LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is closing its 65-year-old school of church music and worship, combining it with the school of leadership and church ministry into a new school of church ministries.
The seminary’s board of trustees approved the move, based on recommendation of a task force, at a meeting April 21 on the school’s Louisville, Ky., campus.
Starting this fall, faculty members from both the school of church music and worship and the school of leadership and church ministry will serve within the school of church ministries. Randy Stinson, dean of the leadership school, will become dean of the new school. Gregory Brewton, associate professor of church music, will serve as area coordinator over music and worship.
“The bottom line is there has been a substantial drop in the number of music students at the graduate level in Southern Baptist Convention seminaries,” Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler said.
The music faculty, which currently numbers 11, will be downsized to the equivalent of four full-time positions. Dean Thomas Bolton is retiring as part of the downsizing.
Mohler said discussions about closing the school have been going on about two years but current economic pressures sped up the process. In December, Mohler announced a projected $3.2 million shortfall in a $30 million budget. In January, seminary officials eliminated 35 administrative positions — 20 full-time and 15 part-time — but no faculty jobs were lost.
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