Announcing the New Associate Dean for Marquand Chapel

June 3, 2020

The ISM and YDS are pleased to announce the appointment of Awet Andemicael for a five-year term as associate dean for Marquand Chapel and assistant professor (adj.) of theology at Yale Divinity School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Prof. Andemicael will direct the program of worship in Marquand Chapel that brings together in prayer the diverse traditions and perspectives of our communities each day during term. She will also teach one course per term on a variety of theological and musical subjects.

 

Awet Andemicael completed her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, majoring in economics and music, after which she was awarded the Master of Fine Arts in Voice at the University of California, Irvine. Following two master’s degrees, at Yale Divinity School (M.A.R. in theology) and the University of Notre Dame (M.A. in historical theology), she is now completing a Ph.D. at Yale in theology. Her dissertation is entitled “The Glory of God and the Metamorphosis of Society: Irenaeus of Lyons’ Political Thought as a Resource for Contemporary Theology.”  During her doctoral work, she has taught several courses in Musical Skills and Vocal Development for Ministry, Theology through Music, Early African Theologies, and Black Theologies and the Early Church.

 

Throughout her theological academic training, Awet Andemicael has maintained an active career as a singer, appearing as a soloist with ensembles such as Bach Collegium Japan, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. She has won prizes and accolades in some of the most prestigious vocal competitions and festivals in the world and has recorded for the Naxos, Centaur, and Gothic labels.

 

Simultaneously, she has published in numerous peer-reviewed scholarly journals on topics ranging from patristic theology to the theologies of early Black Gospel music. She has contributed book chapters to volumes on music and theology and on interfaith and cross-denominational dialogue and has been invited to contribute a chapter to the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Music and Christian Theology. She has also presented at international theological and patristics conferences in the North America, Europe, and Africa, at several of which she also performed as a musician. A study she wrote on the role of artistic activity in refugee camps was published by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and has become a frequently cited source in recent scholarship on the arts in refugee studies, resilience studies, and development, as well as a resource for humanitarian practitioners. She has taught courses at l’Université Chrétienne Bilingue du Congo (Bilingual Christian University of the Congo) in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, and served as a guest lecturer at Stellenbosch University during a research residency in South Africa, funded by a grant from the FIIT-Global Network of Research Scholars for Theology, Religious and Christian Studies. Among her prizes and honors as a theological scholar are prestigious fellowships from the Forum for Theological Exploration and the Ford Foundation.

 

After conducting an extensive national search, we are thrilled to announce a leader for Marquand Chapel who has so successfully integrated her theological and musical skills for the sake of communities of prayer.

 

Please join us in welcoming Awet Andemicael to this new role at Yale University.

 

Sincerely,

Gregory E. Sterling, Dean, Yale Divinity School

Martin Jean,  Director, Yale Institute of Sacred Music