A message from President Rundell

Friends,

I am pleased to greet you on behalf of our seminary community and to express my appreciation for the myriad ways you support and extend our work and give witness to the purposes and principles we share. Our nation is in the midst of a difficult season, making all the more important our mission of theological education and leadership in pursuit of a just, sustainable, and generative world.

I want to share with you an upcoming transition. After a tremendously rewarding run as President of Methodist Theological School in Ohio, I will retire in June of 2027. While I am quickly coming to understand how difficult it will be to step away from this wonderful institution and all it stands for, I believe this is the right time.

It is the right time for me. I will turn 65 this year, and by the time I leave, I will have served in this role for 21 years. It has been the honor of a lifetime and the clear highlight of my ministry and career. Additionally, Kristen accepted a department chair position at the University of Arizona four years ago, and we’ve been balancing a cross-country life for long enough. It’s time for me to get to Tucson full time.

It is also the right time for MTSO. Like people and communities, institutions have their own cycles and rhythms. We have superb governance, with an experienced and committed board of trustees. We have extraordinarily talented faculty, administrators and staff. With an endowment approaching $65 million, we are positioned to support our students well, assuring us graduates who will lead churches and communities forward in a world very much in need of what they are preparing to do. And we have deep gratitude for alumni and friends whose generosity makes this possible. While currently as strong as we’ve ever been, I believe we can grow even stronger with the energy and innovation that can accompany change. I have great confidence in our future.

One of the reasons I’m announcing this now is to allow for a thorough and inclusive process of discernment about the future of the seminary. The board has appointed a transition committee that is already meeting. A search committee to select a new president will be assembled following a time of listening with stakeholder and constituent groups. That process will begin with a day together on campus March 2. Members of the board will meet with students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. You can read more about that in Campus View.

While I will be thoroughly engaged in the life of the school for the next 17 months, I won’t be involved in the search process for my successor. After today, the next you will hear about this process will be from Trustee Chair Jeff Taylor.

I am so very grateful for the support and encouragement you’ve offered over the years. I love this place and all we’ve been about together, as well as that which is yet to be and become of this most worthy venture.