Susan Henking

Last updated
Susan Henking
Henking 1a.jpg
Henking at Shimer College in 2012
20th President of Wells College
Incumbent
Assumed office
June 30, 2024
Institutions Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Shimer College
Wells College
Henking at the 2012 Alumni Service Awards dinner Susan Henking 2012 awards dinner.jpg
Henking at the 2012 Alumni Service Awards dinner

Susan E. Henking (born 1955) is an American religious studies scholar. She is currently the 20th president of Wells College. She was the 14th and final president of Shimer College in Chicago from 2012 to 2017. [1] [2] She then served in interim roles at Salem Academy and College, including Interim President in 2020 to 2021.

Contents

Henking was the first female president of Shimer since its 19th-century founder, Frances Shimer, ceded control to the University of Chicago, in 1896. [1] At the time, Henking was one of the small number of openly lesbian college presidents. [3] [4]

Education

Henking received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1977, and her Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1979. [5] She received her PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1988, [6] and began teaching at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1988. [5] Her doctoral dissertation was entitled Protestant Religious Experience and the Rise of American Sociology: A Contextual Study of Varieties of Secularization. [5]

Career

Henking taught at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, principally in the field of religious studies. She also taught in women's studies. In 1992, she received the Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award. [6] During her time at the Colleges, Henking served on the Board of the American Academy of Religion and as founding editor of the Oxford University Press series Teaching Religious Studies, also of the American Academy of Religion. [7] Henking was the interim Dean of Faculty from 1998 to 2001. She headed the Department of Religious Studies from 2002 to 2005, and 2008 to 2009. [5] In addition, before her departure in the summer of 2012, she served as adviser to the Board of Trustees. [8]

Henking has written and taught in the field of LGBT studies. Often her work has been at the junction of LGBT studies and religious studies, as in Que(e)rying Religion, the volume she co-edited in 1997, with Gary David Comstock. She co-chaired the program in LGBT studies at Hobart and William Smith, [9] which was the first such program in the nation to offer a major. [10]

In early 2012, Henking was chosen to become the 14th president of Shimer College. [11] She was the first regular president of Shimer College after the acrimonious departure of Thomas Lindsay, in 2010. [12]

During her five years at Shimer, Henking blogged on higher education and other topics on The Huffington Post [13] and ChicagoNow . [14] She was also a contributor to Religion Dispatches , an online magazine of religion, politics, and culture. [15] Henking continues to publish in religious studies and in areas related to higher education.

From June 2020 to June 2021, Henking served as Interim President at Salem Academy and College.

On July 1, 2022, Henking became Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at Wells College. [16] On June 30, 2024, Henking became the 20th President of Wells College, and will oversee the closure of the school. [17]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

Shimer Great Books School is a Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of Chicago, originally founded in 1853.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wells College</span> Private liberal arts college in Aurora, New York

Wells College was a private liberal arts college in Aurora, New York, located in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The college had cross-enrollment with Cornell University and Ithaca College. For much of its history it was a women's college. It was within the Aurora Village–Wells College Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The college was closed by the board of trustees and president of the college at the end of the spring 2024 semester, citing financial difficulties. The closure process was expected to continue through the end of 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hobart and William Smith Colleges</span> Private liberal arts colleges in Geneva, New York, U.S.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges are private liberal arts colleges in Geneva, New York. They trace their origins to Geneva Academy established in 1797. Students can choose from 45 majors and 68 minors with degrees in Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Science in Management, and Master of Arts in Higher Education Leadership.

Valerie Saiving (1921–1992) was a feminist theologian. She is the author of the influential essay The Human Situation: A Feminine View.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Theological Seminary</span> Christian ecumenical seminary in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

The Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is a Christian ecumenical American seminary located in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of several seminaries historically affiliated with the United Church of Christ. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Chicago, originally established in 1855 under the direction of the abolitionist Stephen Peet and the Congregational Church by charter of the Illinois legislature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Keohane</span> American academic

Robert Owen Keohane is an American political scientist working within the fields of international relations and international political economy. Following the publication of his influential book After Hegemony (1984), he has become widely associated with the theory of neoliberal institutionalism in international relations, as well as transnational relations and world politics in international relations in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robyn Ochs</span> American bisexual activist, professional speaker and workshop leader

Robyn Ochs is an American bisexual activist, professional speaker, and workshop leader. Her primary fields of interest are gender, sexuality, identity, and coalition building. She is the editor of the Bisexual Resource Guide, Bi Women Quarterly, and the anthology Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. Ochs, along with Professor Herukhuti, co-edited the anthology Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men.

