New Brunswick Searches for Next Seminary President

The search is on for a new leader of New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Current president Gregg Mast is planning to retire in June. 

The president is “the chief executive officer responsible for all aspects of the life and work of the seminary,” according to an information kit prepared by the search committee.

The seminary is diverse, with students of many ethnicities and from many denominations. It’s committed to anti-racism and inclusion, says search committee co-chair Anna Jackson. At the heart of the presidency, she says, is a person who’s able to appreciate those complexities and “use that as an asset in terms of reaching out to seminarians and potential students, as well as creating a voice in the larger community and city.” Jackson is pastor of Queens Reformed Church in New York.

“It’s someone who yearns to serve the church through the ministry of New Brunswick, and understands that the seminary exists to serve the church,” says Michael Bos, Jackson’s co-chair and senior minister of West End Collegiate Church in New York City. He says part of New Brunswick’s call, and the president’s job, is taking advantage of the seminary’s metro-urban context to prepare leaders to serve in a multicultural world.

The search committee is also looking for a president who will:

• increase accessibility through technology

• help the seminary become a global resource for metro-urban ministry

• forge closer ties with other graduate schools, including Rutgers and St. John’s Universities

• increase scholarship aid

• welcome underrepresented people into the seminary community

Applications for president will be accepted until the position is filled, Bos says, though priority will be given to applications received before January 15.

New Brunswick Theological Seminary is an intercultural, ecumenical school of Christian faith, learning, and scholarship committed to its metro-urban and global contexts, according to its mission statement. Founded in 1784, it’s one of two seminaries affiliated with the Reformed Church in America. The seminary offers Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Ministry degree programs, as well as professional certificates.

Read the search committee’s information packet.