President Larry Bacow: Pusey Minister Search

Prof. Stephanie PaulsellProfessor Stephanie Paulsell, Interim Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church and the Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies in the Harvard Divinity School. Photo by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

With thanks to the members of our search committee for their excellent work to date, I write with important news about the search for the next Pusey Minister. As you might imagine, the pandemic has created many challenges with which we must contend, and I have made the difficult decision to pause our effort for the time being.

Professor Reverend Stephanie Paulsell has generously agreed to continue leading Memorial Church for the next academic year. I am deeply grateful that we will have continuity when so many other aspects of life are uncertain, and I want to thank her and Dean David Hempton for continuing to be exceedingly generous to the University community.

Thank you all for taking the time to offer wise counsel, express interest, and suggest nominees. Memorial Church is a very special part of Harvard, and I look forward to a time when we can devote our full attention to opening its doors once again and to completing the search for a leader who will guide it into the future. Until then, be safe and take care.

All the best,

Larry

Lawrence S. Bacow, President, Harvard University