Firsts at Garrett-Evangelical

Garrett Biblical Institute, Evanston, Ill. Circa 1923.

As our newest students are about to arrive on campus next week for orientation we wanted to share with them and our readers some of the unique history of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.  For 159 years Garrett-Evangelical has trained bold leaders for the church, the academy and the world. Along the way we have had many "first" milestones to celebrate. The outstanding people listed below challenged the status quo of the day and helped push Garrett-Evangelical, the Church, and our world to become more inclusive and just. We are forever grateful for their life and work and are proud to have them as a part of our history.

• Eliza Garrett: 1853, Founding benefactor of Garrett Biblical Institute (GBI).
• Lucy Rider Meyer: 1855, founder, principal, and faculty member of Chicago Training School for City, Home, and Foreign Missions (CTS), which merged into Garrett Biblical Institute in 1934. She is credited with being the originator, promoter, and sustainer of the deaconess movement in Methodism.
• Isabella Thoburn: 1888, methods and church history faculty member of CTS, who headed the first deaconess home in the United States.
• Esther Bjornberg: mid 1930s, first woman Chicago Training School faculty member (field work and social service) who became a faculty member of Garrett Biblical Institute upon the merger of CTS with GBI.
• Georgia Harkness: 1939, first woman faculty member hired by Garrett Biblical Institute (applied theology). The first significant American woman theologian; thought to be the first woman to teach theology in an American seminary.
• Grant Shockley: 1959, first Black faculty member of Garrett Biblical Institute (religious education).
• Edsel Ammons: 1968, Black faculty member of Garrett Theological Seminary (taught church and urban society from 1968-1976) who became a bishop; designer of the Church and the Black Experience program, which began in 1970.
• Carl Marbury: 1977, first Black academic dean of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
• Rosemary Radford Ruether: 1977, first woman to hold a chair (Georgia Harkness Chair in Applied Theology).
• Marjorie Matthews: 1984, first woman bishop-in-residence; also served as visiting professor of Old Testament during that residency.
• Rosemary Skinner Keller: 1993, first woman academic dean.
• Osvaldo Vena: 1995, first Hispanic/Latino faculty member.
• Yeo Khiok-Khng: 2002, first Asian to hold an endowed chair (Harry R. Kendall Chair of New Testament Interpretation).
• Henry Young: 2002, first Black person to hold an endowed chair (Neal F. and Ila A. Fisher Chair in Theology).
• Sujin Pak Boyer: 2002, first Asian woman faculty member.
• Gennifer Benjamin Brooks: 2008, first Black woman to hold an endowed chair (Ernest and Bernice Styberg Chair in Preaching).

This is just a few of the bold leaders who have been a part of Garrett-Evangelical's history.  What are you a bold leader for?  Tell us below or better yet, show us at www.garrett.edu/boldleaders.

To learn more about Garrett-Evangelical's history visit the Our History webpage on the seminary's website.