Candler News
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Both buildings are designed for smart technology and LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. In keeping with Emory’s architectural style, the structures blend Italianate design with marble and stucco exteriors and clay tile roofs. Candler School of Theology is one of 13 seminaries of The United Methodist Church, with nearly 500 students from 46 denominations and 7,500 alumni worldwide. Since its founding in 1914, the school has been recognized as a premier institution for the preparation of
Scotland Bound: Thompson Awarded Bobby Jones Fellowship
leaders for Christian ministries. In any given year, 70 percent of Candler’s graduates go on to serve as pastors in local congregations, with the majority serving churches across Georgia and the Southeast. O. Wayne Rollins, a native of north Georgia, was a self-made business entrepreneur and a steward of the “free enterprise system.” He and his brother John participated in numerous successful business ventures, including radio and television stations, cable television, oil field services, truck leasing, boat manufacturing, real estate and—most famously—the 1964 purchase of Orkin, Inc., the first documented leveraged buyout in U.S. business history. Following his death in 1991, his sons, Randall and Gary Rollins, have continued to build the Rollins companies. Created in 1967, the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation continues the mission of now four generations of the Rollins family, which includes supporting religious institutions that are important to the family and that espouse the spiritual, moral, and ethical principles of O. Wayne Rollins, in addition to supporting medical research and public health issues at colleges and universities. Early major gifts to Emory University—to Candler School of Theology, the O.
Second-year MDiv student Alex Thompson is the 2012–2013 recipient of Emory’s Robert T. Jones Jr. Fellowship. Inaugurated in 2008, the fellowship provides full funding for one year of graduate study at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Fellows are selected based on their records of intellectual excellence and high potential for postgraduate success in their chosen field. Thompson will pursue a Master of Letters in Scripture and Theology while at St. Andrews.
Wayne Rollins Research Building, and the Rollins School of Public Health—exemplify the family’s
“This interdisciplinary program explores issues of biblical interpretation in dialogue with Christian
commitment to serving humanity.
history, hermeneutics, and systematic theology,” Thompson explains. “I hope to explore more fully the connections between these often disparate branches of theology, focusing specifically on the
This latest gift from the Rollins Foundation is part of
issues regarding Paul’s theology and his interpretation of the Old Testament.”
Campaign Emory, the university’s $1.6 billion fundraising endeavor that combines private support and
Thompson also hopes to connect to a worshipping community and continue to grow in the faith
Emory’s people, places, and programs to make a
through daily practices of prayer and meditative reading, drawing inspiration from Scotland’s rich
powerful contribution to the world. As of Dec. 31, 2011,
Christian heritage of monasticism and pilgrimage. “My plan is to grow not only academically,
donors had generated $1.39 billion toward the goal. n
but spiritually, as I continue to explore my ministerial vocation,” he says. n