Susan Henking Explained

Susan Henking
Nationality:American
President, Wells College, June 30, 2024-present
Thesis Title:Protestant Religious Experience and the Rise of American Sociology
Thesis Year:1988
Doctoral Advisor:Peter Homans
Academic Advisors:Donald Levine; Martin Marty

Susan E. Henking (born 1955) is an American religious studies scholar. She is currently the 20th president of Wells College. She was the 14th and final president of Shimer College in Chicago from 2012 to 2017.[1] [2] She then served in interim roles at Salem Academy and College, including Interim President in 2020 to 2021.

Henking was the first female president of Shimer since its 19th-century founder, Frances Shimer, ceded control to the University of Chicago, in 1896.[1] At the time, Henking was one of the small number of openly lesbian college presidents.[3] [4]

Education

Henking received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1977, and her Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1979.[5] She received her PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1988, and began teaching at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1988.[5] Her doctoral dissertation was entitled Protestant Religious Experience and the Rise of American Sociology: A Contextual Study of Varieties of Secularization.[5]

Career

Henking taught at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, principally in the field of religious studies. She also taught in women's studies. In 1992, she received the Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award.[6] During her time at the Colleges, Henking served on the Board of the American Academy of Religion and as founding editor of the Oxford University Press series Teaching Religious Studies, also of the American Academy of Religion.[7] Henking was the interim Dean of Faculty from 1998 to 2001. She headed the Department of Religious Studies from 2002 to 2005, and 2008 to 2009.[5] In addition, before her departure in the summer of 2012, she served as adviser to the Board of Trustees.[8]

Henking has written and taught in the field of LGBT studies. Often her work has been at the junction of LGBT studies and religious studies, as in Religion, the volume she co-edited in 1997, with Gary David Comstock. She co-chaired the program in LGBT studies at Hobart and William Smith,[9] which was the first such program in the nation to offer a major.[10]

In early 2012, Henking was chosen to become the 14th president of Shimer College.[11] She was the first regular president of Shimer College after the acrimonious departure of Thomas Lindsay, in 2010.[12]

During her five years at Shimer, Henking blogged on higher education and other topics on The Huffington Post[13] and ChicagoNow.[14] She was also a contributor to Religion Dispatches, an online magazine of religion, politics, and culture.[15] Henking continues to publish in religious studies and in areas related to higher education.

From June 2020 to June 2021, Henking served as Interim President at Salem Academy and College.

On July 1, 2022, Henking became Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at Wells College.[16] On June 30, 2024, Henking became the 20th President of Wells College, and will oversee the closure of the school.[17]

Selected works

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dr. Susan Henking Appointed 14th President of Shimer College: First Woman named President since Founder Frances Wood Shimer. Shimer.edu. 2012-08-15. dead. https://archive.today/20121212221112/http://shimer.edu/presidentelect/. 2012-12-12.
  2. News: Chicago Reader. College News: Malcolm X gets a new campus, Shimer gets a president. 2012-02-21.
  3. News: Windy City Times. Lesbian appointed head of Chicago's Shimer College. 2012-02-22. 2012-07-18.
  4. Web site: LGBTQ Chicago Presidents. ChicagoNow. 2013-05-22. 2013-05-07. Susan Henking.
  5. Web site: Curriculum Vitae of Susan E. Henking. 2010. 2012-08-15.
  6. Web site: Religious Studies: Susan Henking. Hobart and William Smith Colleges. 2012-07-18. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120717074550/http://academic.hws.edu/relstud/henking.html. 2012-07-17.
  7. Web site: Faculty Information. Hobart and William Smith Colleges. 2012-08-15.
  8. Web site: Susan Henking. 2012-03-06. Inside Higher Ed. 2012-08-14.
  9. News: Henking Named Shimer President . 2012-02-16. 2012-08-15.
  10. News: SDSU second in nation to offer LGBT major. Pat Flynn. UTSanDiego.com. 2011-10-04. 2012-07-18.
  11. Web site: Shimer.edu. Comments from Others. 2012-08-15. dead. https://archive.today/20121211071157/http://www.shimer.edu/PresidentElect/comments.cfm. 2012-12-11.
  12. Web site: 2010-09-24 . Big Trouble at Little Shimer: What's happening to Chicago's Great Books college? The Chicago Weekly . 2023-09-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100924112109/http://chicagoweekly.net/2010/03/03/big-trouble-at-little-shimer-whats-happening-to-chicagos-great-books-college/ . 2010-09-24 .
  13. Web site: Susan Henking . 2013-05-24 . Huffington Post.
  14. Web site: About Shimer Prez . 2013-05-23 . ChicagoNow.
  15. Web site: Contributors: Susan Henking . dead . https://archive.today/20130705003220/http://www.religiondispatches.org/contributors/susanhenking/ . 2013-07-05 . 2013-05-24 . Religion Dispatches.
  16. Web site: Susan Henking Named Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Wells College . 2022-10-28 . www.wells.edu.
  17. Web site: Moriarty . Rick . 2024-07-01 . Soon-to-be-closed Wells College appoints new president . 2024-07-02 . syracuse . en.