A Note from Dean Dennis Edwards
Hello NPTS students! I join in the chorus of staff and faculty voices that are enthusiastic about connecting with you this academic year. As you discern God’s call on your life, please allow us to journey alongside you. We are committed to the synergy of our heads, hearts, and hands being devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is to say that we take academics, spiritual formation, and Christian activism seriously. Thank you for being part of what God is doing through North Park Theological Seminary.
Some of you know me as having been a New Testament professor and now I have the honor of following Rev. Dr. David Kersten as our Seminary Dean and Vice President of Church Relations. I’m hoping that this year we will all sense the Holy Spirit’s renewing work in our community life both inside and outside of the classroom.
Please know that Emily Wagner, our Director of Seminary Student Life and Formation, is a fantastic point of connection for you on several levels. Even though we bade a fond farewell last year to Rev. Dr. Deb Auger, our former Dean of Students, Emily is deftly guiding a renewed vision for what NPTS community can be.
Feel free to connect with me, and to join me in prayer for our entire seminary community.
God’s rich blessings to you and yours.
Dennis R. Edwards
A Note from Dean Hauna Ondrey
Greetings NPTS students near and far!
It’s my pleasure to welcome you to a new year of study and formation at North Park Theological Seminary. For those new to our community: welcome! For returning students: welcome back!
Those of you who know me know me as church history professor. This year I’ll also be taking on the interim role of Dean of Faculty. In this capacity I’ll be leading faculty, overseeing planning and delivery of academic programs, and resolving student academic concerns in partnership with Alex Macias, Director of Academic Programming. Alex and I are thrilled to welcome to the Seminary Academic Services office Padma Vundi. Be sure to greet her warmly when you see her in Nyvall Hall!
I look forward with anticipation to all God has in store for our community, and each person in it, in the coming year. I pray each of you will embrace every opportunity to be receptive to how God desires to form and transform your mind, affections, will, and actions this year—through relationships with peers; through class readings, lectures, and discussion; even through essays! Each of these are spaces of discipleship and acts of worship. Be open and attentive to every opportunity to see and serve Christ in one another—and to be Christ to one another.
I and the rest of the faculty look forward to connecting with you in the coming weeks—whether on one of our campuses/extension sites or in Zoom spriending. We are here to support you and God’s work in you through your seminary journey.
God’s strength, hope, and joy as you begin this new academic year. I am praying for all of you; please pray for me.
Hauna Ondrey
Interim Dean of Faculty &
Associate Professor of Church History