MTSO invites all MTSO alumni, students, faculty and staff – as well as former Methesco employees and guests of our Mount Award honorees – to gather for Alumni Day Sept. 26 and take advantage of a long-delayed opportunity to reconnect.

Alumni Day begins with a 10:45 a.m. morning chapel service. Bishop C. Joseph Sprague (’65) will preach. The day continues with a luncheon honoring these recipients of the John and Ruth Mount Alumni Awards for Distinguished Service:

• Paulette Buford-James (’13), superintendent, Starkville District, Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church.
• Grace Imathiu (’87), senior pastor, First United Methodist Church, Evanston, Illinois.
• David MacDonald (’02), university chaplain, Ohio Northern University.

As always, lunch will feature Seminary Hill Farm produce and other locally sourced food.

After lunch, we will offer guided tours of the MTSO campus and Seminary Hill Farm.

All events are presented at no cost, though everyone who plans to attend is asked to RSVP here. This advance registration will help with food preparation and other planning.

Our modern economy produces tons of human waste that piles up in landfills, water bodies, and city streets. How should we respond?

MTSO will address the issue in a virtual conversation, “All About Waste: Sanitation, Justice, and Reinventing the Toilet,” at 7 p.m. Eastern this Thursday, Sept. 15. The event, part of MTSO’s Science and Religion Digital Dialogues series, is free to the public. Advance Zoom registration is required and available here.

“All About Waste” brings together a panel of three experts to discuss one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time: human waste and how to manage it sustainably and ethically.

Marc Deshusses is professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University, where he is also research professor of global health. Elizabeth Allison is professor of philosophy, cosmology and consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Sarah Nahar is a Ph.D. candidate at Syracuse University, reseaerching sanitation as an ethical issue.

The Science and Religion Digital Dialogues series serves MTSO students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as members of the public, addressing challenges to meaningful science and religion dialogues and to encouraging public engagement with science. It is made possible through the Science for Seminaries project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Dialogues on Science, Ethics, and Religion program.

The upcoming Story Magazine and Annual Report will share news about big events in the lives of our alumni, and we'd like your news to be a part of it. Please take a moment to update us on any adventures and milestones you've experienced over the past year.

It’s easy to share your news and update your contact information at www.mtso.edu/update.

Our Alum News is an ongoing record of the meaningful lives MTSO’s alumni are leading. Thanks for your contribution to it.

MTSO’s admissions staff is offering a host of opportunities for prospective students to connect and learn about our five degree programs, generous scholarships, and options for attending on campus or online.

Admissions on the Road: MTSO has a presence at more than 20 events this fall, most of them in person at colleges. To see a full list, visit our Admissions on the Road web page.

Info Sessions: We know time is valuable for those considering graduate school. That's why we pack as much helpful information as we can into our 45-minute fall Info Sessions:

• Monday, Oct. 3, 2 p.m. Eastern
• Thursday, Oct. 27, 2 p.m. Eastern
• Monday, Nov. 14, 2 p.m. Eastern
• Thursday, Dec. 8, 2 p.m. Eastern

Learn more and register for a link here.

One-on-one conversations: Our admissions staff is always happy to share a personal conversation. An easy way to set up a productive chat is by visiting our information request page. Alternatively, you can reach us via email at admissions@mtso.edu or phone at 800-333-6876.