News & Events
HOPKINS APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF MA STUDIES
Dean Margaret M. Mitchell announced on Tuesday that Dwight N. Hopkins, Professor of Theology, has agreed to serve as the Divinity School's first Director of MA Studies. This new position, designed by the faculty's Academic Policy Committee, chaired by Professor Jeffrey Stackert, is designed to ensure that students in our MA program can maximize their educational experience in this flexible two-year program in the academic study of religion.
In close coordination with individual faculty advisors, Prof. Hopkins will help MA students to identify the curricular resources they need to acquire skills and knowledge in their chosen area of study, and develop a cogent agenda for their research.
“Professor Hopkins is an ideal choice for this role,” Dean Mitchell said. “The author of seven books and coeditor of some ten more on the subjects of black religion and theology in America and throughout the globe, Professor Hopkins has served on this faculty for fifteen years. He understands very well the range of topics and perspectives in the academic study of religion that are represented at the Divinity School, and he has the energy and vision to help develop the MA cohort as an intellectual community of diverse interests. The rest of the faculty and I look forward to working closely with Professor Hopkins in this new role in the life of the School.”
The Director of MA Studies “needs to have a sense of the breadth and nuance of the field of religious studies,” noted Prof. Stackert. “Having a faculty member occupy this position is significant not only because it requires an intimate understanding of the academic qualities of both our MA and PhD programs but also demonstrates the depth of faculty engagement with our students.”
Prof. Hopkins said about his appointment that “this is an energizing time in the academic life of the Divinity School. The MA degree program is vital for fostering the intellectual rigor and creative critical questioning emblematic of Divinity School culture. I'm excited to be the first Director of M.A. Studies and to enhance further curricular and advising needs of our MA students. In fact, I see my role as advocating for MA students and facilitating a cohort culture in this essential intellectual community in our larger critical conversations.”
Prof. Hopkins will continue with his own research and teaching in addition to his work with the MA Program. In the Winter Quarter of 2011 he will offer “Theology and Cultural Studies” and in the Spring of 2012, “Theological Anthropology.”
Prof. Hopkins joined the Divinity School faculty in 1996. A scholar of theology, he works in the areas of contemporary models of theology, black theologies, liberation theologies, and East-West cross-cultural comparisons. He is interested in multidisciplinary approaches to the academic study of religious thought, especially cultural, political, economic, and interpretive methods. He received his MDiv, MPhil, and PhD degrees from Union Theological Seminary in New York and a second PhD from the University of Cape Town.
For more information about the MA program, see http://divinity.uchicago.edu/academics/masters.shtml#am.
Prof. Hopkins’ appointment as Director of MA Studies is effective July 1, 2011.
