About Som Pourfarzaneh, Ph.D. Dr. Som Pourfarzaneh is the Assistant Professor of Islamic and Digital Media Studies at Starr King School for the Ministry. He holds a Ph.D. in Cultural and Historical Studies of Religions from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and was part of the first cohort to graduate from Starr King’s… Read More

Over the summer, the grandson of Dr. William S. Morgan – Mr. George Clark – reached out to us about donating his grandfather’s 122-year-old Beckwith player piano to the school. Dr. Morgan was involved with Starr King School for the Ministry beginning in 1910. He was a professor, secretary of the faculty, acting Dean between… Read More

Dear Ones – Earlier this summer, I wrote to you in excitement about the reopening plan for Starr King. The plan was to return to in-person classes at the start of our fall semester – today, September 7. With the increase of COVID cases, particularly the spread of the Delta variant, we have made the… Read More

About Rev. Dr. Meg Richardson Rev. Dr. Meg Richardson joined the faculty of Starr King School in 2014 as Visiting Assistant Professor of Unitarian Universalist History. Dr. Richardson, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and Durham University, has studied our living tradition in both the United States and Great Britain, and was mentored by scholars… Read More

We’re happy to announce that due to our amazing donors, Starr King met its fundraising goal last fiscal year. Overall fundraising, including planned gift commitments, totaled $1,207,402.24! Check out some key highlights of our 2020-2021 year: A total of $38,349 has been raised and awarded to 30 students through the generous support of our donors… Read More

The 2021 UUA General Assembly, originally planned for Milwaukee, was 100% virtual but completely packed with programs, workshops, and speakers! Each year at General Assembly, we send out nightly newsletters that include recaps of the day’s programs and events. Just like last year, we opted out of those nightly emails in order to provide a… Read More

Dear Ones – I write to share some bittersweet news. Our beloved Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt, SKSM Associate Professor of Unitarian Universalist Theologies and Ethics, has accepted an interim position as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the Theological School at Drew University in Madison, NJ. It is a great recognition of her leadership gifts and scholarship.… Read More

About Rev. Dr. Gabriella Lettini A native of Torino, Italy, Lettini earned her M.Div. at the Waldensian Theological Seminary in Rome, Italy. She is an ordained minister of the Waldensian Church, a movement that originated in France and Italy in the 12th century and was based on evangelical poverty, a critique of church hierarchies, refusal… Read More

Starr King School for the Ministry, in collaboration with our partners at Mills College, is planning a safe opening of our Vera Long Hall campus for the 2021-2022 academic year. Beginning on August 31, staff and faculty will conduct school business regularly from their offices. One week later the fall semester will start, and several… Read More

On March 9, 2020, Starr King began a three-week closure of its campus to guard against the spread of the novel coronavirus. A national emergency was declared four days later and the San Francisco Bay Area counties imposed a shelter-in-place order the following week. What we hoped would be a relatively short interlude has turned… Read More