wfn.org | Native American clergywoman receives Women of Color award

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 26, 2001  News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.  10-31-34-71B{333}

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - An Oregon clergywoman is the first Native American
to be awarded up to $10,000 annually in scholarship funds in a program
designed to increase the women of color on the faculties of United Methodist
theological schools.

Carol L. Youngbird-Holt, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in
Toledo, Ore., is the first Native American to receive funds from the Women
of Color Scholars Program, said Angella Current, executive director of the
Office of Loans and Scholarships of the United Methodist Board of Higher
Education and Ministry.  

Youngbird-Holt is one of 10 doctoral degree candidates selected to receive
money through the program for the 2001-02 academic year. She will be
pursuing two degrees at Graduate Theological Union, on the University of
California-Berkeley campus, this fall. 

The Office of Loans and Scholarships and the board's Division of Ordained
Ministry, both based in Nashville, sponsor the Women of Color Scholars
program. It was initiated in 1989 in response to the lack of women of color
faculty in theological education. 

The program aims to place women of color in faculty positions at all 13
United Methodist-related seminaries and to increase the number of women of
color who teach, lecture, write and research at the doctoral level in all
seminaries. 

Other program goals include heightening denominational awareness of the need
for women of color in theological education and encouraging United Methodist
women to consider careers in that field.

The Women of Color Scholars Program provides up to $10,000 a year in
scholarship funds to any United Methodist woman having at least one parent
of African, Hispanic, Native American, Asian or Pacific Island background;
who has earned a master of divinity degree; and is pursuing a doctorate for
a career in theological education and religious studies.

In addition to Youngbird-Holt, other recipients of the 2001-02 awards are:
·	Leah L. Gunning, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston,
Ill.
·	Jeong S. Kim, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston,
Ill.
·	Seong Hee Kim, Drew University, the Theological School, Madison,
N.J.
·	Pamela R. Lightsey, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary,
Evanston, Ill.
·	 LaGretta J. Kennedy Bjorn, Drew University, the Theological School,
Madison, N.J.
·	 Yoo Yun Cho-Chang, Boston University School of Theology.
·	Velma E. Love, Union Theological Seminary, New York.
·	Beauty R. Maenzanise, Drew University, the Theological School,
Madison, N.J.
·	Imani-Shelia Newsome McLaughlin, Boston University School of
Theology.

Biannually, recipients of the scholarship meet with women of color already
working in theological education. Through interaction with other women who
have succeeded, students learn how to present academic papers, prepare
curricula vitae, choose an adviser, seek tenure on faculties and follow
current trends in literature. They also discover that there is strength in
numbers and that they are not alone.

"The WOC Scholarship program has made a difference in the lives of its
scholars," said the Rev. Marion Jackson, staff executive in the Division of
Ordained Ministry. "The scholars are committed to becoming mentors and role
models for others and to lending their perspectives to the education of all
future United Methodist clergypersons and other church leaders."

For more information, contact Current, (615) 340-7342, or Jackson, (615)
340-7409, or write to the Board of Higher Education and Ministry, P.O. Box
340007, Nashville, TN 37203-0007.

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United Methodist News Service
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