Love to speak at opening convocation
Aug. 15, 2008

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Dr. Jan LoveDr. Jan Love, Dean of Candler School of Theology at Emory University, will deliver the keynote address at LaGrange College’s Opening Convocation, which starts at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 3, at Callaway Auditorium.

Love, who began her tenure at Emory last year, is the first woman and first layperson to head the theology school.

Before assuming her role at Emory, she had been the chief executive officer of the Women’s Division of the United Methodist Church, which has a staff of 70, annual expenditures of $30 million and programs and property in more than 60 countries.

Earlier in her career, Love served for 22 years on the faculty at the University of South Carolina in the departments of religious studies and political science where she directed the International Studies master’s and Ph.D. programs as well as numerous doctoral dissertations and honors-college theses.

The daughter of a United Methodist minister, Love has long been associated with the church, serving as a United Methodist representative to the World Council of Churches from 1975-2006 and on the WCC board of directors for more than two decades.

She led the WCC delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. In 2000, during the United Methodist General Conference, Love was recognized by the church’s Council of Bishops for “Exceptional Leadership in Ecumenical Areas.”

A prolific author, Love has penned dozens of articles and book chapters, and she has written two books: “Local Aspirations and Global Entanglements” and “The U.S. Anti-Apartheid Movement: Local Activism in Global Politics.”

She earned her undergraduate degree from Eckerd College and her master’s and Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Her teaching interests include world Christianity, religion and world politics, conflict transformation, and international relations.

Love is a member of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta.

An annual tradition at LaGrange College, Opening Convocation is a ceremony that celebrates the college as a community of students and faculty, and provides a time of commitment to joint teaching and learning for the year ahead.

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