Dr. Pope-Levison Named Associate Dean for External Programs

The Reverend Dr. Priscilla Pope-Levison has been named associate dean for External Programs at Perkins School of Theology, effective August 1, 2015. Dr. Pope-Levison comes to Perkins from Seattle Pacific University, where she currently is professor of Theology and assistant director of Women's Studies.

Rev. Dr. Priscilla Pope-Levison Associate Dean for External Programs Perkins School of Theology

Perkins School of Theology Dean William B. Lawrence expressed appreciation for Dr. Pope-Levison's experience as a scholar and administrator. "We are very pleased to announce the appointment of this outstanding scholar and leader to our senior staff at Perkins School of Theology," Dean Lawrence said. "At the outset of our search for the best possible candidate to fill this new position, Dr. Pope-Levison emerged quickly as a superb candidate."

The new position of associate dean for External Programs was created as part of the reorganization that Southern Methodist University initiated under the project known as Operational Excellence for the Second Century (OE2C). The University authorized the position when the Executive Committee of OE2C approved a reorganization plan for Perkins.

As associate dean for External Programs, Dr. Pope-Levison will supervise all of the program directors and units at Perkins School of Theology with areas of responsibility for non-degree continuing education, certification, outreach to youth, and other initiatives. In addition, she will be an important liaison with church leaders including United Methodist Bishops and the Boards of Ordained Ministry in annual conferences, as well as with ecumenical church leaders in other denominations and traditions that include non-denominational church bodies. She will lead the program staff and develop the vision for such continuing education ventures as the Theological School for the Laity and Ministers Week. She also will oversee the personnel who direct such vital programs as the Course of Study School, the Mexican American Hispanic-Latino/a Church Ministries Program, Faith Calls, and the various Centers that Southern Methodist University has established at Perkins. She will teach one course per year in Perkins’ degree programs as well, in courses related to areas of her scholarly expertise and specific curricular needs at Perkins.

In addition to her responsibilities at Seattle Pacific University, Dr. Pope-Levison has been an affiliate faculty member at the University of Washington in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies. An ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, she is a member of the West Ohio Annual Conference. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music from DePauw University, a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University, and a Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. 

She is the author or editor of six books and has published many scholarly works in academic journals as well as professional resources for lay and ordained constituencies. Her most recent book, Building the Old Time Religion: Women Evangelists in the Progressive Era (NYU Press, 2014) received the Smith/Wynkoop Book Award by the Wesleyan Theological Society and was listed as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2014 by Choice journal.

With Dr. Ted Campbell, associate professor of Church History at Perkins, Dr. Pope-Levison co-chairs the Wesleyan Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion and serves on the editorial boards of the Ashgate Methodist Studies Series and Methodist Review: A Journal of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies. Currently, she is President of the Historical Society of the United Methodist Church and Second Vice President of the Wesleyan Theological Society. She is renowned as a teacher and as a scholar in the fields of evangelism, holiness movements, and the leadership of women in Christianity.

Dr. Pope-Levison is married to Dr. Jack Levison, W. J. A. Power Professor of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew at Perkins. They have one daughter, Chloe, who resides in Austin, and one son, Jeremy, who is a student at Seattle Pacific University.