Mary E. Hughes Reflects
Mary E. Hughes, the Luther Frederick and Mary Ruth Slater Keil Professor of Christian Education and Director of the Master of Arts in Christian Education/Master of Arts in Youth and Family Ministry/Master of Theological Studies degree programs, will leave Trinity this summer after 30 years. Dr. Hughes will continue to teach part-time as Senior Research faculty. Dr. Hughes has worked in the field of Christian Education for 41 years. She received her Master of Arts from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1979, and her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1988. She came to Trinity as an assistant professor in 1981, after serving as deployed staff for the Lutheran Church in America’s Ohio and Michigan synods. She became associate professor of Christian Education in 1984. She spent six years as Dean of Community Life, Mission, and Ministry in the 1990s, was acting academic dean during the 1998-99 academic year, and served as co-director of the Center for Educational Ministry in the Parish from 2002 to 2009. She is the author of numerous articles and presentations about youth and adult education in the church.A native of Tennessee and a graduate of East Tennessee University, Dr. Hughes has a particular interest and passion for ministry in the Appalachia region. She continues to lead students in a course titled Ministry and Mining in Appalachia, exposing them to persons and churches impacted by the coal industry in West Virginia. “May 1, 2011 marked the completion of my 30th year at Trinity Seminary. On May 1, 1981 I was the first and only woman on Trinity's faculty, and that led to the most challenging and most formative years in my service here. Trinity is a different place today: different buildings, different president, different faculty, different curriculum, different students. The similarities across the years, however, are remarkable: passion for Christ, selfless giving to the church, care for the seminary, deep commitment to students and their vocations, willingness to engage challenges, and joy in vocation. The years collapse a little when I find children of former students sitting in my classes.
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