alumni news notes
Austin Seminary Association Awards for Service
Two scholars honored with 2018 alumni award The Reverend Dr. Valerie Bridgeman (MDiv’90) is a biblical scholar who has
taught at Memphis Theological Seminary, Lancaster Theological Seminary, and Methodist Theological School in Ohio where she is also interim dean. Bridgeman is the founding president and CEO of WomanPreach! Inc.—a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring preachers to full prophetic voice. Bridgeman earned a BA in communication and religion from Trinity University, an MDiv from Austin Seminary, and a PhD from Baylor University. Her accomplishments include cochairing the American Academy of Religion’s steering committee of The Bible in Racial, Ethnic, and Indigenous Communities; serving on the Society for the Arts in Religious Theological Studies steering committee (2011-2014); and serving as the co-chair of African American Biblical Hermeneutics and Women in the Biblical World Section for the Society of Biblical Literature. She was inducted into the Society for the Study of Black Religion in 2007 and into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars and Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2010. She is currently on the Y. A. Flunder Foundation Advisory Board, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Board of Trustees, the Black Theology Journal editorial board, and the Journal for the Bible and Transformation editorial board.
The Reverend Dr. David Gambrell (MDiv’98) is a
poet, musician, and liturgical scholar who currently serves as associate for worship in the office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). A prolific hymn writer, Gambrell is co-editor of a new edition of the Book of Common Worship (WJKP, 2018) and an advisory member of the committee that developed the 2013 Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God. He served as coordinator of revisions to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Directory for Worship, liturgist for the Summer Worship Series at Montreat Conference Center, faculty member of spirituality for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Board of Pensions CREDO program, adjunct faculty for Austin Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry Program, and representative to the Consultation on Common Texts. He has also served in many capacities for the Presbyterian Association of Musicians (PAM) Worship and Music Conferences at Montreat Conference Center. He earned a BA in anthropology from Louisiana State University, an MDiv from Austin Seminary, and a PhD in liturgical studies from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2013. He served on the staff of Austin Seminary and was ordained in 2003 as associate pastor for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Austin.
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