Academic dean, vice president named.
By: David Campbell
The trustees of Princeton Theological Seminary have named Dr. Darrell L. Guder as the seminary’s new academic dean and Sandra K. McNutt as the new vice president for seminary relations. Both appointments are effective July 1, the seminary said.
Dr. Guder will replace Dr. James F. Armstrong, who has been dean since 1994. He will act as administrator for the 51 scholars on the seminary’s faculty and will be serve on President Iain R. Torrance’s senior executive team.
President Torrance, who joined the seminary in July, said Dr. Guder "will bring a wealth of experience from a variety of institutions and has a wonderful vision for the church worldwide."
Dr. Guder said he looks forward to working with President Torrance and faculty.
"Our task is to be good stewards of the wonderful tradition of the seminary while addressing the great challenges of these rapidly changing times," he said.
Dr. Guder joined the seminary faculty in 2002 as the Henry Winters Luce Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology. He has taught at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and at Columbia Theological Seminary. He was vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Whitworth College from 1985 to 1991, the seminary said.
A native of California, he studied at the University of California at Los Angeles and earned his doctorate from the University of Hamburg in Germany.
Dr. Guder’s scholarship has focused on the church and its mission. His translations of German theological works into English include Otto Weber’s "Foundations of Dogmatics," Eberhard Jungel’s "God as the Mystery of the World" and, with his wife, Judith, Karl Barth’s "Theology of the Reformed Confessions," the seminary said.
Dr. Guder is an ordained Presbyterian minister. He served in Lutheran churches in Germany and was a faculty member at the Karlshuhe College in Southern Germany. He also served the American church as minister of Christian education at Hollywood First Presbyterian Church and as director of the Institute of Youth Ministries of Fuller Theological Seminary.
Ms. McNutt will replace the Rev. Eugene P. Degitz, who retired as vice president in October. She has 20 years’ experience in development, first at Duke University’s divinity school and university chapel, and most recently at San Francisco Theological Seminary, where she is vice president of seminary and church relations, the seminary said.
She has a master of divinity degree from Duke Divinity School, and master of education and bachelor of arts degrees from Converse College. She has been an elder in the Presbyterian Church in the United States for 18 years.
"She has had wonderful development experience at a world-class university, and also at a fine sister theological institution in the Presbyterian Church," said Nancy Gray, a seminary trustee and member of the search committee.
As vice president for seminary relations, Ms. McNutt will administer the external relations of the institution, including all areas of development, alumni and alumnae relations and communications.
"We really welcome Sandy McNutt to our community and believe we have found the person who will fit with our existing team of people at Princeton," President Torrance said.
"She will share the vision we have, and she understands the Presbyterian Church," he said. "We are fortunate that she has reached the stage in her career where this seemed the right next step for her."

