GTU President Riess Potterveld to Retire in June 2018

Authored by: 
Susan Cook Hoganson, Chair, GTU Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees of the Graduate Theological Union has received notice that Dr. Riess Potterveld will retire at the end of June 2018 after five years as president of the GTU.

The Graduate Theological Union has accomplished much during the tenure of President Potterveld, and the Board is grateful for his dedicated service and leadership. New developments at the GTU under Dr. Potterveld’s presidency include the rapid growth of the GTU interreligious model, the creation of the Center for Dharma Studies; the first offerings of Jain and Sikh courses; the establishment of new interreligious PhD and MA curricula; the incorporation of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences and the Center for the Arts & Religion as program units of the GTU, and a 60 percent growth in the GTU endowment, with significant additional gifts in the pipeline.

The Board of Trustees has named a fourteen-member search committee representing the many stakeholders in the GTU; this committee will be chaired by William D. Glenn, a current member of the board and chair of the advancement committee.

During the coming weeks, the search committee will draft a job description for the new GTU president. The committee encourages members of the GTU community to consider recommending persons they feel would make excellent candidates to lead the GTU in its next chapter. The committee will establish a page on the new website where the GTU community can track the progress of the search for a new president.

On behalf of the entire Graduate Theological Union, the Board of Trustees expresses its gratitude and appreciation to Dr. Riess Potterveld for his five years of faithful leadership as president.

Susan Cook Hoganson
Chair, GTU Board of Trustees