wfn.org | Phyllis Anderson Elected President Of ELCA Seminary

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 8, 2004

Phyllis Anderson Elected President Of ELCA Seminary
04-208-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Phyllis B. Anderson will become
the seventh president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
(PLTS), Berkeley, Calif., on Feb. 1, 2005.  On Nov. 5 the PLTS
board of directors unanimously elected Anderson, a pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and director of the
Institute for Ecumenical Theological Studies, Seattle University
School of Theology and Ministry.  PLTS is one of eight ELCA
seminaries.
     Anderson will be the first woman to head a Lutheran seminary
in the United States.  Dr. Faith E. Rohrbough became president of
the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in
1996.
     Anderson succeeds the Rev. Timothy F. Lull, who died May 20,
2003, from complications following surgery.  The Rev. Ted F.
Peters continues as the seminary's interim president until
Anderson takes office.	Peters is a professor of systematic
theology at PLTS.
     "We are delighted to find a leader of Dr. Anderson's vision
and experience for this important time in the life of both the
seminary and the church at large," said the Rev. Steven L.
McKinley, House of Prayer Lutheran Church, Richfield, Minn.,
chair of the seminary's board.
     "The PLTS commitment to ecumenism, to diversity, to the
spiritual experience of people in the American West, and to the
mission of ELCA seminaries and congregations across the country
will be truly enhanced by her leadership," McKinley said.
     "I am excited about the opportunity to lead this excellent
seminary as it shapes Lutheran leaders for our time and place,
marked by rapid change, diversity, secularity, spiritual longing,
and great human need," Anderson said.  "I pray God will continue
to bless this institution with outstanding faculty, staff and
students, with good friends and partners, and with all that we
need to fulfill our part in God's mission," she said.
     "Anderson's experience in strategic planning, fund raising
and administration, coupled with her collaborative approach to
all decisions, make her the ideal leader for PLTS," said Dr. Gary
Andeen, executive director, Oregon Independent Colleges
Association, Portland, chair of the presidential search
committee. "Our committee's work was deeply graced by the Holy
Spirit bringing to PLTS just the right person to engage the
challenges and opportunities ahead," he said.
     Born June 7, 1943, in Baltimore, Anderson attended Concordia
Teachers' College, Seward, Neb., and graduated from California
State University, Sacramento, and Wartburg Theological Seminary,
Dubuque, Iowa.	She earned her doctorate from Aquinas Institute
of Theology, St. Louis.  Wartburg is a seminary of the ELCA.
     Ordained in 1978, Anderson served as pastor of three
congregations in an Iowa parish -- Trinity Lutheran Church,
Dyersville; Immanuel Lutheran Church, Earlville; and Grace
Lutheran Church, Farley -- before joining the staff of the Iowa
District of the former American Lutheran Church.  In 1985 she
became director of pastoral studies at the Lutheran School of
Theology at Chicago, another ELCA seminary.
     When the ELCA was formed in 1988 from the merger of three
Lutheran church bodies, Anderson was its first director for
theological studies in the Division for Ministry.  In that role
she oversaw a six-year study of theological education, which
developed a comprehensive plan for a theological education
network in the new church.
     In 1998 Anderson became the first director of the Institute
for Ecumenical and Theological Studies in Seattle, which serves
10 denominations and two religious umbrella groups in the
northwest United States.  The institute prepares women and men
for lay and ordained ministry in their specific traditions.
     Soon after PLTS was established in 1952, it was a founding
member of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU).  The GTU is an
ecumenical venture to provide theological education with eight
other Protestant and Catholic seminaries, nine affiliated
centers, institutes and specialized programs, and the University
of California at Berkeley.  It is a combined community of 128
professors and 1,400 students.
     Dr. Martha Ellen Stortz, PLTS professor of historical
theology and ethics, noted that, in Seattle, Anderson prepared
students from various denominational affiliations for ministry.
"This experience gives her unique insight into the GTU and its
interfaith and interreligious communions," she said.  "I am
delighted that she can bring her own vibrant blend of theological
vision and institutional savvy to our seminary.  We are richly
blessed," Stortz said.
     "I'm thrilled PLTS will have a president whose very unique
personal and professional skills so seamlessly meet the
particular needs of the seminary community at this time," said
Derek Nelson, a member of the search committee and a doctoral
student at PLTS.
     Anderson is married to the Rev. Herbert E. Anderson, an ELCA
pastor, visiting professor of pastoral theology, Yale Divinity
School, New Haven, Conn., and professor emeritus of pastoral
theology, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago.	They are the
parents of two adult children.
-- -- --
     The homepage of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary is at
http://www.plts.edu/ on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news