The New Year will come with a new seat for this religious scholar.
Leading ethnographer Marla Frederick is next in line to become the dean of Harvard Divinity School on Jan. 1. According to Harvard News, the announcement was made on Thursday by President Claudine Gay. “We are thrilled to welcome Marla Frederick back to the University,” Gay said. “Her scholarship and her leadership have been distinguished by wide-ranging curiosity and engagement, and I am confident that those qualities, as well as her deep devotion to the mission of Harvard Divinity School, will make her an outstanding dean.”
Frederick’s work history with the school has molded her into a fitting candidate for the role. She served as a faculty member at Harvard from 2003 to 2019. During those years, she served as an assistant professor in the Department of African and African American Studies while working as a leader on the Committee on the Study of Religion. Her previous 16 years at Harvard included roles as a member of the provost’s academic leadership forum, director of graduate studies, and chair of the admissions committee for the Department of African and African American Studies.
Although she currently holds a position at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology as the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion and Culture, Frederick is ready to return to Harvard. “I am honored to return to Harvard as the next dean of Harvard Divinity School,” Frederick said. “It is a place bustling with conscientious faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends who are committed to the work of justice and human flourishing informed by deep study.”
She added, “I look forward to joining the HDS community in developing religious and civic leaders for our increasingly complex and diverse society.”
Frederick’s focus on the study of religion and media, religion and social activism in the U.S. South, and the sustainability of Black institutions in a “post-racial” world adds to her preparation for the role. Also an author, the professor’s published works include books such as Colored Television: American Religion Gone Global and Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith.
“She recognizes the challenges and opportunities facing the School and will bring a fresh perspective informed by her service both within and outside of Harvard,” Provost Alan M. Garber said. “She is the right person to lead HDS in the years to come.”
Frederick will succeed Dean David Hempton, who has served in the position since 2012.