Interim Dean of Chapel Aims to Combine Tradition and Innovation

John Grayson, associate professor of religion and newly appointed interim dean of the chapel, aims to "preserve what we have and build creatively on that foundation by celebrating spiritual difference and religious diversity while at the same time fostering community among people of various religious traditions." He says, "I am committed to do whatever is necessary to foster spiritual enrichment for as many religious communities as we can." As interim dean, one of Grayson's major responsibilities will be to head a search committee that will select a permanent dean. Grayson will also be charged to oversee and coordinate spiritual and religious life on campus.

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In seeking to determine the programmatic priorities, Grayson plans "to consult with the various campus religious groups to see what needs to be done to support them within the limits of our modest budget. I plan to sound out various voices about what's been useful and meaningful in the past. Then we will decide what we can keep and what we may have to postpone until we can increase the chapel's resources." One way he expects to continue supporting the religious communities is to coordinate with Five College representatives, as well as to work with local churches, synagogues, and alumnae. He adds, "We're going to tap every available resource."

"As interim dean of the chapel, John Grayson will bring a higher profile to religious and spiritual life on campus and provide a valuable link to the faculty," President Creighton noted.

Grayson came to Mount Holyoke in 1977 with six academic degrees, along with the experience of teaching at four institutions of higher education, as well as having been pastor at two New York City congregations in Queens and Brooklyn. While a Senior Fulbright Fellow to Germany, Grayson also served as a lecturer for the United States Information Service in Western Europe and Africa. Grayson's popularity as a professor has won him three senior class invitations to be their baccalaureate speaker. His scholarly specialty is nineteenth-century German and American philosophy of religion. He is currently working on an intellectual biography tracing the influence nine women had in shaping the mind of Frederick Douglass, former American slave, writer, orator, and social activist. Grayson will put his teaching on hold during his year as interim dean of the chapel. "The responsibility is too great and the challenge too urgent to think about balancing teaching and administration," he said.

"Cultivation of the mind, body, and spirit has always been central to Mount Holyoke's mission," Grayson noted. "To talk about spiritual growth and ethical reflection means we must try to unite the tradition of this great institution with the moral challenges facing us in the future."