Five individuals have been named as entering Disciples Divinity House Scholars for the 2026-27 academic year. Welcome Lauren Blakemore, Allie Lundblad, YeChan Park, Amelia Richter, and Paulo Yánez! The fall quarter begins September 28.

Lauren Blakemore (MA) studies “the theme of identity within religion and how language, culture, history, and society can influence its manifestations.” She is a summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kenyon College (2026), where she majored in History and Arabic. Her home church is Sturgeon Christian Church, near Columbia, Missouri.

Allie Lundblad (PhD) recently concluded a decade of ministry at the Christian Church of Arlington Heights. An MDiv alumna, she studies Pastoral Theology, Personality, and Culture at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. DDH’s award, in combination with full tuition from Garrett, will allow her to pursue her studies full-time.

YeChan Park (MDiv) brings a business degree from Purdue University-Northwest, master’s studies at Trinity Evangelical Seminary, and five years in campus ministry with Inter-Varsity, where he developed the innovative Global Bridge Project. He came to know the Disciples through Bethel Christian Church in Indianapolis.

Amelia Richter (MDiv) is a 2021 cum laude graduate of Kansas State University (BS, Biology). This summer she is learning about disaster relief in the Philippines through Week of Compassion. She is a member of First Christian Church, Manhattan, Kansas.

Paulo Yánez (MDiv) received Bachelor’s (English, 2022) and Master’s (2025) degrees cum laude from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. He is a member of Advent St. Nicholas church in Quito, an ecumenical congregation.

Entering DDH scholar Lauren Blakemore is the inaugural Amy Ann Northcutt Scholar. She is a summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kenyon College where she majored in History and Arabic. At the University of Chicago Divinity School, she plans to continue language study while exploring “the theme of identity within religion and how language, culture, history, and society can influence its manifestations.”

In April, the Board of Trustees took formal action to establish the Amy Ann Northcutt Scholarship to recognize emerging women leaders of promise and to undergird their education. The scholarship will support individuals who, regardless of their religious or denominational affiliation, study religion and/or theology at the University of Chicago and are affiliated with the Disciples Divinity House. A surge of generosity at the end of 2025 lifted the scholarship endowment past its initial goal to over $257,000.

The scholarship remembers Amy Northcutt, an alumna and former President of the Board of Trustees, who was the Chief Information Officer of the National Science Foundation at the time of her death in 2017. She always felt a responsibility to support and mentor younger women, whether their careers were in the academy, public service, or the private sector. The scholarship keeps her memory and continues the spirit of her mentorship.

Disciples Divinity House Scholars Annika Fuller and Hayden Skaggs traveled to the Phillipines with Disciples seminarians who are Global Theological Education Fellows to learn about disaster response, sustainable development, and ministry in global contexts. They visited local farming and fishing villages and spoke with leaders from partner churches. Annika sang during worship in Lupang Ramos.

The program is sponsored by Week of Compassion, Higher Education & Leadership Ministries-HELM, and Overseas Ministries. Disciples Scholars MariaIsabelle Garcia, Ella Johnson, and Katie Varon have been selected for next year's cohort.

Evelyn Thomason was a highly educated and accomplished individual who dedicated her life to law, community service, and her family. When she died January 15, 2025, at age 82, she and Laird Thomason had been married for sixty-one years. As the first anniversary of her death approached, Laird decided to create the Laird and Evelyn Thomason Memorial Fund with a $10,000 unrestricted gift.

The fund celebrates a partnership that began in Iowa and was rooted in the deep soil of the Disciples of Christ. After a fateful meeting in a youth group, both would attend Drake University. In 1963, they married at the Wakonda Christian Church in Des Moines. Laird had completed his first year as a House Scholar by then. Their lives remained intertwined with DDH after that, even as they became centered in the Capital Area region. Laird completed a formative internship with alumnus Arthur Azlein at the Michigan Park Christian Church and, eventually, became minister of the Bethesda Christian Church. Evelyn completed law school and entered practice. Both were engaged in congregational, regional, and general Disciples work.

Through DDH and with fellow alums, the Thomasons cultivated lifelong spiritual, intellectual, and justice connections. Laird's gift helps ensure that possibility for future generations—and thus stands as a living tribute to Evelyn’s memory.

Nancy McKee has joined the Disciples Divinity House as Assistant Administrator. With a background in finance and accounting and significant experience as a personal assistant and with a trust company, she brings resourcefulness, practicality, and strong relationship skills.

Nancy was born and raised on the south side of Chicago. She attended Loyola and Roosevelt Universities, and loves to read, cook, and spend time with family and friends. The proud mother of one son, she has three adorable grandchildren. She has known about the Divinity House for a long time due to her aunt, Dolores Highbaugh. She says, “I am looking forward to being a part of the DDH crew.”

In addition, Rachel Abdoler, an MDiv graduate and DDH Scholar who will receive her PhD later this summer, will serve as Assistant Dean in a new part-time position for this academic year; she will begin in September. She will work with students to plan chapel services and programs as well as give leadership to various initiatives.

The Joseph Gray Rhind Award is presented annually by the University of Chicago Divinity School to a graduating MDiv student "whose excellence in academic and professional training shows notable promise for significant contributions in religious leadership and spiritual care." Disciples House Scholar Delaney Beh was honored as this year's recipient at the Divinity School's Pinning and Hooding Ceremony.

Many experiences at DDH and in the Divinity School, and especially in pastoral leadership in congregations in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and Loveland, Colorado, affirmed Delaney's gifts for congregational ministry and leading worship. Their Senior Ministry Project addressed, The courage to be church: Renewing liberal Protestant discipleship in an age of uncertainty. They are seeking ordination in the UCC; this summer, they will return to First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn to serve as summer pastor.

