The Board of Trustees of the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) voted on Monday, October 14, 2019 to name Dr. Hugh Spurgin President Emeritus. This honor comes in recognition of his distinguished leadership and service during his tenure as the fifth UTS President from January 2015 to August 2019. Dr. Hugh Spurgin, a graduate of the first UTS class in 1977, took the reins of UTS at a difficult time and successfully navigated the institution to a new level. Under his tenure, UTS observed the 40th year of its founding, reaffirmed its regional accreditation by the Middle States...

The Board of Trustees of the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) voted on Monday, October 14, 2019 to name Dr. Tyler Owen Hendricks President Emeritus. This honor comes in recognition of over ten years of distinguished leadership and service to the Seminary between 2000 and 2010 as its President. Dr. Hendricks (UTS class of 1978) served as the third president of the Unification Theological Seminary. Under Dr. Hendrick’s leadership, UTS gave new emphasis to strengthening professional skills for ministry and established the midtown Manhattan campus, with an interdenominational faculty...

The day was October 26, 2019, Saturday, that all the students from the Unification Theological Seminary were invited to attend a full-day retreat at its original Barrytown Campus in upstate New York. The two-hour drive from the NY main seminary to Barrytown is beautiful this time of the year, where trees whose leaves were gracefully swaying in an ensemble of colorful shades of mustard yellow, pink, fading greens and brownish hues, dancing playfully as if bowing to its final performance before exiting to its slumber. Inside the car, three middle-aged Theology students and a doting...

The Board of Trustees of the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) voted on Monday, October 14, 2019 to name Dr. Theodore Shimmyo President Emeritus. Dr. Shimmyo was one of three former presidents conferred this status at the Board of Trustees meeting. This honor comes in recognition of Dr. Shimmyo’s years of distinguished leadership and service as the second president of UTS from 1994-2000. The themes of his administration were leadership development and the attitude of faithful attendance to God. Under his leadership, UTS strengthened its field education program by instituting...

Dear Members of the UTS Community, A Warm Greetings to All of You as we settle into 2021! When Reverend Moon came to the United States in 1971, he had a number of things that he felt called to accomplish. One of his top priorities was to establish a Seminary. Reverend Moon’s desire was to build a working relationship with Christian leaders. From his first days in the United States, he emphasized that the key to an American. reawakening was through building a partnership first with Christianity, then Judaism and Islam and then all other religions in order to secure a lasting...

UTS faculty and staff welcomed Dr. Thomas Ward as the Seminary’s sixth President at a gathering in the Oak Room at 4 West 43rd St. on August 22, 2019.  President Ward succeeds Dr. Hugh Spurgin who stepped down effective August 8. Dr. Ward, a 1981 UTS graduate, served most recently as Dean of the College of Public and International Affairs at the University of Bridgeport from 2000-2018. Two former presidents of UTS were in attendance at the gathering, Dr. Theodore Shimmyo (1994-2000) and Dr. Tyler Hendricks (2000-2010). In his broad-ranging remarks, President Ward expressed his...

Breaking news of terrorism in West Africa rarely breaks on large, mainstream news platforms, but change may be on the way. Terrorism news now is reaching American readers through a novel digital pathway called Prayer News Network (PNN). The mission of PNN is to help Americans “adopt” Christians in harm’s way in Nigeria through prayer by cell phone and to let the victims of persecution transmit actionable news of violence to their Western prayer partners. And by doing so, go around the mainstream news media.  A dramatic story of an attempted assassination of a Catholic priest in...

The Center for Media & Peace Initiative was founded in 2005 by a group of experienced professionals of diverse nationalities who share international and professional ideas. Given the role of the media in conflict prevention, management, and resolution, we raise global awareness on the intersection of media, conflict prevention, peace building, and public policy. Through radio/TV programs, social media, and public forums, the center leads the effort to teach citizens all they should know about the media. This recent article by Dr. Drissa Kone (UTS ’12, DMin ’16) is being...

Dear Friends of UTS, Unification Theological Seminary President Hugh D. Spurgin informed the UTS Board of Trustees in a letter on May 25, 2019 of his intention to step down as President once a suitable replacement was appointed.   Dr. Spurgin (UTS’77), who has served on the UTS Board since the 1980s, and for eighteen years was President of the Bridgeport International Academy in Connecticut, assumed the presidency of UTS in January 2015. As UTS President, Dr. Spurgin played a critical role in securing the Seminary’s re-accreditation; solidifying its relationship with the...