email : Webview : May inSpire: I give you all a charge

View online

May 2025

A Charge to the Graduating Class of 2025,

We give thanks for this day, for this place, and for these graduates that we present to the world. As you depart from this place, I give you all a charge:

I charge you to bless your origins: the mothers and grandmothers who could not be here today; those of blessed memory; those among that great cloud of witnesses; and those who taught you, cared for you, loved you, and prayed for you.

I charge you to trust in God always, through the storms and the sunny days. Seek God in all of the surprising places that life will take you. And seek God, the divine light, in each other.

I charge you to rejoice in the mystery—the mystery that every success and every failure will lead you to where you are supposed to be. Rejoice in the mystery that assures you that nothing, no experience, is wasted in your life.

And therefore I charge you—family, friends, alumni, faculty, and staff—to continue to journey with this graduating class of 2025 as they depart from this place. We are our siblings’ keepers.

May we all endeavor to love, to serve, to seek good, to resist evil, and to remake the structures of injustice into the vision of equity and love on Earth, as it will one day be in heaven.

Best,

Yolanda Pierce, Ph.D.

Dean
University Distinguished Professor of Religion & Literature
University Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies

2025 VDS Founder’s Medalist Thornton Muncher, Dean Yolanda Pierce, Chancellor Daniel Diermeier

Thornton Muncher, MDiv’25, is this year’s Divinity School Founder’s Medalist, awarded for first honors in each graduating class. His academic focus on Jewish studies, Mediterranean and Near Eastern studies, and global Christianities and interreligious encounters has shaped both his vocational path and his pursuit of ordination in the United Methodist Church.

Dean Pierce & Jeanine C. Miller at Commencement

Join us in celebrating the 2025 Divinity School's Award and Certificate recipients.

Vanderbilt Divinity School has received a generous gift from Cal Turner Jr. and Hoyt R. Barnett to establish the new Turner-Barnett Program for Pastoral Formation. Launching in the 2026–27 academic year, the program will provide full scholarships, mentoring, and church placements for students pursuing pastoral ministry.

Vanderbilt Divinity School and the Wond’ry’s Fiber Arts Lab are partnering on Sacred Stitches, a service project that uses quilting to foster interfaith dialogue and community healing. The three sessions in June will create mementos for families who have lost a loved one.

Catch up on recent articles written by and featuring Divinity School faculty.

Vanderbilt Divinity School has partnered with Project Transformation National to provide scholarship opportunities and early admission consideration to alumni of PT’s young adult program, strengthening shared commitments to ministry, service, and community transformation.

Nominations are open for the 2025 Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion Distinguished Alumni/ae Award. Help us recognize alumni/ae making a lasting impact through their work and service.

Congratulations to the Class of 2025!
Watch the Divinity Commencement Ceremony.

Watch Here

The Carpenter Program partners with artist Becca Hoback for Initial Dissent, May 22–23, 7 p.m. at Dark Horse Theater—a thought-provoking evening of inspiring dance performance and community discussion. Tickets are $21.05.

The Nashville Pride Parade is June 28, 10 a.m. If there are VDS students, staff, faculty, or alumni interested in walking with Vanderbilt, please be in touch with Rachel Heath, Assistant Director of the Carpenter Program.

Save the date for 2025 VDS Reunion. Sign up to be a volunteer here.

Make an impact today

Join our global community by making a gift to Vanderbilt Divinity School.

Donate Today

Catch up on what's happening with your classmates online.

Do you have an alumni/ae story to tell?

Share Here

Update your contact information.

Update Here

Visit our job listings for alumni/ae and current students.

inSpire | Vanderbilt University Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion

411 21st Ave. S. | Nashville, TN 37240-1121

Vanderbilt University is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.
Vanderbilt University does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of their race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion,
color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, military service, or genetic information in its administration of educational policies, programs, or activities;
admissions policies; scholarship and loan programs; athletic or other University-administered programs; or employment.

Accessibility information. Vanderbilt®, Vanderbilt University® and the Vanderbilt logos are trademarks of The Vanderbilt University © 2023.

Manage your email preferences | Unsubscribe from all