The University of Chicago Divinity School is a private graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries. Formed under Baptist auspices, the school today lacks any sectarian affiliations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Lindsay (academic)</span> American academic

Thomas Kevin Lindsay is an American academic who briefly served as President of Shimer College. He was the Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities until December 2008. He was also the Director of the NEH We the People initiative, which funds programs, research and other activities that explore significant events and themes in US history and culture, and advance knowledge of the principles that define America. He serves as the Director of the Center for Higher Education at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Shimer College</span>

Shimer College was founded in 1852, when the pioneer town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, lacking a public school, incorporated the Mt. Carroll Seminary with no land, no teachers, and no money for this purpose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floyd Wilcox</span>

Floyd Cleveland Wilcox was the third president of Shimer College, serving from 1930 to 1935. His leadership, though marked by controversy, saw the school through the most difficult years of the Great Depression. He oversaw the transition of the school's curriculum from a two-year to a four-year junior college program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Justus Miller</span>

Frank Justus Miller (1858-1938) was a leading American classicist, translator, and university administrator in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He authored the Loeb Classical Library translations of Seneca and of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and was president of the American Classical League for more than a decade, from 1922 to 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Aybar</span> American academic

José M. Aybar, full name José Manuel Aybar de Soto, is the former president of Richard J. Daley College in Chicago, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. He has attracted nationwide attention for his innovative approach to remedial instruction at the college level, which has led to a doubling of pass rates for students in remedial courses at Daley College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol S. Bruch</span> American jurist (born 1941)

Carol Sophie Bruch is an American legal scholar and professor emerita of the law school at the University of California, Davis. A recognized authority on family marital property law, and private international law, she has influenced and worked on the drafting of family law statutes in California and other US states, and also international agreements. She holds a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law and an AB from Shimer College.

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite is an author, former president of Chicago Theological Seminary, a syndicated columnist, ordained minister, activist, theologian, and translator of the Bible. She is currently an emeritus faculty member at Chicago Theological Seminary. She also spent some of her time serving as a trustee for different organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Nourse</span> American educator and writer

Mary Augusta Nourse (1880–1971) was an American educator and writer on China and the Far East, and a co-founder of Jinling College in Nanjing. The best-known of her several books was her first, a popular history of China titled The Four Hundred Million.

Jacqueline Grennan Wexler, commonly known as Sister J, was an American Catholic religious sister who rose to prominence when she, as President of Webster College, strove to convince the Holy See allow the transferral of the college's ownership to a lay board of trustees. Webster College became the first Catholic university to legally split from the Catholic Church. She later left her religious order, the Sisters of Loretto, and was President of Hunter College in New York City from 1970 to 1980. She went on to serve as President of the National Conference of Christians and Jews from 1982 to 1990.

Bahar Davary is an Iranian-American religious studies scholar and Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego. She is known for her work on comparative study of religion and Islamic studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laetitia Moon Conard</span> American college professor and politician (1871–1946)

Elizabeth Laetitia Moon Conard was an American college instructor, politician, community leader and activist, based in Iowa. She taught sociology and economics at Grinnell College, and ran for governor of Iowa in 1932.

References

  1. 1 2 "Dr. Susan Henking Appointed 14th President of Shimer College: First Woman named President since Founder Frances Wood Shimer". Shimer.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  2. ↑ "College News: Malcolm X gets a new campus, Shimer gets a president". Chicago Reader. 2012-02-21.
  3. ↑ "Lesbian appointed head of Chicago's Shimer College". Windy City Times. 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  4. ↑ Susan Henking (2013-05-07). "LGBTQ Chicago Presidents". ChicagoNow . Retrieved 2013-05-22.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Curriculum Vitae of Susan E. Henking" (PDF). 2010. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  6. 1 2 Hobart and William Smith Colleges. "Religious Studies: Susan Henking". Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  7. ↑ Hobart and William Smith Colleges. "Faculty Information" . Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  8. ↑ "Susan Henking". Inside Higher Ed. 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  9. ↑ "Henking Named Shimer President". 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  10. ↑ Pat Flynn (2011-10-04). "SDSU second in nation to offer LGBT major". UTSanDiego.com. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  11. ↑ "Comments from Others". Shimer.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  12. ↑ "Big Trouble at Little Shimer: What's happening to Chicago's Great Books college? | The Chicago Weekly". 2010-09-24. Archived from the original on 2010-09-24. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  13. ↑ "Susan Henking". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
  14. ↑ "About Shimer Prez". ChicagoNow. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
  15. ↑ "Contributors: Susan Henking". Religion Dispatches. Archived from the original on 2013-07-05. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
  16. ↑ "Susan Henking Named Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs | Wells College". www.wells.edu. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  17. ↑ Moriarty, Rick (2024-07-01). "Soon-to-be-closed Wells College appoints new president". syracuse. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.