Each year at General Assembly, Starr King hosts a catered breakfast. A virtual General Assembly isn’t stopping us this year: Bring your own breakfast and start your morning off proper with Starr King! This event is an opportunity to bring new Unitarian Universalists into relationship with Starr King, as well as reconnecting with our friends and alumni. This year we will connect over Zoom and catch up on new developments at the school. Attendees will be treated to a special video premiere (teaser below)! Learn more about Starr King at General Assembly at www.sksm.edu/ga20.
We also know that Zoom burnout and fatigue is a real thing. We will host TWO breakfast events the week before General Assembly.
You will be able to choose to attend one of these breakfast options:
Thursday, June 18, 2020
10:30 am Eastern
Friday, June 19, 2020
9:00 am Pacific
Please note: Registration is required for both events.
Program Schedule
- Welcome
- Chalice Lighting
- Blessing of the Meal
- Musical Interlude
- Leadership Speech
- Student Video Profile
- Student Testimonial
- Graduate Testimonial
- Wrap Up
Contributors
President Rosemary Bray McNatt
The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt is the President of Starr King School for the Ministry. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she is a graduate of Yale University and Drew Theological Seminary. For 13 years, she was Senior Minister of The Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York. She is a former editor at the New York Times Book Review; the author of three books, including her memoir, “Unafraid of the Dark;” a former contributing columnist for Beliefnet.com; a former commentator on MSNBC; a contributing editor to UU World, the magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association; and a cultural critic whose work appears regularly in The Huffington Post, The New York Times Book Review, Essence and other print and online publications.
Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt
Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt serves as Associate Professor
of Unitarian Universalist Theologies and Ethics at Starr King School for the Ministry. She holds a Ph.D. in religious ethics and African American Studies from Yale University. Her academic work focuses on environmental ethics of liberation in a womanist and Latina feminist frame. She served for four years as the Director of Racial and Ethnic Concerns of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and briefly as its Interim Co-President. Betancourt’s ministry centers on work that is empowering and counter-oppressive.
Sean Dennison
The Rev. Sean Parker Dennison is a graduate of
Starr King School for the Ministry and was ordained in 2000. He has served congregations in Stockton, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Luis Obispo, California; McHenry, Illinois. He also considers his active social media presence a part of his ministry, including posting daily prayers on Twitter and Facebook since 2011.
Sean has served Unitarian Universalism in a number of ways over the years, including serving on the Starr King School for the Ministry Board of Trustees and chairing its Admissions Committee; and helping found TrUUsT—an organization for transgender ministers and religious professionals in the UUA. Sean is also a father, grandfather, photographer, painter, and poet.
Toben Squires
Toben recently completed his M.Div at Starr King
School for the Ministry and is currently completing a clinical residency as a hospital chaplain at a Level 1 trauma hospital in the greater Phoenix area. He feels especially well prepared to meet the needs of the varied patient populations he serves by reflecting on SKSM’s ECO mission and commitment to multi-religious life. When not at the hospital, Toben enjoys spending time with his amazing wife, two young daughters, two not so bright dogs, and guinea pig named Pickles.
Kiya Heartwood
Kiya Heartwood is a recent Starr King M.Div. graduate,
Director of The People’s Orchestra of Austin, Assistant Minister at Live Oak UU in Cedar Park, TX., singer-songwriter, and preacher’s wife.
Clovice Lewis
Clovice Lewis is a Starr King student and one of our
Lewis Scholars. He is a professional cellist and composer who composed his first symphony at the age of 17. Clovice has a wealth of talents, having been a professor, a serial entrepreneur, a software designer, and a private pilot. Clovice intends to become a UU Minister with an emphasis in breaking down racial, class, and ethnic barriers and in preaching the gospel of the madness of human self-extinction.
Betty Jeanne Rueters-Ward
Betty Jeanne Rueters-Ward, Starr King’s Visiting
Assistant Professor for Transformational Leadership, has served on the faculty over a decade. Her journey with the school began as a student fifteen years ago, helping lay the groundwork for the school’s Master of Arts in Social Change program. Betty Jeanne, a lifelong Unitarian Universalist, has held staff and volunteer leadership roles at all levels of the UU movement.
Jessica Cloud
Jessica Cloud is a higher education fundraiser, poet,
and member of Our Home Unitarian Universalist Church in Ellisville, MS. She lives in Hattiesburg, MS with her husband, Daniel, daughter Emmeline and son Thomas.
