July 7, 2005

PERKINS ANNOUNCES FACULTY AND STAFF TRANSITIONS

DALLAS (SMU) - Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University announces the following faculty and staff transitions effective June 1, 2005:

Ruben L.F. Habito, professor of World Religions and Spirituality, has been named associate dean for Academic Affairs for a 3-year term. Habito has been a member of the Perkins faculty since 1989. His teaching specialties include world religions, East Asian Buddhism, theology of religions and comparative theology and interreligious perspectives in spirituality and mysticism. Research interests are Japanese medieval Buddhism, themes in comparative theology, spirituality and socio-ecological engagement. He is president of the Society for Buddhist Christian Studies, 2003-2005, and was a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology, 1995-96.

C. Michael Hawn, professor of Church Music, has been named director of the Sacred Music Program. Hawn will oversee the sacred music curriculum, recruit students for the program and serve as a liaison between Perkins and faculty in the Meadows School of the Arts. Future plans for the program include offering regular continuing education events for alumni and developing a nonresident professional doctorate in church music patterned after the Doctor of Ministry degree. Teaching specialties include worship and music, worship and culture, and hymnology. Hawn’s research interests include global music and worship, as well as cross-cultural worship, and enlivening congregational song. Hawn joined the faculty in 1992 and holds D.M.A. and M.C.M. degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a B.M.E. degree from Wheaton College.

Robert Hunt came to Perkins as visiting professor of World Religions and, in a continuation of his current position, has been appointed director of Global Theological Education. The program prepares pastors-in-training to lead congregations in culturally sensitive, competent and effective missions both within and outside the United Sates. The program offers significant immersion experiences in cultures other than those of the student, thus providing firsthand experience in building cross-cultural relationships and learning from others with a different life experience and outlook. Hunt is a native of Dallas. After receiving a history degree from The University of Texas in Austin and a Master of Theology from Perkins, he served the Bethany UMC in Austin, taught at Seminary Theology Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and Trinity Theological College. From 1997 to 2004 he was pastor of the English Speaking UMC of Vienna, as well as adjunct professor in World Religions and International Relations at Webster University in Vienna.

Perkins School of Theology is one of five university-related official schools of theology of The United Methodist Church. The school was founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church South, now The United Methodist Church. Degree programs include the Master of Church Ministry, Master of Divinity, Master of Sacred Music, Master of Theological Studies and Doctor of Ministry degree, as well as the Ph.D. in cooperation with SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.

For further information, contact Roberta Cox, Director of Public Affairs for Perkins School of Theology, at 214-768-2335 or rcox@smu.edu.

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