Dean of the Earlham School of Religion
The dean is the chief academic and administrative officer of ESR. The dean’s role and responsibilities will be further specified in a position description prepared by the president of Earlham College in consultation with the faculty and subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees. The dean reports to the president and appoints and evaluates other administrative faculty of ESR.
GRETCHEN
CASTLE
About the Dean
Gretchen Castle is the dean of the Earlham School of Religion. A global Quaker leader, she joined ESR in 2021 as the school’s first female dean.
Before coming to Earlham School of Religion, Castle served as the General Secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation in the Quaker World Office in London, traveling extensively to bring greater unity to Quakers worldwide.
Over her career, Castle has gained broad experience among Friends globally and across different Quaker traditions. She has served at the Quaker United Nations Offices in New York and Geneva, and participates in the Christian World Communions Annual Meeting of the General Secretaries, where she was appointed the first woman chair and the first Quaker chair. As part of the Christian World Communions, she attended the inauguration of Pope Francis in Rome in 2013.
In the United States, she was the presiding clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Director of Leadership Development for several Quaker retirement communities, and a board development consultant for over 20 years.
Castle is no stranger to Richmond, Indiana. She attended nursery school at Stout Meetinghouse on Earlham’s campus and also earned her undergraduate degree in human development and social relations from the College in 1979. Her father, David Castle, was a former pastor at First Friends Meeting in Richmond.
She later earned her master’s degree in organizational development and adult learning from Temple University in Philadelphia.
“ESR serves a critically important role in the global Quaker community, preparing people for ministry, whatever form it takes, and I am thrilled to be joining ESR as its next dean.”
Gretchen Castle, Dean of ESR
Happening on campus
The Pros & Cons of Seminary Panel
Time: 7:30 pmPanel: The Pros and Cons of Seminary ~ Is seminary worth it? What happens afterward?
Join us for a panel on The Pros and Cons of Seminary! December 9 from 7:30-8:30pm ET on Zoom.
Our panelists will share about their experiences in seminary, the effects that has had on their lives and careers, things they wish they had known, and advice for prospective students. There will be time for Q&A, so bring your questions!
Register here: www.publicfriends.org/events/p/panel-the-pros-and-cons-of-seminary
THE PANEL
C. Wess Daniels is the William R. Rogers Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College. He is a recorded Quaker minister committed to liberation theology, anti-imperial expressions of Christianity, and working towards the revitalization of faith traditions that embody love and justice in the world. He is the author of A Convergent Model of Renewal: Remixing The Quaker Tradition in Participatory Culture (2015), Resisting Empire: The Book of Revelation (2019), contributor to We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People’s Campaign (2021), and the co-editor with Rhiannon Grant of the Quaker World (2022).
Rachel Guaraldi is a member of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting and lives in Strafford, Vermont where she works part time as a community chaplain and pastor of the United Church of Strafford. Rachel is a ESR graduate and a board certified interfaith chaplain with experience working in hospitals, community care settings, and hospice.
Christina Repoley received her MDiV in 2011 from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. Immediately following seminary, she founded Quaker Voluntary Service and served as its Executive Director until 2018, when she transitioned to the Forum for Theological Exploration, where she is currently the Vice President of Program. Christina is a recorded minister.
This event is brought to you by Public Friends and the Quaker Leadership Center.
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