First Woman to Head Evangelical School : Eastern College Names Hestenes

The Rev. Roberta Hestenes, an associate professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, is accustomed to breaking new ground in the circles of all-male conservative Christian leadership.

As the newly designated president of Eastern College in suburban Philadelphia, she is believed to be the first woman ever chosen to head an evangelical, four-year, liberal arts college. Pending a confirmation vote by the directors of 1,050-student school on Friday, Hestenes plans to begin her new job Aug. 1.

Hestenes, 48, an ordained Presbyterian minister, was the only woman professor at Fuller when she joined the faculty as director of Christian Formation and Discipleship 12 years ago. And she was the first woman to serve on any board of World Vision. Now, she chairs the international directors of the giant Christian relief agency headquartered in Monrovia.

“She is the Jackie Robinson of the evangelical . . . world,” said John Dellenback, president of the 77-school Christian College Coalition, based in Washington. “Many exceptional black (baseball) players followed Robinson into the major leagues. The same kind of breakthrough will follow Roberta Hestenes as women become presidents of this kind of college.”

Though unusual, there are women presidents of Roman Catholic and some mainline Protestant church-related colleges. Evangelical and fundamentalist schools, however, have been reluctant to place women in top authority over men.

Hestenes is also setting a precedent at Eastern, which is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches in the USA, because she is the first non-Baptist to head the 55-year-old institution.

After a yearlong study, the board voted to separate the college from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a 400-student school that shares the campus in St. Davids, 25 miles west of Philadelphia.

The Rev. Robert Campbell, 63, general secretary of the 1.6-million-member American Baptist denomination, has been selected as president of the seminary. Subject to board confirmation, he will assume the new post on Sept. 1, marking the first time that the two related institutions will each have its own president.

The current president of the college and seminary, Robert A. Seiple, 44, will succeed Ted W. Engstrom, 70, on July 1 as president of World Vision’s U.S. ministries. Hestenes was head of the search committee at World Vision that selected Seiple last fall.

Asked if some kind of a “trade” had been arranged, Hestenes laughed and said, “Only after a number of months later did they (Eastern College representatives) come to me and ask me to be a candidate.”

But there may have to be some bylaws-bending at Eastern to allow Hestenes to head the school: Regulations require an American Baptist president.

“I can’t tell you the final action,” Maurice Workman, chairman of the college and seminary boards at Eastern, said in a telephone interview from his office in Montvale, N.J. “We’re not going to amend the bylaws. . . . Hestenes has agreed to align with a Baptist church.”

Hestenes, however, declared: “There is no question of my becoming a Baptist. I fully intend to maintain my Presbyterian ordination. I think I’ll be heavily involved in Baptist things on campus and in church activities. . . . Dual involvement, maybe, but I don’t think dual membership.”

Presbyterians are the second-largest denominational grouping at Eastern, 10%, second to Baptists, who make up 35% of the student body.

Hestenes said she also intends to remain head of World Vision’s International Board, using her expertise to help develop broader global concern at Eastern and “bind together my academic and international commitments.”

Hestenes said she doesn’t expect that being a woman will hinder her new job any more than it did at Fuller.

“The board considered me as a person; my sex was not an issue,” she said, adding: “I am genuinely excited. I have the sense of being challenged, of being stretched . . . and I’m grateful.”

Said Seiple: “I think it’s a shame she’ll be looked at as a woman first and then as president. . . . She’s worthy as a person. I hope that comes through regardless of sex or denomination.”

An author and frequent conference speaker, Hestenes, the mother of three grown children, said her family is “amazingly supportive” about the pending move.

Her husband, John, a physiologist and biophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, is now “looking for work” in the Philadelphia area, she said.