of Methodist pastors holding the dean position at Hendricks. Until 1980, Hendricks deans were required to be Methodist. While this rule no longer stands today, a non-Methodist has never held the position. Religious preference was not taken into consideration during the process of narrowing down applicants, Wolfe said, nor did it have any affect on his decision.

bmdavies@syr.edu

Published on December 3, 2009 at 12:00 pm