Over 50 students join The Theological School and Caspersen School of Graduate Studies
February 2025 – Drew University has officially welcomed over 50 incoming students commencing their graduate studies at Drew’s Theological School and the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies.
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The students, enrolled in nearly every program offered, join Drew from five states—New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania—and 11 countries, including Albania, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Mozambique, Pakistan, and South Korea.
Drew also welcomed students who are commencing certificate programs. Two new students are participating in Drew’s Partnership for Religion and Education in Prisons (PREP) program, which brings the Drew classroom into the prison setting with the goal of equally educating both “inside” and “outside” students through the sharing of diverse experiences, identities, and belief systems.
Theological School students were celebrated during the recent Matriculation Service, where students are officially welcomed to the community and invited to sign Drew’s 150-year-old matriculation book—sharing a historical rite of passage with all Theological School students since the school’s inception in 1867. “This is a book about the story of a community,” said Associate Dean Robert Seesengood. “To begin as a community, we must first know our names, and by writing our names into the book, we become that community.”
John Fletcher Hurst Professor of Ecology, Religion and Society Laurel Kearns offered the matriculation address, “Creating Communities of Creation? Refugia?”
“Despair will get us nowhere,” she said, referencing the current environmental and political climate. “Take a deep breath. We breathe, and we get to work. Draw the circle wide to include all the communities in creation.”
Kearns encouraged the new students to get involved in Drew’s Theo Community Garden. “Come meet God there,” she said, closing with her prayer, “ConSpiring.”
Chapel services are offered every Tuesday and Thursday in Craig Chapel or online. Theological School Dean Edwin David Aponte and Associate Deans Tanya Linn Bennett and Seesengood opened the spring semester services with their perspectives on Luke 4:14-30.
To learn more about Drew’s graduate programs, visit our website, call 973-408-3111, or email gradm@drew.edu.
