Trustees elect new VP, respond to SBC motion

Southwestern Seminary’s board of trustees elected a new vice president for Institutional Advancement, responded to a motion made at the SBC annual meeting, received a word from Frank Page, and conducted other business during their fall meeting, Oct. 16-18.

New VP for Institutional Advancement

Trustees elected Travis Trawick as the new vice president for Institutional Advancement following his recommendation by Southwestern President Paige Patterson. Trawick is presently working toward his Ph.D. in theology at Southwestern and serves as associate vice president for I.A., having worked in that office since 2004. Addressing the trustees, Trawick characterized his 13 years with I.A. as ministering “to the sweet people whom God has brought to Southwestern Seminary” and helping them “as God has touched their hearts to impact the Kingdom work at Southwestern Seminary.” He told trustees that he is “very excited and honored to be considered to continue this great work and to help minister to the folks who want to help us advance the Gospel through Southwestern.” (For more information, see here.) 

Response to SBC Motion

At the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) this past June, a motion was made to make trustee information from all SBC entities available online. In response, Patterson recommended trustees approve the following statement: “Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary continues to follow the longstanding practice of all Southern Baptist Convention entities by presenting a current listing of active trustees through the Southern Baptist Convention annual. This list includes the region of representation and the appropriate contact information for each trustee. The annual is distributed each year at a meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention and is also made available publicly online as a service of the Southern Baptist Convention executive committee.” Trustees voted to approve this statement.

Word from Frank Page

Frank Page, president and chief executive officer of the executive committee of the SBC, attended the trustee meeting and shared a word of encouragement. Since 1928, he said, Southwestern Seminary has received $372,612,792 through the Cooperative Program, “which makes the Cooperative Program by far the largest single donor that Southwestern has ever had.” Page, a two-time graduate of Southwestern, said this brings both a sense of gratitude and a sense of stewardship—“that we must be careful to steward those dollars.”

Academic Chairs

Matthew Harrison, assistant professor of foundations of education, was approved to occupy the Jack D. and Barbara Terry Chair of Religious Education, effective Jan. 1, 2018. 

Dean Sieberhagen, associate professor of Islamic studies, was approved to occupy the Vernon D. and Jeannette Davidson Chair of Missions, effective Jan. 1, 2018.

Faculty Promotions

R. Keith Loftin, assistant professor of philosophy and humanities, was promoted to associate professor of philosophy and humanities, effective immediately.

Daniel Sanchez, professor of missions, was promoted to distinguished professor of missions, effective immediately.

Faculty Appointments

Heinrich Derksen, Ralf Schowalter and Wolfgang Ertl were presidentially appointed to the faculty of Bibelseminar Bonn (BSB), Southwestern’s partner seminary in Bonn, Germany.