New Dean and Faculty appointments!
June 21, 2018
June 2018 – New Brunswick Theological Seminary (NBTS) is announcing a new Dean, faculty members, and a new assistant dean appointment.
Dr. Beth Tanner, The Norman and Mary Kansfield Chair of Old Testament, has been named Dean of Academic Affairs.
Dr. Nathan Jérémie-Brink will join NBTS as the Assistant Professor of History of Global Christianity and L. Russell Feakes Memorial Assistant Professor of Church History. Dr. Janice McLean-Farrell will join NBTS as the Dirk Romeyn Assistant Professor of Metro-Urban Ministry. Dr. Andrew Wymer will serve as Assistant Dean of Doctoral Studies, in addition to his current position as Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship and Director of Mast Chapel.
Dr. Beth Tanner will serve as the Dean of Academic Affairs for three years. President Dr. Micah L. McCreary stated that he has “enjoyed working with Dr. Tanner during this initial year of his presidency. She brings to the position of Dean, a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the seminary faculty, a legacy of successful academics at NBTS, and a deep love and involvement in the local church. We are thrilled to have Dr. Beth Tanner join our leadership team at NBTS.” Dr. Tanner will also continue in her position as The Norman and Mary Kansfield Chair of Old Testament.
Dr. Nathan Jérémie-Brink will join NBTS as the Assistant Professor of History of Global Christianity and L. Russel Feakes Memorial Assistant Professor of Church History. Dean Beth Tanner said, “Nathan brings a wonderful combination of historical academic rigor and a heart for justice ministries to NBTS. He plans to continue his research in the history of the church’s involvement in anti-slavery movements, as well as the church’s participation in the continuation of slavery in this county. He will be a great addition to our faculty, and our students will be enriched by his innovative teaching.” President Dr. Micah L. McCreary said that “Dr. Jérémie-Brink personifies what we mean by an advocate for social justice. We are thrilled to have Dr. Jérémie-Brink join our NBTS family.”
Dr. Jérémie-Brink received his PhD in History from Loyola University Chicago in 2018. Nathan’s dissertation, “‘Gratuitous Distribution’: Distributing African American and Antislavery Texts, 1773-1850,” examined how antislavery print distribution strategies and networks developed by African American individuals, religious communities, and social institutions shaped the nineteenth-century abolitionist movement. His work was awarded dissertation fellowships from the Schmitt Foundation and the Louisville Institute. Nathan’s archival research enjoyed generous fellowship support from the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Omohundro Institute, and the Newberry Library.
Nathan specializes in the cultural and religious history of the early American republic and the Atlantic world, early African American cultures of print, and slavery and abolition. His research interests include the use of GIS mapping and the digital humanities, and his teaching explores how digital pedagogies offer students new platforms for historical research and public presentation. He looks forward to teaching history courses at NBTS that explore Christianity as a global movement and encourage church and community leaders of the present to critically engage in the process of historical inquiry. Nathan also also hopes to encourage student explorations of the rich manuscript and rare book holdings of the Gardner Sage Library.
Nathan is a candidate for ordination in the PC(USA), and earned his M. Div. from McCormick Theological Seminary and B.A. in Philosophy from Calvin College. He grew up in Southeast Greater Los Angeles and lived in Chicago for the past 12 years. His leadership experiences include the church, the non-profit sector, student groups, and community organizations. His spouse, Gihane, has recently been appointed an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the William Paterson University of New Jersey, and they have two young children, Mateo and Naya.
Dr. Janice McLean-Farrell will join NBTS as the Dirk Romeyn Assistant Professor of Metro-Urban Ministry. Dean Beth Tanner said, “Dr. McLean-Farrell brings a needed component to the faculty with her research on Caribbean Immigrant Communities. She will share these insights in her Urban Ministry courses by addressing how students must navigate the global cultures within their communities. She also focuses on womanist theology. She will make a great contribution to the voices present on the faculty and the students will benefit from her insights and ministry.” President Dr. Micah L. McCreary said of Dr. Janice McLean-Farrell that, “Dr. McLean-Farrell makes NBTS a triple threat. She embodies metro-urban ministry – having served as a youth pastor, urban pastor, and urban professor. We are elated by the addition of Dr. Janice McLean-Farrell to our NBTS family.”
Dr. McLean-Farrell recently served as a faculty member and the Learning Communities Coordinator at the City Seminary of New York. She was born and raised in Jamaica. Dr. McLean-Farrell has served for more than 18 years in urban congregations in New York and Edinburgh, including New Song Community Church (CRC) where she was an ordained pastor and co-chair of the board for the New Song Community Corporation. She is currently a member of Madison Avenue Christian Reformed Church, where she serves in a variety of ministerial capacities.
Dr. McLean-Farrell received an Associate degree from the Community College of Philadelphia and her Bachelor in Arts in Chemistry from the University of Delaware. She earned a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and continued her theological education at Princeton Theological Seminary where she completed a Master of Theology degree. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Edinburgh. Dr. McLean-Farrell is the author of West Indian Pentecostals: Living their Faith in New York and London (Bloomsbury, 2016) as well as several articles on urban youth, religion, immigrant churches, global cities and the Caribbean. She is also the co-editor of Understanding World Christianity: The Vision and Work of Andrew F. Walls (Orbis, 2011) and Engaging the World: Christian Communities in contemporary global Societies (Regnum, 2014). Dr. McLean-Farrell is passionate about equipping God’s people as they live out their faith in in their daily lives. Her work as a scholar and in church ministry is dedicated to accomplishing this task.
Dr. Andrew Wymer has formally accepted the position of Assistant Dean of Doctoral Studies in addition to his current position as Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship and Director of Mast Chapel. In this role, Dr. Wymer will report to Dean Beth Tanner, who said, “Our Doctor of Ministry program is an important part of our vision as this new position demonstrates. Dr. Wymer will provide vision and leadership to strengthen the program and guarantee students are engaged in coursework which prepares them for the challenges of ministry.” As the Assistant Dean of Doctoral Ministry, Dr. Wymer will provide the academic oversight of the four Doctor of Ministry programs: Pastoral Care and Counseling, Prophetic Urban Ministry, Transformational Preaching, and Missiology and Global Christianity (our newest program). President McCreary said, “I wish to personally thank Dr. Wymer for his willingness to take on this critical and essential NBTS academic program.”