Meet the Rev. Dr. Beverly Wallace

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The Rev. Dr. Beverly Wallace, M.Div. ’96, joined LTSS as director of the Center for Lifelong Learning in December 2023.

“When I heard that Dr. Chad Rimmer was the new dean and rector here, that really excited me,” shared Wallace. “I've known him for a while, and so the opportunity to do something with him and be creative with him led me to apply for this position.”

As the director of the Center for Lifelong Learning, Wallace coordinates all aspects of non-degree education at LTSS by fostering strategic partnerships, developing continuing education and its funding sources, marketing course offerings, and preparing and managing program budgets. She also works to identify lectures and non-degree courses aimed at preparing people for public ministry and offering continuing education — linking lifelong learning to Explore Courses open to non-degree students to increase engagement with LTSS degree programs.

“The creativity and thinking outside of the box as part of the director role are really inspiring to me,” she shared. “As far as theological education, I've been teaching in various seminaries and divinity schools for 15 years or more, so I know what it's like to do a Master of Divinity program, but for me, it's the expansion of this work outside of the regular classroom to broaden it to the community — those who already have a theological education, those who don't even know what theological education is like — to open those doors, that's what excites me about this.”

Prior to joining LTSS, Wallace was an associate professor of congregation and community care at Luther Seminary in Minnesota. She also served part-time at Virginia Theological Seminary for their Lilly Endowment grant “Thriving in Ministry” as the project’s co-director, training coaches to mentor Episcopal priests. Wallace designed the ELCA’s Womanist Initiative to provide opportunities for learning  Womanist theology for seminarians, laypersons and clergy with an expansive vision to work with college-aged students, introducing them to understandings and experiences of global African perspectives.

“I used to be a hospital chaplain, and so you saw grief and loss, death and dying all the time. When I was doing my Ph.D. in family, social science, marriage and family therapy, one of the professors that I was working with — he was an anthropologist and been doing a lot of grief work around the world and knew my background in chaplaincy — asked me to get involved with his research talking about the lived experiences of African Americans in particular, which led me to doing my own research into the topic,” she shared. “Oftentimes when you think about grief and loss, you're thinking about death, but there's a multitude of losses — loss of mobility, loss of opportunities because you're older, loss of the freedom that you had to climb mountains. So, what drew me to this is the expansive nature of grief and loss. And because oftentimes we don't hear, nor do we make space for persons to talk about their grief and loss experiences.”

Wallace is a member of the steering committee of the Lutheran Association of Teaching Theologians as well as the Board of Lutheran Women in Theology and Religious Studies. She is also an active member of the Conference of International Black Lutherans, a member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion and a member of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc.

Her new project “Ela Viveu” works with women scholars in Portugal and Brazil incorporating her Womanist vision. Wallace has authored several articles and book chapters, including “Hush No More: Constructing an African American Lutheran Womanist Ethic” and “The Slay Factor,” recognizing the 40th anniversary of the ordination of African American Lutheran Women. Wallace is also a contributor to “Luther’s Small Catechism with African Descent Reflections” and is co-author of the book “African American Grief.”

“As a graduate of the seminary, I never thought about coming back, but here I am. And so, I am searching for the answer to 'what's God up to in this place?' It's a spirit-filled moment in the life of this institution. I truly do believe that. So with Chad and the faculty and the staff, we're going to make it shine so everyone can see this light that is Southern Seminary.”