Yesterday, I submitted my completed Doctor of Ministry dissertation (142 pages) to the Dean of the Berkeley School of Theology Thanks to my husband, John Plocher, for a final late-night review and edit!
Since 2021, I have been a BST Doctor of Ministry student (as well as a jail chaplain, TechWomen mentor, and Founder of Mentoring Standard). The DMin degree is based on a project that comes out of the student’s regular work. My project was to rewrite The Transforming Literature of the Bible (TLB) class I present weekly in Santa Clara County jail. My successful oral dissertation defense was on 5 December 2024 with my DMin Academic Committee, the Rev. Dr. LeAnn Snow Flesher (BST Vice President of Academics & Dean of the Faculty, Professor of Biblical Interpretation), the Rev. Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins (BST Professor of Public Theology, and Mayor, Collegeville, Pennsylvania), and the Rev. Liz Milner (Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy Executive Director & Facility Chaplain, Correctional Center for Women). The dissertation I just sent in includes the three minor revisions requested by the committee during my oral defense. Next, the Rev. Dr. Sangyil Sam Park (BST Professor of Preaching & Director of Doctor of Ministry Program) will coordinate the process of final review and preparation for submission to the Graduate Theological Union Library.
Here is the Conclusion – Next Steps section of my Doctor of Ministry dissertation:
“The Transforming Literature of the Bible project is going strong after over forty years in use, and I am honored to guide the transformation of the Rev. Canon William Barnwell’s work into the twenty-first century. My vision is to continue tailoring the program materials to meet the diverse needs of inmate populations, publish the TLB materials for general use in jail and prisons, and train additional mentors in their use.
Work yet to be done includes seeking permission to publish TLB literary selections that are still under copyright, continuing to work toward the TLB class materials getting published and distributed as a spiritual education program, and scaling its use within and beyond Santa Clara County.
Possible future work includes creating a TLB version for much lower-level readers, and another for women prisoners. I have detailed some of the requirements and challenges of these two potential program extensions in the Scope of the Project section. Jail policies require two chaplain / mentors per class, so additional volunteers will be needed to extend the program.
It has been inspiring to update the TLB to support the most marginalized among the jail inmates and I am thankful to God, my family and community, the jail inmates and my work colleagues, and the Berkeley School of Theology for its support during this process.”
BST graduation will be in May 2025.
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