Columbia, S.C. — During a special virtual ceremony on Saturday, February 20, the Votaries Alumni Circle of Cherry Hill Seminary announced the winner of this year’s Wendy Griffin Professor of the Year Award. The recipient is Rev. Amy Beltaine.

Beltaine is an active Unitarian Universalist minister and spiritual director/companion, in addition to her role as professor at Cherry Hill Seminary. She created the Spiritual Direction Certificate program (also called SpiDir), a two-year professional certification program, which is nearly one year along for its first cohort. Beltaine also brought together students and others to create the weekly online gathering and ritual space called A Spiritual Feast (was A Spiritual Potluck), which is open to anyone and may be found on the Seminary Facebook page.

“Amy has helped guide us through the experience of spiritual direction, granting both challenge and reflection, and at the same time, she has offered us unending patience and grace. She herself has grown as we walk this first cohort together. If something wasn’t working, she has adjusted. She has taken our feedback, our struggles, our failures, and turned them into places of growth, opportunity, and change. Her favorite quote is ‘Fail forward, not backwards’ and it has been a part of the backbone of the first cohort of students. She encourages each of us as we learn, grow, explore, and takes the program she created, and shifts it to meet the needs of her students. She does this while still placing a foundation of ethics, morals, and tools in all the students so we may tend to the spiritual needs of our seekers, particularly those of the unique and under-represented pagan! She is a pillar in the Cherry Hill Seminary community.”

 – Shannon McLean, CMC

Cherry Hill Seminary is pleased to announce Dr. Deirdre Sommerlad-Rogers is the 2021 recipient of the Wendy Griffin Professor of the Year Award!

“This nominee has illustrated by personal and professional example how to be completely respectful of the diversity of personalities and opinions in this world. We’ve all witnessed the abundance of enthusiasm for any subject this individual has taught, such that students are consistently engaged in lively dialog that truly only comes to a close because our attention is called to the class ending time. In the most recent class I took with this nominee, there were several of us a bit intimidated by putting together powerpoint presentations, and this nominee was immensely encouraging and helpful so we could be successful.

“This nominee is driven by an incredible curiosity about life and communicates this to students in such a way that is catching. You can’t help but think, ‘I’ve never thought about that before’ and that leads to building connections in such amazing ways. On a personal note, this nominee has the patience and fortitude to answer any question I’ve sent their way, and the best part is–we share a love of goats!

“So. it is truly my pleasure to announce the 2021 Professor of the Year – Dr. Deidre Sommerlad-Rogers!”

 – Cynthia Cebuhar, Votaries Alumni Member

About the Wendy Griffin Professor of the Year Award

Sponsored by the CHS Votaries Alumni Circle, this prestigious award is presented annually to one deserving faculty member who has demonstrated teaching excellence in the classroom and a commitment to spiritual growth for students. Nominations are accepted throughout the calendar year until Thanksgiving weekend, and the award is announced and presented at a special online event early in the new year following.

Honoring Academic Dean Emerita Wendy Griffin

As Cherry Hill Seminary’s first permanent Academic Dean, Wendy Griffin, Ph.D., and Academic Dean Emerita, brought to our seminary a dedication to academic integrity and a devotion to Pagan and Nature Spirituality. She was an academic pioneer in the study of Goddess Spirituality and Wicca, and served in the American Academy of Religion and on the editorial board of The Pomegranate: the International Journal of Pagan Studies. By the time she retired in 2018, Griffin had inspired students and colleagues alike with her intellect, skills and engagement.