From the Church Divinity School of the Pacific:
After much prayerful thought, discussion, and deliberation, the Board of Trustees of Church Divinity School of the Pacific is pleased to announce that the Rev. Dr. W. Mark Richardson has accepted the offer to become the seminary’s next President and Dean beginning July 1, 2010.
Dr. Richardson is an Episcopal priest and a scholar with a deep connection to the Church and to parish and seminary life, including ties to the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) of which CDSP is a part. We are honored and blessed to welcome him as the newest member of our community.As Mark reminded us in his talk to the CDSP community on February 9, 2010, he is not an east coast native. “I’m a Westerner,” he stated proudly. Raised in Eugene, Oregon, his father was a minister in the Disciples of Christ tradition, and his mother was an academic. Mark studied at the University of Oregon, receiving his B.A. in History. After college, he decided to go east, thinking he might perhaps go into politics. For a short time he lived in Washington, D.C. where he worked for Senator Mark Hatfield, but soon discovered that a more spiritual path was ahead of him. “My freedom brought me back to my roots,” he told us in his talk. Mark entered Princeton Theological Seminary and was awarded his M. Div. in 1975. He was ordained shortly thereafter.
Richardson is currently professor of systematic theology at the General Theological Seminary in New York City.