Dean and President

Andrew McGowan will be retiring in June 2026 after three remarkably successful terms as Dean of Berkeley Divinity School (BDS). Berkeley seeks a successor who will be a confident and creative leader who will nurture and advance the institution in its primary mission to prepare ordained and lay leaders for The Episcopal Church. Berkeley seeks a leader who will advance the School ambitiously in its foundational mission as a seminary and in its work to serve the Church more broadly through its growing leadership programs; who has a demonstrated track record as an administrator as well as an intellectual leader; will be a collaborative partner with Yale Divinity School and Yale University, eager to find ways of magnifying the advantages of Berkeley’s affiliation with one of the world’s great universities; is committed to ensuring that the School is welcoming to all; has an appetite for, and preferably experience with, fund-raising and cultivating donors; takes delight in pastoring students and in ensuring an excellent program of ministerial formation for them; is a strategic thinker who possesses a roll-up-your-sleeves mentality for getting things done as well as being financially literate, administratively talented and capable of nurturing a team of exceptional colleagues; and is inspired by the mission and sees this position not just as a career opportunity but as a calling ---and an amazing chance to bear witness to Jesus Christ with moral courage for the future of the Episcopal Church. 

The successful candidate will be a devoted and ordained member of The Episcopal Church or a member Church of the Anglican Communion with an acute sense of the polity, practices and needs of The Episcopal Church and a general understanding of the wider communion. The next Dean will possess a M.Div degree or equivalent, a PhD/doctorate or respected reputation as an intellectual leader, and the credentials or experience to teach in the Anglican Studies curriculum. It should be an individual whose life and work is rooted in prayer and in seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and someone who has a
 deep well of integrity and high emotional intelligence. 

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. Electronic submission of materials is strongly encouraged. Inquiries, nominations, referrals, and CVs with cover letters should be submitted below. 

Ernest Brooks is leading this search with Claire Hennessey, Liz Braun, and Elizabeth Arvanitis.