Replacements sought to fill dean, president positions at divinity school
Both Brite Divinity School’s president and dean stepped down to resume full-time teaching. A search for replacements is in the works.
By Joi Harris
Staff Reporter

The Brite Divinity School board of trustees is seeking recommendations from faculty, staff, church members and alumni as it searches for replacements of two top administrators who resigned this summer after more than a decade of leadership.

Ann Sewell, the school’s vice president of finance and treasurer, is acting president after Leo Perdue resigned to teach full time. She said she will step down when an interim president is found, possibly by Oct. 1.

David Gouwens, associate dean of academic affairs, is interim dean after Mark Toulouse resigned.

“Usually a dean and president need to work closely together and it’s a natural progression for both to leave at the same time,” Toulouse said.

The new president will aid the board in finding the new dean, Gouwens said. However, the president’s position is not expected to be filled until the end of this academic year, he said.

Perdue said he had considered resigning for the past two years. After 13 years, he said he was just tired of the position, which he described as difficult and time consuming.

Perdue said administrators should hold positions for seven or eight years maximum. The national average for both universities and seminaries, he said, is about five years for presidents and three years for deans.

“The biggest problem in administration is that people stay too long,” Perdue said.

Perdue hired much of the faculty and with them instituted several programs, including a Ph.D. program. Under his leadership the student body has grown to include more than 30 denominations, said Steven Sprinkle, Brite’s director of field education and supervised ministry.

This year the school will have one of the largest classes in school history.

Toulouse was a key factor in Brite’s re-accreditation process, and the Association of Theological Schools was extremely impressed with the job he did, Sewell said. The association asked if the Brite self study could be used as a model to show other institutions how to do their own.

“Perdue took Brite from an unknown to a strong academic standing,” Sprinkle said. “He’s the reason I am here.”

Russ Boyd, a second-year divinity student, said he chose Brite over seminaries at Harvard and Yalebecause it was strong both academically and in ministry teachings.

“They’ve definitely improved Brite’s academic reputation while they were here,” Boyd said. “It’s got a great name right now.”