When semester is over, UTS closes down. Right? No, wrong! Two weeks after commencement on Monday, June 13 faculty and staff came together in the Oak Room, at the UTS 4W 43rd Street  campus in New York City, for a faculty education day. The morning session, facilitated by Dr. Kathy Winings, started at 10:00 am with a webinar from the Association of Theological Schools (ATS): The State of the Industry (2015) A 45- minute overview of enrollment, students, faculty, and finances at 273 institutions that are members of ATS. (UTS is an affiliate member). UTS faculty were asked to...

Unification Theological Seminary, has remarkably talented alumni. The successes and achievements of graduates greatly improve the reputation of higher educational institutions and for UTS it is the same. UTS is proud of its graduates and their accomplishments. The number of areas served is vast: pastoral ministry, the non-profit world, business, finance, real estate, the arts, public education, private education, college and university education and administration, law, medicine and other professions. UTS benefits by the alumni contributions to the world but also by the alumni...

BARRYTOWN, NY – On Saturday, June 18, Generation Peace Academy (GPA) held its graduation ceremony at the Barrytown Conference Center for its 2015/2016 participants, marking the culmination of a nearly year-long program that began last September. The sixty-five graduates, ranging in age from 18-21, began their 10-month journey at Barrytown last fall, a place Louise Honey, Program Development Manager for GPA, likes to call the group’s “home base.” “We always begin our kickoff workshop at Barrytown,” said Louise. “We start and end our program here. We kind of consider it our ‘home...

BARRYTOWN, NY – In the midst of their workshop being held at the Unification Theology Seminary (UTS) in upstate New York, members of Generation Peace Academy (GPA) were alternately enthralled and entertained by a speaker who happily recounted his numerous experiences with the Seminary’s founder, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and the wisdom received from him. The speaker, Tom Bowers, a 1981 graduate of UTS and the librarian there from 1995-2000, delighted the crowd as he spoke of the many times he was privileged to be with the man he proudly and affectionately called “Father.” Tom, a...

Dr. Abdou Gaye earned his Doctor of Ministry with a dissertation on “Introducing the Holy Marriage Blessing to Muslims: Testing a Quranic Approach”. His spiritual (and academic) journey has been tempestuous. The following excerpts are adapted from an article by Jones Iziomo which give us some insights into his life beginning in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Abderrahmane “Abdou” Gaye is the second son of nine children from a strong Moslem family. The name Abderrahmane (pronounced in its short form as Abdou) means “the servant of the Merciful.” Mauritania is a...

In 1975 UTS was founded in Barrytown, NY by Reverend and Mrs. Moon, who are often warmly called “True Parents, or True Father and True Mother” by UTS alumni and friends of UTS. The following year of 1976 was another pivotal year in the Founders’ work in America. On June 1, 1976 there was the “God Bless America” rally at Yankee Stadium where Reverend Moon gave the bold and historic declaration that “America is God’s Hope” in front of  45,000 people. Reverend Moon declared that America would only be able to keep God’s blessing as an advanced country if she remained united with...

At the Saturday, May 28 commencement ceremony in Barrytown, NY, Dr. Hugh Spurgin, president of UTS, conferred  a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min) degree on Idris Ena Kone.  Idris, or Drissa as he is affectionately called, is one of six graduates who received a D.Min. degree in 2016. Originally from the Ivory Coast, “Drissa” wrote his dissertation on “The Practice of Active Listening in Managing Cross-Cultural Conflict: A Case Study of the Ivorian Diaspora in New York”. The consul general of the Ivory Coast came to the graduation in recognition of Drissa’s academic and...

The 40th commencement, held at UTS Barrytown on Saturday May 28 once again showed the diversity of UTS students and their commitment to use their UTS education to be of service to others. The Poughkeepsie Journal reported on the graduation and the many nationalities of the students. Dr. Michael Balcomb, chair of the Board of Trustees and president of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, USA, shared his optimism for the Class of 2016.

Every couple of months UTS Communications brings our readers news from the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) to give insights into some broader issues facing seminaries: theological education, relationship with congregations and stakeholders, and engagement with the wider public too. We hope you find this background information useful. In this article the topic is partnership. As UTS faces its own financial challenges, there may be some useful ideas to glean and act upon. I hope the article from ATS provides inspiration and that God can partner with us to reveal interesting new...