CHICAGO -- The Rev. Dr. William G. Sinkford, DD '03, who recently concluded eight years as president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA), was elected today as a new member of the Board of Trustees of Meadville Lombard Theological School.
Sinkford joins the board as it prepares to deliberate this weekend on work from consultants and recommendations from the board’s executive committee to restructure the organization of Meadville Lombard, one of two U.S. seminaries specifically identified with the UU denomination.
Seminaries throughout the nation, already financially fragile, including Meadville Lombard, have been prompted by the recession of 2008 and 2009 to face questions such as shrinking, partnering, selling campus real estate, or otherwise reducing costs.
“Bill Sinkford brings to us his strong commitment to Unitarian Universalism and insightful leadership in the area of theological education that he demonstrated during his presidency,” said Lawrence R. Ladd, board chair at Meadville Lombard.
“His eight years of service as UUA president will significantly enrich our deliberations,” Ladd said. “He is committed to the institutions that stand as the foundations of our faith.”
Sinkford was elected as UUA president twice, in 2001 and 2005, by the General Assembly, which is the UU annual delegate body. Upon leaving office in June, he started a one-year appointment as senior minister and advisor to the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry in Boston, which continues a 200-year tradition of Unitarians and Universalists of working on behalf of underprivileged neighborhoods in the city where the denominational headquarters is located.
Sinkford is the third past president of the UUA to serve on the Meadville Lombard board. Former UUA presidents O. Eugene Pickett, BD '52, DD '74, and William F. Schulz, DMin '75, DD '87, also served on the Meadville Lombard Board. Schulz currently is a member of the school’s affiliated faculty.
Meadville Lombard’s president, Rev. Dr. Lee C. Barker, DMin '78, DD '01, said, “Bill Sinkford will add great wisdom and perspective to the leadership of Meadville Lombard as we move to strengthen our commitment to educate ministerial students within the Unitarian Universalist tradition. I know of no one who has deeper understanding of Unitarian Universalism or a greater passion for its future. I’m thrilled that he has joined the school’s Board of Trustees.“
Sinkford said that he sees serving on the Meadville Lombard Board of Trustees as a vehicle to continue to exercise leadership concerning an important institutional component of American Unitarian Universalism.
“One of the interesting things about service on the Meadville Lombard board is that it has the normal stewardship responsibilities of assets and the legacy, but it also has a responsibility to the larger Unitarian Universalist faith community,” Sinkford said. “I understand my service to be both to the current Meadville Lombard institution but also more broadly to Unitarian Universalism. The decisions that the board will make starting this weekend are very much tied to the larger mission of our faith and I'm happy to be a part of that conversation.
"I have a deep commitment to Unitarian Universalist theological education. I invested a good deal of my energy during my presidency to trying to find a way forward for the UU theological schools. The opportunity to serve on the Meadville Lombard board is a way for me to keep my voice in the conversation,” he said.
Sinkford, 63, served in many denominational staff positions prior to his election as president, when he became the first African-American to lead a majority-white U.S. mainline denomination. Born in California, he graduated from Harvard University and Starr King School for the Ministry. His career includes many years in business before deciding to train for ministry while he was living in Cincinnati, the city where he spent most of his youth. He received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Meadville Lombard in 2003.
Sinkford and his wife live in Boston. He has two children and a grandson.
Sinkford becomes the 16th member of the Meadville Lombard Board of Trustees, which includes representatives of students, faculty, and alumni/ae of the school as well as Unitarian Universalist leaders from across the country.
Meadville Lombard is an independent and accredited graduate theological seminary offering the degrees of master of divinity, master of arts in religion, doctor of ministry, and a dual degree of master of divinity and master of social work. The school today has about 120 students, many of whom use“TouchPoint” program to study from home locations across the country. Graduates enter ministries in Unitarian Universalism and other faiths as well as leadership in education, social work and other fields.
The school, founded as a Unitarian seminary in 1844 in Meadville, Penn., moved to Chicago in 1926 to become part of the University of Chicago academic community. The school today remains affiliated with the University of Chicago. Its Universalist roots begin with the founding of Lombard College, originally the Illinois Liberal Institute, in Galesburg, Ill., in 1851. Lombard’s Universalist divinity school opened in Chicago in 1881. The Unitarian and Universalist divinity schools merged after Lombard’s undergraduate college closed during the Great Depression.
The non-creedal liberal faith known today as Unitarian Universalism began with establishment of the Universalist Church in America in 1793 and the American Unitarian Association in 1825. The two groups merged in 1961.
Links:
- Meadville Lombard Theological School: meadville.edu
- Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry in Boston: uuum.org
- Unitarian Universalist Association: uua.org
