After more than 13 years as dean of the Perkins School of Theology, William B. Lawrence announced that he will be retire on May 31, 2016. Dean Lawrence also decided to take a leave of absence for the 2016-17 academic year while considering to accept the role of professor of American church history in the fall of 2017.
Dean Lawrence accepted his position in 2002. He has led Perkins through many initiatives and personal goals.
“When I arrived at Perkins School of Theology, I had identified four areas for specific attention: faculty, facilities, finances and formative scholarship,” Dean Lawrence wrote in an e-mail.
To achieve these objectives, he initiated several changes and improvements to the school. Dean Lawrence oversaw the diversification of the Perkins faculty population to ensure a varied education to students. He also worked to honor professors by increasing the number of endowed chairs and professors at the school by 60 percent. Dean Lawrence also worked to aid the financial situation of students by supporting an abundance of fundraising after several negative repercussions of the Great Recession.
The Perkins building itself stands as proof of Lawrence’s innovation. Diana V. Coon, Assistant to the Dean at Perkins School of Theology and co-worker of Dean Lawrence since 2004, wrote in an e-mail, “In my opinion, his legacy will be the expansion of the school by adding a new building and renovating the existing Perkins campus. I call the Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Hall the building that [Dean Lawrence] built.”
Dean Lawrence built the Graduate Program in Religious Studies to compete among the Top Ten doctoral programs for religious studies in the country.
Coon associates much of Dean Lawrence’s successes to his natural leadership and personable attitude.
Coon wrote, “His leadership has enabled Perkins to remain at the forefront of Christian theological education by continuing to attract an academically impressive and diverse student body, and by recruiting and retaining accomplished faculty, who are superb in their fields of expertise.”
Amidst his successes, achievements and personable demeanor, Dean Lawrence faced several challenges due to the financial situations of Perkins graduates. Differing from other SMU schools such as Cox, which prepares future businessmen and women who aim for high-income jobs, Perkins develops Christian ministers who take simple and non-materialistic lives upon graduation. Due to this trend, Dean Lawrence acknowledges that financial aid and minimal loans are vital to assure the success of a Perkins’ graduate.
Lawrence wrote, “The next dean at Perkins School of Theology will face many challenges for higher education in general and for theological education in particular.” However, Lawrence assures that the experience has been “a pleasure, privilege and honor.”
Samual Holland, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts, will lead the search committee to find the next dean to continue developing Perkins in the upward fashion Dean Lawrence has left it in.
