David Vargas (1971; Trustee) was elected as President Emeritus of the Division of Overseas Ministries (DOM) at DOM's Board meeting, held April 17-18, 2013. He served as President of DOM and Co-Executive of Global Ministries from 2003 until 2010, when he retired. Since his retirement, he has occasionally served DOM and Global Ministries as a representative at their request.

Congratulations to House Scholar Brandon Cline, who has been selected as a Marty Center Junior Fellow for the 2013-14 academic year. Brandon is a PhD candidate in Early Christian Literature; his dissertation is entitled "Petition and Propaganda in Ancient Rome: Justin's Apologies in their Roman Imperial Context."

Congratulations to Kerry Waller (2000) and Ben Dueholm (former MND chef) and their son Soren on the birth of Elijah Alexander on May 5.

On March 19, Spencer Dew (1998) was interviewed by Melissa Block on NPR's All Things Considered about the Moorish Science Temple of America. He has received archival research grants for a forthcoming book on the group, which was founded by Noble Drew Ali in the 1920s. Listen to the interview here. The story was also picked up by CBS This Morning on March 25. Read his earlier piece for Sightings, "Sovereign Citizenship, Religion, and Law: The Case of Moorish Science" (29 July 2010), here.

Jennifer G. Jesse (1985) is the author of William Blake's Religious Vision: There's a Methodism in His Madness, published in February 2013 by Lexington Books. She "concludes that by analyzing the dramatic character of Blake's works theologically through this wide-angled, audience-oriented approach, we see him orchestrating a grand rapprochement of the extreme theologies of his day into a unified vision that integrates faith and reason."

We were saddened to learn of the death of Janet McHale Moffett, friend of the House and widow of J. Robert Moffett (1943), on March 21, 2013, in Houston, Texas, of a massive stroke. She was born August 31, 1921, in Chicago, and she "grew up" in the Austin Boulevard Christian Church in Oak Park, where musician Pauline Osterling was a mentor. She met her husband Bob when he served the congregation as its student assistant. After they married, congregational ministry took them to Fayetteville, Arkansas; Alliance, Ohio; Tucson, Arizona; and finally to Houston, Texas, where her husband served as Senior Minister of First Christian Church for 23 years. Their work in Houston inspired church member Annie Mae Cooke to make a significant bequest to the Disciples Divinity House. Janet Moffett was active in numerous church and civic groups, and admired as a teacher and conversation partner. Preceded in death by her husband and their son John, she is survived by daughter Christine Swanson and her husband Bill, daughter Cathleen Moffett, and daughter-in-law Carol C. Moffett, and by four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. A memorial service was held March 26 at Bethany Christian Church, Houston.

Joe Bessler (former resident) is author of the forthcoming A Scandalous Jesus: How Three Historic Quests Changed Theology for the Better (Polebridge Press). Arguing that the risk of new interpretation contributes to theological renewal, the book explores how these quests opened historic questions about dissent and free public discourse, about human struggle and diversity, and about the power of language to disorient and reorient.

Bill Wassner (1981) is now Senior Pastor of Port Orange [Florida] United Church of Christ. His first Sunday was March 6, 2013. He previously served St. Peter's UCC in South Bend, Indiana.

Erica Brown (1996) will become the Chaplain and Pastoral Counselor at Blackburn College, Carlinville, Illinois, on April 1.

Emilie M. Townes (former resident) has been named dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School, effective July 1, 2013. A distinguished social ethicist and pioneering womanist theologian who is an ordained American Baptist clergywoman, she will be the school's 16th dean. She is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology and associate dean of academic affairs at Yale Divinity School. Previously, she was the Carolyn Williams Beaird Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary. Read the press release.