Rachel Abdoler was presented the J. Coert Rylaarsdam Prize at the Divinity School Pinning and Hooding Ceremony on June 5. It recognizes a Divinity School student who has made special efforts to promote interfaith relations with particular reference to the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions.

A Disciples House Scholar and MDiv graduate, Rachel defended her PhD dissertation on May 28 and was awarded "distinction" for the defense. Titled, Between Defense and Devotion: Butrus al-Sadamantī’s Kitāb al-Tashīh in Its 13th Century Copto-Islamic Milieu, her dissertation seeks to deepen the understanding of the thirteenth-century “Golden Age” in Copto-Arabic literature by focusing on the largely overlooked thinker Butrus al-Sadamantī, and his lengthy commentary on the events of Christ’s passion as found across the four gospels. The dissertation includes the first critical edition of the Arabic text based on extant manuscripts from the Vatican Library, Syria, and Egypt. Her research was supported by a Fulbright-Hayes Dissertation Research Abroad Award this past year.

The Board of Trustees has recognized Larry Bouchard for his generative role in its deliberations over thirty years. He has concluded his term on the Board and begun a new role as Adviser to the Scholarship Committee.

Bouchard, a PhD alumnus who is now Professor Emeritus of Religion at the University of Virginia, began his service in January 1996. He led the Board as its president for five years beginning in January 2005. Those titles do not begin to describe his role. His hallmark throughout, according to trustee Cynthia Lindner, has been as “a critical scholar with an eye to possibility.” For example, during a study session at the April meeting, his portrait of “Disciple-ish” traits suggested ways to recognize potential Disciples Scholars, and a rich discussion ensued. 

Cynthia Lindner observed, “On this Board, Larry has been a source of reason, experience, theological innovation, and imagination—offering mind- and heart-expanding turns of phrase.” When the Board was seeking a theme for DDH’s 125th anniversary in 2019, he offered, Grateful for what is to come. She concluded, “Adviser is an appropriate title and description for Larry’s presence among us—whether that is in person, or virtual, or in a written thought piece. Ad visio: Add vision.”

Pamela James Jones called the Board of Trustees meeting to order on April 25, 2026, before handing the gavel to the new president, Patricia Duncan. Expressions of gratitude for Jones's leadership followed, as well as for that of outgoing Vice President, Gaylord Yu, and incoming Vice President, Alexis Vaughan.

Pam Jones first came to the Disciples Divinity House as an ecumenical resident when she began the MDiv program at the Divinity School. Already a graduate of Spellman College with a JD degree, she would go on to earn a PhD in the History of Christianity at the Divinity School and to teach at Central Michigan University. She joined the Board of Trustees and, in 2012, its Executive Committee. She and her spouse, Dr. Theodore Jones, a neonatal specialist, joined students and trustees in exchanges with theological students in Heidelberg, Germany. From 2022-25, she served as President, contributing to the theological education fellows initiative, increased scholarship support, and renovation plans.

Tish Duncan, an alumna and MDiv and PhD graduate, is Associate Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University (TCU), a vibrant religion department. She is an expert in the New Testament and in diverse genres of early Christian literature. She is committed to pedagogy and teaching (see below on her April 27 forum). She has served on the Scholarship Committee of the Board of Trustees, most recently as its chair.

DDH is grateful for the clarity, dedication, and imagination that both Pam Jones and Tish Duncan have brought to the Board of Trustees. Their remarkable commitment has strengthened the Board and will continue to guide it as faces new possibilities and challenges.

Dolores Jones Highbaugh, a lifelong advocate for transformation and education across the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), died February 27, 2026, in Chicago. She was 98.

Mrs. Highbaugh provided essential leadership for the Disciples following Restructure and Merger, including serving on the Moderator Team for General Assembly from 1975-77. She was a delegate in ecumenical dialogues, where she was often the sole lay woman among white male clergy and theologians.

Her example, encouragement, and ideas were formative for generations of students and deans at the Disciples Divinity House. She regularly participated in Monday dinners and programs, always bringing challenging questions for House Scholars as she urged them to become educators for all people in the church.

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, on April 15, 1927, Dolores Jones moved to Detroit with her family, and, later, to Chicago. In 1947, she was introduced to Richard Highbaugh, a former Tuskegee Airman who was pursuing his MBA at the University of Chicago. They married in 1949. They raised two children, Claudia and Earl Burton, and were proud that both graduated from the University’s Laboratory Schools. Claudia became the first African American woman to be ordained into the Disciples of Christ after Restructure; she is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Disciples Divinity House.

Dolores and Richard served as elders and in many pivotal ways at Park Manor Christian Church. Dolores gave important leadership in the Chicago Disciples Union including in transformative interracial initiatives. She worked with Disciples Women in the regional and general church, often alongside Sybel Thomas and Eddie Griffin.

Dolores Highbaugh is survived by her daughter, Claudia. She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard, who died in 2006 at age 85, and by their son, Earl Burton, who died February 6. Services will be held April 18 at Park Manor Christian Church in Chicago at 12:30 pm CDT (Brunch/"prepast" at 11:00 am.) The service will be live-streamed on youtube.com/@ParkManorCC.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship fund (Chicago chapter) or to the Highbaugh Family Fund at DDH (giving link here). The Highbaugh Family Fund was created in 2022 on the occasion of Delores’s 95th birthday and to ensure that the Highbaugh family's profound example, commitment, and challenge are sounded for future generations of learners and leaders.